July 2026 Newsletter: Creativity Through Distractions
- Kylie Leane
- 7 minutes ago
- 4 min read
Creativity through Distractions
Hello, I’m Gwen and my granddaughter is Kylie, together we make TEA & WHISKERS, a website created and managed by Kylie.
Thank you for your interest in our inaugural newsletter. We trust you will find this letter interesting, and will continue to connect with us.
Life always gets in the way when you are having fun. Kylie has had health issues and I have had a round of appointments.
But we have not let the distractions divert us from pursuing our creative passions. Despite the interruptions we have still created.
The bird in the image is coming in to perch. It is assured of its perch, but often in life when we seek a safe landing place, we don’t find one. We become afraid, depressed, and insecure, and experience many other emotions. The thing is that we can retreat into ourselves or we can face life full on and refuse to quit.
We can lick our wounds and then go forward. Forward, always forward is our battle cry, so to speak. The people who refuse to quit reach their goals in the end.
Kylie Leane
Of Keloid Scars and Radiation
I want to share about my recent keloid scar and radiation surgery...
I don't think I have ever really mentioned it here, but I have some keloid scarring on my chest and my shoulders. The chest scarring is from open heart surgery when I was four, and the scarring on my shoulders is actually from acne.
It just...didn't stop at keloid scars. See, for most people, keloid scars are cosmetic frustrations. Usually, they'll stop growing, and they'll look awful, but they will stop growing. I am not most people, which continues to be proven time and time again. I am weird.
My scars are astronomically painful. Sometimes it's like someone stabbing me repeatedly in the chest and shoulders, or it'll be a fierce, burning, scorching pain that'll throb, or an electric itch that makes my whole body twitch.
I had my first radiation session, and I learnt a lot more about cancer treatment than I ever expected to learn as someone who hasn't got cancer. I was only having three treatments, but I was told it still wasn't going to be easy.
Yeah, so...I really wasn't prepared for it.
The radiation session itself is fine. You just lie on a bed and bobs-your-uncle. It's incredibly well set up and streamlined.
The recovery was - and still is - difficult.
The first night I didn't sleep - at all. This may have been a combination of the migraine and the pain, but - oh - it was bad. Yeah. So, I just played Baldur's Gate 3 all night. The second night I got about two hours sleep, and the third night was horrific. By then the radiation was just shocking, I felt like my lymph nodes were trying to murder me by strangling my neck. I could neither sleep on my back nor my sides or my chest. So...yeah, not much sleep.
The fourth night the radiation felt like it was burning me from the inside out and I was just...done. I cried a lot.
Thankfully, I was done. And - I said to my parents that I was just astounded by the strength and courage of the people I'd met, because all I'd endured was three days of treatments. I couldn't imagine any longer.
A Project
It’s very frustrating to think that you have finished a project, only to receive the draft of that project and realize you have to rework the entire thing.
I suppose that is what proofs are for, but I have been putting hours into this little project I'm doing, and I have no idea if it's meaningful or useful -- but -- it's currently what is in front of me so, it is what I am doing.
Anyway, I am excited to show you all the result of my project - but it will probably take me a few more weeks. At least I am not starting at square one, but I now know what I am looking at and what I did wrong.
Anyway, here are some cute sketches that I have done for one of the little books.
Here in this Youtube Video below, I take you guys through sketching some new little cute sketches of characters from an up-and-coming novel!
Gwen Leane
I have been concentrating on my photography this month.
I have taken the bold step and overcome my reticence of sharing my photography and submitted work to two competitions.
The Rotary Club of Blackwood, South Australia and
Through the Lens: seniors Card Photographic Competition. Entering these competitions is about overcoming reluctance to put work out there publicly. I always feel I’m still only a beginner and don’t know enough but I have been shown that that is not the point. The issue is that submitting work into the public arena encourages one to become a better photographer.
Chapter 3 of the Photographic Course I am doing is on Street Photography and has kept me busy. I spent time while shopping and visiting my daughter, taking scenes either in the shopping mall or the street. I love this subject. So many beautiful moments captured. Below is just one scene...
Experimentation is important for learning about camera, and settings and learning to look with other eyes. The image below, I was experimenting on how to catch an image of a flower bud after the rain.
Gwen's stunning photography is available now at Tea&Whisker's Redbubble store
Have you been practising using your mobile phone?
Learning to use the rule of thirds, leading lines and framing are important steps to get hold of. They certainly make great images. Something I have been slow to learn is making sure the background is not cluttered. The foreground should not be cluttered either, yet there must be elements that tell a story. Try different angles; from lower down, or moving to the side , even looking upwards.
The first image is about framing and the second is leading lines.
Practise makes perfect.
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Gwen and Kylie
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