The time I broke my right hand

I thought it was about time I did a little catch up post, it's been a while and I've got a few gaps to fill! If you have a scroll down, you'll see I fell in love with screen printing back in September 2015. I couldn't wait to become a member and start producing lots of prints. After that, I was kept busy after finding out I'd been selected as one of five artists/writers to present our work at a children's book conference in November. Soon enough it was a new year and so I knew my plan for this year was to become of member of West Yorkshire Print Workshop where I did my course and start selling my prints.

Throughout January, I worked on some new drawings to make prints from and I arranged my induction at WYPW. The friday before my induction, I excitedly paid my membership and had spent the weekend making lots of different colour layers to print linework over, as well as some prints with printed block colour. I had lots planned and was so excited about the prints I was going to make!

The following Monday, (the 8th of February and the day before my induction), I set off for work as usual and (to get to the point) I had a nasty car accident. My car was written off, I was clearly very lucky to not be more injured, but I broke two bones in my right hand. And yes, I am right handed. So as you can imagine, since you are reading an illustrator's blog, it's been a stressful few months. My hand has taken such a long time to heal and the progress so barely noticeable day-to-day. There has been tearful moments infront of frustratingly vague doctors and lots of worry about whether my drawing would be effected. But it hasn't, it's still painful and I have to take lots of breaks, but I can draw again and just as small and detailed! Sometime's a bit more wibbly still and it takes me a bit longer but I am still going through physio and believing that painlessness is yet to come.

Here is a picture of me looking happy that I'd broken my hand. I wasn't! I was happy because I still went to the 6 music festival in Bristol the weekend after the hand break! I was granted a disabled wristband and got to watch Foals in a safe little spot.

I tried to embrace left handed life and did try some drawing with my left hand...

After having a cast on for several weeks, my poor little hand was in agony when the cast came off and I felt like I was back to day one. That week was probably the hardest, I'd never been in pain like it and was full of worry for my career. Anyway, after a few days, the pain eventually started to ease and as I worked through my hand exercises and practised picking things up, I managed to hold a pen and did this:

Knowing that my hand could still do what my brain was telling it to was a lovely feeling! It was the third week in March when my pot came off and about a month later, I started to draw again. Just after my accident, I found out I had been accepted to show my work in the Saltaire Arts Trail. I had no idea how my hand would be but it seemed like a long way off, so I thought it would be a good way to hit the ground running when I got back to using my hand again. And it has been, so far! I've been working really hard to get all my drawings made into prints and packaged up, along with framing my artwork and a million other little prep jobs. It's been very exhausting and quite hard but also really fun! The Arts Trail is this weekend, so now that my frames and prints are packed up and my living room looks like a paper-bomb has exploded, one of my last jobs was to update my blog with the story of the time I broke my right hand. Here's to my right hand and hopefully our happy future together!

This is one of my new pieces especially for Saltaire, I will share more after the arts trail.