Dbee Robinson Artist - The Fat Struggling Menopausal Artist

Thought a picture of Scarlet Johanson's nose job would be nicer than me Face Ache! Well that's a name I was used to being called when I was younger, (one of many,) now I actually am a face ache. It's been 3 months since my surgery.  Surgeons call it Rhinoplasty and Septoplasty, but my Husband calls it body juggling, where they moved more bits of my body to sort out my face. So to date I have had, rib bone, pelvis bone, ear skin and cartilage and skin from a place i'd rather not mention, all put into my face to sort out the cleft palate. I have also had a prototype brace which 40 years ago was just fuse wire and clips which impaled itself on the inside of my mouth for over 2 years and cracked my back teeth, had a tooth removed in order to have a bone graft and ended up luckily with a bridge rather than dentures.  And to be honest I have no idea if Scarlet has had a nose job, the picture is meant to show celebrity before and after from a website POP Hitz . Now ...

Nanna and Me Now I can really see my birth defect was NOT all about me. I was not the only one suffering! This is the earliest photo of me I can find. It is of me and my Nanna who, I was told, had a special spot in her heart for me, as I was 'special'. This photo must have been taken just a few months after my skin graft when my lip was stitched up. (The bone would be grafted to close the hole in the roof of my mouth when I was older) I was a baby born in the 1960's with a Cleft Palate and recently watched 'Call the Midwife.' (https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0c1x6qn/call-the-midwife-series-8-episode-3) The program had a huge effect on me from start to finish. The sense of admiration and sadness for my parents, especially my Mother flowed over me like a Tsunami. I have only really considered how I coped and was affected by my cleft. I was always appreciative to my parents for their love and support with all my issues eating, the operations, dent...

Well its been a whole year since I endured a facial bone graft to rectify my cleft pallet. Its been a long and slow journey and I'm pleased to say the awful infection that damaged my initial bone grafts has not returned. ( Touch wood!!! ) I felt so ill for so long, over 4 years in fact, that I had forgotten what it was like to feel well, from total exhaustion all the time to my skin being too painful to touch. Now I am so happy to say I have nearly forgotten how ill I felt as I feel so full of energy again. Although it is still difficult to eat normally as my mouth still feels a little numb in places, it is all gradually coming back and have hope that the feeling in my mouth will fully return in time.  This painting above is called 'Contemplation Journey 1' and was purchased during my 6 week solo art exhibition "Lost and Found"  held in Penang, Malaysia at the gHotel. It is watercolour and ink on rice paper and I feel it shows my slow uphill journey back to h...

Hubby is taking some well earned holiday at the moment so we drove up to Salisbury to see The Terry Pratchett exhibition. I must say it was wonderful although I did feel quite sad Sir Terry is no longer  walking this Earth amongst us but, like the painting, is playing chess with DEATH and possibly winning? If you haven't visited the exhibition yet, do go if you can. Not only is it quite interesting on his life and work, its great art that is so detailed you can walk back past them more than once as I did and still see things you had missed. Oh to be as talented at Paul....one can only dream! The journey to Salisbury was, as always, bitter sweet. It brings back memories both happy and unpleasant. I spent some time in Odstock Hospital just outside Salisbury to rectify my cleft palate. Skin and bone grafts eventually gave me a face with a smile and a mouth able to take a new prototype brace. Thanks to my Dad I was lucky enough to have one of only 5 prototype braces in the U...