Natasha Duggan
Wildflower inks, waiting for aortic endo-leak surgery 2021
In winter 2020, I was informed I had a complicated aortic endo~leak, it was eventually decided that surgery was an option and a date was set for the first week of June 2021. After my operation was cancelled the first time, I began to focus on the wildflowers that were coming up in the garden. I drew them daily, using sticks and inks. The process kept me in the present, focussing on the flow of lines and marks. I felt it helped me navigate the difficult emotions that arose over the month.
Finally after recovery, I’m back in the garden doing ink drawings, observing and capturing the changing of the season.
Hospital sketching
I always have a sketchbook and pencil with me in hospital, it’s as important to me as bringing my toothbrush. When I can, I draw what’s around me, patients sleeping and busy medics, it’s real life drawing. It helps me stay calm and centred in difficult situations or even just passing the time!
I started sketching in hospital after a long stay in ICU in 2010, when I had acute myopathy and heart failure from complications in surgery. Eventually I was seeing a physio team regularly. I remember passing a sponge between my hands to get them working again. It was a relief when I could communicate. Then I was able to ask for my sketchbook and pencil. I could look forward to drawing spidery lines of the things on my table.
