heartspace

i took up courage to do art again, after many years of procrastination...much of it scarred by my bad experience of tackling the subject at o-levels and failing miserably at it...st mary's has been running an art class for adults for a year now...Heartspace led by trained art therapist jo who was patient enough to guide us back into the process again...it helps that the entire class comprises of non-practitioners...we just tapped into silence, prayed our own ways and allowed our heart to speak...

p/s: pics were uncropped..i kinda liked the trees that stood beyond the glass room where we had our lessons...



a. firesky
10 may 2008



i woke up with images of death and anguish splashed on the front pages of papers. brought with me images of the cyclone & quake and its destructive impact on life. difficult images to meditate on, says jo. the first 45 mins was spent in aimless splattering of angry red juxtaposed against a deep & dark sky...frames of black were added later to contain the pain...the flowers are in ascension, beyond the transcendental white that separates 2 planes of existence...a sign of souls lifted upward, transfigured by the land's horrifying wounds. their colours are somewhat the same...not having forgotten what it is like, to suffer pain.

b. marsh
24 may 2008

i didn't see the significance of this piece till days later when a friend inverted it for me...from marsh to sky...jo said my colour schemes are still the same. i remember not having any concept or idea in mind when i painted this. she said to keep trying until some discernable pattern can be sensed from what was offered by the hand...

opt over

dear readers and friends,

thank you for your good wishes and prayers for my buddy...it moved me to know you cared to ask and pray even though you have never met him in this lifetime. i will be flying down this friday to visit him and will carry your good thoughts for his quick recovery...it won't be easy considering that chemotherapy comes next...

the following is an update sent to me via email...

to all...my sincere thanks once again...

ed

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Hi everyone

I've drafted a roster to help us all work out when it would be useful to visit Julian. I'll send it as an attachment to this email, and you can flick it back to me with your own ideas about when you might be able to make it to Cow Town.

I'm finding it frustrating being so far away from him, knowing nothing more about his condition that I and others can elicit from hard-worked nursing staff.

I've just finished another call. The fact that he was sent back quickly to the surgical ward (Ward 2) bodes well, and I've been told several times that the pain management is working on the whole and that he's having fairly good nights. An epidural isn't being used for pain relief, which is also good news. His throat was knocked about by the tubes, but I'm told that it's improved enough now to allow him to speak, albeit slowly. It's hard to imagine Julian speechless!!

There's no sign of infection of the incision, which is further good news. He's being blitzed with antibiotics, of course, and apparently the risk of infection may remain for a while after he's withdrawn from the antibiotics.

Today I asked specifically about whether or not he's in good spirits. I was given a vague reply: 'It's hard to say.' My own reading of that comment is that he may be feeling down.

I just got a txt from him: 'Trying to feed directly to stomach at mo ... Exhausted but ok.'
Stuart plans to be there tomorrow, and then Eddie arrives, so at least two old and trusted friends will be able to be with him and keeping a close eye.

Stevan

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