About

This blog is … 

An artistic exploration.

I can’t promise to be prolific or an expert – but I hope to show progression and I hope to illustrate a personal creative journey.

So I’m an artist with ME/CFS …

In January 2007 I was diagnosed with ME/CFS – sometimes called Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), Post Viral Fatigue Syndrome (PVFS) and in the US called Chronic Fatigue Immune Deficiency Syndrome (CFIDS).

I had to leave employment through my illness and I am unable to work in any conventional sense. 

Through my art I can work for myself within my means for a modest income.

I am chronically ill, am housebound for much of the time and have battles with all sorts of unpleasant, demoralising symptoms and health problems due to my ME/CFS.  This illness has put the brakes on just about everything in my life including my progression as an artist.

I have a wonderful supportive husband, family and friends, and I still have some creative juices left. 

I just do …

I do what I can towards my art – it’s a welcome escape from the day to day ache, fog and lets face it – bore of a chronic illness. 

My blog gives me a focus and impetus for that little artist within.

Due to my illness I have certain limitations (which shift and change) so I focus on what I can do and then, umm, doing it. 

So a lot of the time you will see drawings (doodles), pop-ups, paintings of animals, people and characters plus photographs because these are possible. 

I sell my work online through my web site and Folksy. I also do commissions but need a few months lead time due to my health constraints.

I am …

I am Rachel Groves, I’m 36 and live in Lichfield, Staffordshire, England, UK (in the Midlands). I’ve worked in I.T. (e-learning) as well as many administrative jobs in the private, public and voluntary sector.  None of my jobs ever gave me as much reward as posting a drawing on this blog.

I love to laugh.

If you need to contact me leave a comment or email rachelcreative [at] yahoo.co.uk

Through the eyes of others …

Here’s what Puglet had to say about me (I’m blushing):

“Rachel over at RachelCreative is a painter, photographer, sketcher, writer, internet search junkie and a person living with a chronic illness. Her disability has her exploring all her abilities, evident in poems and her artwork. What amazes me is that she has CFS and has a hard time concentrating or finding appropriate words and deals with what some of us term “brain fog”, yet she posseses such an knack for self expression that I’m turning positively green with envy. If Rachel is a “definer” of being chronically ill and mentally slow, sign me right up. She makes me want to seriously pursue those banjo lessons I’ve been thinking about. Many thanks to BBC Ouch for including me ina disability themed blog round up and pointing those bizarre and lovely accented brits like Rachel my way.”

from post Thinking Blogger Award

Artist Tools

I use an A6 sketchbook (Surrey) for my day to day drawings with a Faber-Castell PITT black artist pen. I use a basic 12 colour palette of watercolours with half pans designed for artists on the move.  I use a medium Pentel Aquabrush for adding colour to my drawings as it uses minimal mess/effort, and makes working very portable and accessible.

I scan my drawings and small paintings with an Epson Photo Perfection 4490 scanner. I crop on Photoshop and tweak the balance to get as close to the original as possible. 

Watercolour doesn’t always show as good as the original. I have been known to correct drawings which went only a little bit wrong using Photoshop to patch in drawn corrections in order to salvage them but I try to show you the drawings as they are in my sketchbook.

My paintings are on canvas in acrylics using glaze medium.

   

For day to day photography I now use a digital SLR (a Nikon D40) or a sometimes still a digital point & shoot (Canon Ixus I Zoom).  I occasionally use Photoshop to crop digital photos and adjust balance. 

I also use a Holga FN with 120 film, a Vivitar Ultra Slim and Wide with 35mm and have other “toy” cameras - a Splitcam and an Action Sampler. 

I have a small collection of vintage cameras (620 and 120) which I use film in and have done some TTV (Through The Viewfinder).

For digital art I use Photoshop and sometimes an A4 wireless graphics tablet.

Spam poems come from spam in my main personal email account.  These, and Clusty search cut-up poems, are usually composed offline in Notepad and then pasted up. 

The sculpture (which I’d like to do more of) is papier mache using a fine paper paste (I make myself) with polystyrene (and sometimes wire) armatures.

Me on the web …

As well as my art blog you might like to see:

My Flickr photos

My Twitter

My del.ico.us links

My homepage & more about me

This Page Last Updated  10 March 2010