Introducing gfm-ART

As life throws twists and turns that we never see coming, we can choose what to do with them...... we can let them beat us down, or we can fight and find a way to get back up.

In 2011, I returned to university after a long illness to restart my PhD studies.  Just a few weeks before I started, I slipped on the stairs.  'Slipped' being the operative word.  I grabbed hold to stop myself tumbling down the entire flight as my feet slipped completely away from me and I swung from my arm, landing just a couple of steps down, sitting.

And that's all.  Just that simple slip has completely and totally changed the course of my life, most horrendously causing me chronic, intractable pain due to the shoulder (read shoulder blade, ribs, back, neck, arm, hand, as well as the bit you normally think of as your 'shoulder') injury I sustained.  So far I've had far too many scans and tests, two surgeries and countless hours of physiotherapy.  I've been told I will never use my right arm again, and I've been told (more accurately) "We just don't know." - But I have this amazing team of doctors and therapists and if you check out my other blog, it's all documented there.

However, this blog, featuring my art, with which I hope to to create a successful business is borne from that slip from not being able to use my right arm functionally for four and a half years now, and for having to find something to do to stop me from both going (completely) crazy, and losing sight of the end goal.  When I was faced with the prospect of never using my right arm again, I decided I'd teach myself to draw - and paint - with my left.  As a result, the art below is my ambitextrous art - expressive painting, with an added sprinkling of some inspirational words.

I don't plan to write a lot on here (I usually do enough of that on the other one), just to share some artwork which will soon be available to buy online.  But that is the story behind gfm-ART..... hopefully something that will bring healing and help ease frustration, but definitely something I'm excited (and rather nervous!) to share.

Here are some first glimpses.... Please watch this space for an upcoming Facebook page I am working on, and an online shop...

'Do every day different'

'Appreciate beauty'

'Bloom'

'Day dreamer'

"The secret of life is in art"

     ~  Oscar Wilde ~