Stories & Achievements: Sue’s Story
Sue’s story: a colourful heart (video)
Sue is an amazingly creative person and since her stroke has found her happy place again, with brush in hand.
“I’ve always been an arty crafty girl and did advanced art in high school. I used to do tapestries and I was in the rag trade, so it’s always been that type of thing. I love coming here to Blackbutt. It’s very peaceful, it’s very calm. I feel very relaxed when I’m painting and I’ve got a beautiful companion.
Tanya from Headstart supports me. I love her because she’s amazing. She’s very helpful in so many ways! I just seem to escape into a paintbrush and canvas and I love creating. The thing that annoys me is when people say ‘Oh, you should have put the green there’ or ‘you should have put yellow down there.’ I say ‘Excuse me, this is my work. I wanted the green here and the yellow there!’
I think it’s because I was an only child and always had to find things to entertain myself. So I’d paint and make tapestries. It was just something to keep busy and occupy myself My dad was a cabinet maker so maybe I picked a few things up from him along the way.
I worked in the clothing industry as a pattern maker. I started work when I was 15 and nine months old in a company called Freidelle Children’s Wear and if you’re an older person, you’d probably know of it. It was very famous, very expensive children’s wear. I worked there for about four or five years. Then I went into ladies wear and worked for the company that made clothing for Katies.
My brain injury happened two days after my 50th birthday. I told my friend that I had this massive headache. She remembered that I’d been complaining about having some headaches prior. Her husband rang the ambulance and I had a stroke just when they turned up.
“I was in a hospital for over nine months and I was in a coma for four months. But God wasn’t ready for me. ”
I’m a Taurus. That should say it all really.Taurus means someone who loves animals, loves creatures, loves the planet, loves plants. After my aneurism I stayed with some friends and I went and did my horticultural certificate, because I loved plants. There was one fellow who told us to go home the backyard and find all these creatures and write a story about it. So I wrote stories about worms and bugs and characters. I said to my teacher,‘Excuse me, why do I have to kill a creature to put it in a magazine story, just so you’d know what I’m talking about?’ So I drew pictures. He did pass me but I was very concerned that he wasn’t going to!
After my aneurism, I was in Westmead hospital and I then with friends in Blacktown. Then I moved up to Newcastle. I’m now in Hamilton at a hostel. I have an easel at home in my room. It’s quite a large room but it’s very full. I’ve got all my paintings across the easel and I grab people and say ‘come and have a look at my paintings!’ I went on a jewellery binge for a while, making jewellery for all the ladies in the house.
Every week I still go to mosaics. We used to go to mosaics at Wallsend and there was a sign that said ‘Disability is not inability.’ So I took it off the wall and got the lady to photocopy it for me. I love that sign because it’s just so true.
Then I went over to South Hamilton that particular afternoon and Sue McHattie was still at Headstart. So I knocked on the door and asked Sue to have a look at this. She said ‘Ah, that’s brilliant. Would you do us a mosaic sign?’ So I did! The lady from my mosaic class provided all the tiles and everything for me to make it so that was nice of her.
Well, I do believe that disability is not inability. Until I had my aneurism it never occurred to me that there were people out there that had problems. OK, I knew people had problems, but how they actually overcame them - or learned to live with them or deal with them. It was something that had never occurred to me before.
Right now I’m painting a peacock. Why a peacock? Because they’re beautiful birds. I bought the card and I’ve got the colours. This one’s a printed one, but I have previously pre-drawn and painted peacock’s that Tanya photographed here at Blackbutt. I love it here!” - Sue.
““It’s rewarding working with Sue and seeing her growth change and just joining her as she hones her art. It’s awesome to see that she gets so much joy from it! ”
“I love that sign because it’s just so true. I do believe that disability is not inability. ”
