Kindness Always Matters.

Memories Of Kindness Shared.

Welcome to Denyse Whelan Writes Here.

Today I want to pay tribute to kindness shared with me over the years.

In 2016, way before I was diagnosed with oral cancer, my art practice was helped greatly by the teaching of Tracey Fletcher King who was a teacher/artist from Queensland.

I am going to link this post as a one off today with Min who is a blogger and also an artist from Queensland and who got to meet Tracey at one of her exhibitions. Min’s work can be found here.

Why Am I Calling Myself An Artist?

Because I am. It took a while for me to come to be able to write that, and I hope Min embraces the title too. There is no ‘tier’ for being an artist! And I was taught that.

About The Art.

I was already enjoying patterns and painting from around 2015 and was part of an on-line group led by another artist in the U.S.A. I think that might have been when I met Tracey virtually.

She shared some images from every day life: fruit and vegetables and flowers in painted form and I wanted to try that!! Her class was called “Delicious Paint”.

Tracey and her art have been shared with many on-line since her death in 2021 but this one page shows so much of who Tracey was that I am linking it for anyone who wants to see what I am writing about today.

This saying sums is what we were/are both about:

heART!

I Gave It A Go.

I started learning how to look more closely at details and colours and with Tracey’s encouragement (and legacy) here are some of my examples.

Kindness Matters.

Tracey and I began a further on-line friendship linked by our cancer diagnoses - she had a much longer cancer history than I did, and eventually, despite all the various treatments she died in 2021.

She was the most generous and kind friend despite her own health challenges.

My kindness memories are stories we shared being teachers, helping each other with simple and caring gifts and “words of comfort” when needed.

Whilst I am not sharing those, Tracey’s overarching goal of caring about me in my early months of a cancer diagnosis in 2017 meant she would ‘check in’ with me after a visit to my team in Sydney. I recall one trip (B was driving me then) back from seeing my surgeon and spending my time on-line ‘back and forthing’ with encouraging and kind words.

Tracey agreed to be a Woman of Courage as well…and whilst I no longer have access to that series as my blog closed, it was so good she agreed to be one …of many, and some of you may have also been women of courage on my blog too.

Always Connected.

One of the hardest ( if not THE) life lessons is that nothing is permanent and everything changes.

This book below was and is still with me as a series of life lessons. I shared it with Tracey and sent her a copy. We both acknowledged the difficulty in acceptance of uncertainty but we also connected by reading a page a night.

It is a very very good read..hard but worth it.

108 Teachings on Cultivating Fearlessness and Compassion.

The reason I am writing here and sharing as I do on line is to connect. I have had so many wonderful and new connections with people in my life thanks to social media and blogging.

I was always comforted by the kindness of many I have never met in real life, along with those I have been privileged to meet. Recently being unwell I have heard from some kind on-line friends checking in on me. I appreciate those people very much.

And the words from this quote resonate:

Thanks to you all,

Denyse x

And so with kindness as my word today I am joining in with Min and fellow bloggers for her WWWhimsy link up. Thank you Min!