caged in

Just finished two cushions they were inspired by my journey to Vietnam, where all the shops in one particular street had rows upon rows of miner birds nattering away in Vietnamese. It really made me laugh a lot, so I sat and sketched a couple and this was what I have made. My sister got hold of this brilliant 1970's summer dress and that's what I cut up for the psychedelic fabric. I love the acidic colours and swirling pattern. www.patchworkbutterfly.folksy.com
Just going off to work at a project I am involved in. I have been working as an artist with people living with locked in Syndrome. I can only liken their lives to birds trapped in cages, but they are trapped in their bodies. I use line, colour, form to enable them to express themselves when many of the other ways of communicating are not working. It takes a long time and much patience to work in this way because the communication is so subtle and can easily go unnoticed. It's sad I work with someone my age 37 who is unable to move apart from her eyes and mouth. We laugh lots, she still has retained a wicked sense of humor that I was assured by her daughter she had always had. Every week I leave and wonder. How do we measure somebodies quality of life??????????

If you only ever watch one film try watchingThe Diving Bell and the Butterfly is a translation of the French memoir Le scaphandre et le papillon by journalist Jean-Dominique Bauby. ... who suffered a brain hemorrhage and became locked in, he went on to write his memoirs using just the blinking of one of his eyes. Difficult viewing at times. Nobody said this life was easy.