I want so much to draw, but I am so nervous to make a mistake. I feel I have to be perfect, and know I can't possibly make the grade (in art). So it has taken a lot for me to return to drawing. The Julia Kay Portrait Party has really encouraged 670+ artists to gather online and sketch/paint one another. There is a lot of talent out there - it can be intimidating. So one has to be brave and fearless. And jump right in. I did two sketches/paintings today - so if I an keep up that discipline, I'll be doing allright.

Ah - the beauty that Springtime brings after a long,cold gloomy winter. I met these flowers along my walk yesterday, along with a variety of gorgeous coloured bouquets at every step along the way.
I am invigorated. Excited. And optimistic.
I am going to create. Paint. Sketch. Make and Design. Nothing will hold me back.
I am going to photograph and celebrate my captured images. My fleeting capture of their moment in time.
I would love to be able to paint these beautiful blooms. I will show them to you when I have perfected my watercolour, as I think only watercolours will do for these.

I found some amazing Kangaroo Paws too, and I so like how the light played with their perimeter. Have a look...
These are great architectural, abstract plants. They're like Fagan's thieving fingers (Oliver Twist).

A day out - to do just as I please. A loose plan at the beginning of the day to meet up with a meditation group for an hour of stillness. It worked beautifully. I felt quite light and full of freedom to celebrate mty unplanned day of creativity. I had brought my sketch book, some art supplies and my camera. The camera took precedence as it could capture the beauty of the day so much more aptly than my laborious artwork.
No fixed plans. Just follow my instinct. A bit of a wander along a path, through the coastal scenery. Stop. Study people. Listen to snatches of conversations. Dream. Imagine. Wonder. Have no plan. No adgenda.

After several hours of wandering, taking artistic photographs along the way, it was time to move on. To a shopping precinct I had not been to in all of my 25 years in Sydney. Always one on the "must go there sometime..." list, but always postphoned til the day was right. Ahhhh! Lovely. An icecream was next on my list. So I was directed to a French Ice Creamery. There, I was like a child in a lolly shop. I decided on a cup with 2 scoops of icecream, cream, chocolate sauce and sprinkled with nuts. All for just $6.50. Such a treat. This was a last celebration before my diet and exercise plan would impose its presence on my life tomorrow.

I finished the day in a healthy-lifestyle shop. Full of all things healthy and organic. And after wandering the isles, decided that music would be what was needed. So an ethereal chanting goddess made her way into my CD player to serenade me all the way home. I did not notice all the traffic congestion - I was really enjoying this new music which lasted until I drove in to my driveway @ #23.

That's me ... The Graduate Nurse ... in the centre

I have always wanted to be an artist - since I was 10 years old. I believed that artist's had an interesting life - "different from the normal run of the mill life". And yet, that's not how my life panned out.
So the last three+ decades almost have been in service to the world of nursing and midwifery.
Ah! - one would think. That's a virtuous occupation. Yes, I suppose it has been rewarding. So many lives. So many stories. But... my passion is ART.  Nursing and Midwifery have just been a sideline to my life.

This is the story of how I captured the heart of me and lived out my passion of drawing portraits, while
up to this minute,  have worked day to day as a nurse/ midwife.
I wonder about the other people in the photograph, and what became of them.