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Semicolon Trail

With the bushfires out, floods dried up and Covid-19 easing; mental health and suicide prevention is still a massive issue that we need to talk about.

The semicolon has become a powerful symbol for mental illness and suicide awareness and prevention.

Semicolon paintings have been placed up and down the Blue Mountains.

From Glenbrook to Mt Victoria. These paintings are there to start conversations.

50% of sales will be donated to Black Dog Institue

As people are returning to the Mountains or locals wanting to support local businesses, we want you to visit one or more of the places on the Semicolon Trail. Take a selfie with the painting and post it on Facebook or Instagram

#semicolontrail

@semicolonongoingsupport

Natasha Simon artist with the Blue Mountains mayor Mark Greenhill
Natasha Simon artist with Susan Templeman MP for Macquarie & Blue Mountains

The places you can find the paintings include:

Ebony & Ivy – Glenbrook

DCH  (Dan’s Coffee Haus) – Blaxland

Michelangelo’s Italian Restaurant – Blaxland

InkFx A Tattoo Shop – Springwood

The Bunker Cafe Bar Restaurant – Springwood

20 Mile Hollow Cafe and Produce – Woodford

The Hasty Tiger – Hazelbrook

Ben Roberts Cafe – Lawson

Susan Templeman MP office – Lawson

Cafe 92 at The Conservation Hut Cafe – Wentworth Falls

The Wayzgoose Diner – Leura

Little Niche Nosh – Leura

The Little Lost Bookshop – Katoomba

True to the Bean – Katoomba

Savoy Restaurant – Katoomba

Blackheath General Store & Cafe – Blackheath

Cobweb Collectables – Mt Vic

Petalura Eatery – Mt Vic

Thank you for your support.

If you would like to display a painting contact:

@semicolonongoingsupport

#semicolontrail

#mystoryisntover

Finish the trail for your chance to win a FREE miniature.

Inspiration

2 things changed the direction of my career last year. 

1st “13 Reasons Why” – the show made me want to work with bullies and try to help the suicidal. 

2nd the semicolon movement. This symbol saved my life, this tiny little dot and a dash can save lives because our story isn’t over.

Watch S2 of “13 Reasons Why” and looking closely. I see ; in every episode. I see hope.

So I decided to do something with this new inspiration. I decided to paint 30 paintings with a semicolon and sell them at an exhibition then give half the proceeds to a suicide charity. Then I got a semicolon tattoo. Then I organised the event. Look for the paintings on my blog and stick around for the announcement of how much I raised. And after? You’ll hear all about it because my story isn’t over!

Semicolon Charity Exhibition:

June 2&3, 11am-3pm 

The Gardners Inn, Blackheath NSW

Half the proceeds go to SAP (Suicide Awareness Project)

Buy a painting, help raise funds for a really important cause. 

One Dark Hour

One Dark Hour.

Things are good in life. I have my Diploma, I have my pool, I have job prospects, I have good friends and a loving family.
I am on meds and should be stable and I am but the lately I have been teary at night and feeling a mixture of a heavy weight and a piece is missing.

I see beauty in things I never noticed before like a flower with so much detail and several colours or the way my cat sleeps with one eye open and follows me everywhere I go. I taste every bite of food and enjoy every mouthful (if it’s good) I make plans and am excited about what comes next… but then a wave of sadness and I can feel all the pain in the world for just a moment. As I cry I feel every inch of pain I’ve ever felt, every time I was let down by someone I cared about, every time I thought too highly of someone, every mean word the bullies said, everyone I have lost and every physical health issue. They flood my thoughts and my tears flood back and I am overtaken by it.

This mental illness is so evil. Even when things are good I can still feel so low. I allow myself an hour of being sad and then I have to put it away until tomorrow. If there is a big loss I give myself one day to mourn it then put it away.

I use grounding exercises to bring me back to right now and remind myself that things are good and that I have been through worse, and I am ok. I sleep and then wake up ok. During the day I am ok.

But every night the sadness creeps back in, the flood begins but I only let this beast have one hour. Then I close the flood gates and am a fully functioning stable human being.

I wish I could balance it with one hour of mania a day, oh man so many presents from eBay would come. But no!

I have it under control. I check in with my doctors and I am ok. This is just a thing I have to do now so that I can have 23hrs of ‘normalcy’ or peace. It’s a very fair trade.

I feel guilt and shame because I know people have it worse. I hate my dark hour but I need it to have light.

It never gets so dark that I want to leave. I want to live. Having the semi colon symbol has helped so much because MY story isn’t over yet. My story has many more chapters, many more happy days and only one hour a night off.