A painting I finished last week, but started… quite a long time ago, back in February, when the world was different…

“Hiatus”
/hʌɪˈeɪtəs/
noun: hiatus; plural noun: hiatuses
A pause or break in continuity in a sequence or activity.

The title occurred to me when someone said that a then unfinished painting had a story and I should leave it as it was. It had a story because 15 minutes after putting down my paintbrush, I was walking back along a slippery muddy path, holding my very obviously broken wrist with the other hand.

That was not a nice reason to finish work on a painting. It waited, patiently, with its face to the wall while I determinedly didn’t look at it for nearly six months. This week I finished it and here it is.

The title fits perfectly with a swimmer pausing to let the world go past, but the painting also encapsulates a pause in my artistic life. Between the start and finish of this painting was a time I’d not like to repeat, but it is still a time in which I learnt things that I won’t forget, not least the importance of knowing a very good physiotherapist. (Thank you Ivor Field!)

Prints are available in my Etsy shop should anyone be interested: https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/WaterDrawnArt

This photo album is the story of this painting – complete with X-rays!