The Wandering Artist

Sometimes when you lose your way, you find YOURSELF - Mandy Hale

When I was younger I used to paint.

Draw.

Doodle.

I was always creating and at one point that was all I wanted to be. An Artist.

Along the way I lost this. I lost that spark. My paints and entire art collection that I had built up following going to art college and uni got packed away into boxes.

I went down a different career path and art slowly ebbed away from me.

In 2019 I felt like my life imploded after becoming unwell with Encephalitis. I had to slow down completely. I faced a long road of recovery and honestly, at the beginning, I didn't think I would be able to do it. I went inwards.

I really had to dig deep and relearn how to 'be'. For so long I ran like a Duracell bunny, and now I could barely walk down the street, needing several naps through the day to manage the extreme lethargy.

You know they say 'what doesn't kill you makes you stronger'. Well I can vouch for that.

I learnt how to 'be', how to 'feel' and how to manage life with this new version of me. Sometimes I wondered if the new me was better or not, and then I realised that it doesn't matter. I am me. There is no better or worse.

Whilst feeling a bit like a slug from the amount of resting I was having to do, I decided to pick up my paintbrush to fill some of the time. It started to become a way for me to express what had happened and how I was feeling.

As soon as I could start moving again I began walking. Initially it was just down the road, then up the hill, then around the village. Slowly increasing my distance. I fell in love with walking. Previously I had run everywhere and I realised that I had missed so much. When you slow down you begin to observe more. The world becomes clearer, it is no longer a flash of blur. Little things become magical. I would wander and wander and feel so incredibly inspired by everything.

I got a routine of wandering and then coming home and painting. It felt completely natural and like this was what I was meant to be doing.

Somehow I had found myself.

Art heals me.

The Wandering Artist was born.

I feel very grateful to be here, to be able to share my journey and to feel so incredibly supported by those all around me.

Thank you