… the in between
It’s been a LONG while between blog posts so this is a little catch-up and context for you before I launch into posting here for my studies.
At the end of my second year of doing the Bachelor of Creative Arts (Visual Arts) part-time my hubby got a huge infection that threatened to take his life and we wound up in Melbourne as he awaited surgery in the Austin Hospital.
Long story short he got through it and we got back to Darwin just as COVID was exploding. There was way too much still happening to get back into the degree studies so I instead took the Emily Jefford’s course on running an art business. Incredible. Highly recommend. But next to useless if you’re not actually making art 🤣
Then we thought why not make life spicier and see if we could make another baby! I JUST managed to get this portrait of Dr Hugh Heggie done for the Portrait of a Senior Territorian 2020 (although just one panel of a 3 panel artwork) before morning sickness truly kicked my ass. All while hubby was still struggling to get his health back on track (months of bed rest anyone? 😣)
If anyone asked me while pregnant about art I just pointed at my growing tummy and said “all my creative energy is going into this” 🤰🏼😓 Pregnancy was hard going but this little miracle girl resulted in June 2021 ⬇️
💕🥰 Billie Elizabeth 🥰💕
The Fourth trimester was hard going for different reasons of course and sweet girl had to have an operation which we wanted to have done in Adelaide and COVID made that experience very stressful 😣
THEN we jumped ship and came to Yeppoon QLD to work on a cute (but worn) Queenslander cottage 🏡 Cue more stress and BUSY 😅 life is never boring 😝 We’re just in the last stages of the deck build and renos before heading back to Darwin.
With so much happening I hadn’t given going back to uni much thought until I had an email saying it was the last week to enrol. “Eek!! I want to go back!! Um. What?” (Literally what convos with myself are like) 🤣
Although I feel SO privileged to be able to be a fulltime mum and with my little family 24/7 I have to be honest… it is driving me mad 🤪 and I need creative stimulation/fulfilment more than ever. So even though I swear I don’t find enough time in the day just to tread water I’m now trying to add in a fulltime study load. Crazy I know. But here I am trying because I’m surprised by this drive that’s just reared it’s head again and it’s not taking no for an answer 😅
I’ve reenrolled in a reformatted degree at CDU ‘Bachelor of Arts (Creative Arts)’ and I am currently doing two core units on Indigenous Australia and Culture Capabilities (super excited about these even!) and the Creative Studio 3 which is a double-weight unit. I’ll be using this blog for my coursework so be brace yourself for all the UGLY as I attempt to rediscover my creative self.