‘From a bedridden space, I found myself thinking about the great artist Matisse and how as he aged, he was confined to bed or a wheelchair chair. Nevertheless, he continued to explore how he could make art to express himself. It was during this time in his life that he developed a particular way of working with paper and scissors. Inspired by these thoughts, but without any scissors at hand, I looked out of my hospital Ward window. It was a large window through which I saw fields.
And while I didn’t have any scissors, I did have some oil pastels and a sketch book! On day 5 of my recovery I began to response to the landscape and this first drawing I’m calling, ‘a hospital bed with a view!’
The next day as I looked again out of the window, I began to see with my mind’s eye! With the memory of a tree I was enthralled by the wonder of trees. The landscape from my bedridden view slowly merged with a life giving tree – it all happened effortlessly.
As the days stretched out before me and I found I needed to commit myself to drawing the landscapes in my mind – by working in my sketch book I was enabled to ‘bear well’ the restrictions put up one me by my post operative lack of mobility. Here are some of sketches sustained me ….
As Matisse found new ways to be himself as artist, so I too discovered that wherever I am, there is always the opportunity to look out of a window, to see with new eyes! Whatever the view, it will never fail to inspire the windows of your mind.
Artwork by Annie Bromham; text written with Jen Bromham
Enjoy this contribution to the Either Side of the Window project. We’d love to have your contribution in art, photography or writing. Send it to anawimarts.com or post something on our Facebook page.