There’s an injury in my right hand — which I don’t believe is serious – its some type of RSI hopefully. I noticed it worsens when I draw, crochet, or use a computer mouse. Over the summer, I switched to using the mouse with my left hand, stopped crocheting, and am now drawing with my ‘non-dominant’ hand (which is a useful exercise generally, but if I am tired, these drawings are atrocious).  I am sure my hand will be fine, it’s being looked after, and I have an MRI scheduled later this week.

Funnily enough, sewing and hand-sewing cause no issues, so I’ve returned to letter sweaters, which I started doing some time back.

I stitched “Iontach” — meaning awesome in Irish. Then “Mnásome” — a blend of mná (women) and awesome, borrowed from a book title I came across years ago. I stitched one in February, and one last week… and its only this week people started noticing it – Its nice to strike up random conversations when getting groceries! My next stitch will be Loveen. I live in an older, traditional neighbourhood in Galway, and heard it again recently in the local post office — one of the women saying, ‘thanks, loveen’ as she left…..I’m not sure if it’s purely a Galway word, but it’s lovely to hear it still in use. 

My current favourite of these is Creatrix. It means a female creative, and I first heard it in a Susie Dent piece on BBC Sounds (https://www.facebook.com/reel/4272401626418128). I love it. Even though my degree is in Fine Art, I’ve never felt drawn to the title Artist. I prefer maker. I was mentioned this once to someone and the other person asked if I had imposter syndrome, which fairly annoyed me….. as they both missed the point, and also put artist in some ‘exalted’ status. 

To me, artist often feels like a ‘gatekeeping’ word — separating art from craft and design. But really, isnt it all making? I often wonder if this came from the mid-19th century, when the Royal Academy chose to exclude ‘craft’ from its annual show. That decision conveniently ensured most women couldn’t exhibit……. and even a few weeks ago when I was in my local ‘craft’ store and a customer was asked if they wanted to join the loyalty scheme … they replied…… ‘oh no, I am more arts than crafts’……

Need I say more……