As of tonight, another one of my watercolour paintings is on display in an art exhibition. The Opening – or Vernissage – for this new show took place earlier tonight, with only one guest allowed for each artist and requiring vaccination passports and masks. As of tomorrow it will be a free public art show, but access to the Vernissage tonight was by invitation only.
This exhibition features paintings from the City of Montréal Art Contest, and continues until January 9, 2022 at the gorgeous Pierrefonds Library in the western portion of Montréal Island. This award-winning Library is worth a visit in itself, but now it’s even better. My painting, of flamingos at dawn in the Camargue nature preserve in Provence, didn’t win any prizes in this city-wide Art Contest – but it was fun to paint this scene from a photo I took there 20 years ago.
On a more personal note, most of you know that I had to step away from a career in bioethics – that I adored – almost 3 years ago (December 21, 2018), after being struck with a “mild cognitive impairment” (MCI) as a result of my rare disease. Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) doesn’t cause ‘only’ excruciating neuropathic and joint pain, but also a long list of other localized symptoms like joint ankyloses (deformation) and skin colour and temperature changes – as well as more systemic challenges including full-body fatigue, cognitive issues, and more…
This broad range of symptoms is because CRPS is both an autoimmune condition and a neuro-inflammatory disease. So on a daily basis I deal with cognitive issues and high-impact (severe) chronic neuropathic and joint pain, along with a host of other symptoms. The pain symptoms are ‘only’ in my right hand and arm, even if I am right-handed. But because CRPS affects primarily the limbs, I consider myself lucky not to have it in one or both legs.
How bad is CRPS pain, really? Well, it’s the only chronic pain condition for which amputation of a limb – an arm or leg – is medically considered.
After I had to stop working at the end of 2018, I put my healthcare experience to use – to the extent that I’m able with an MCI – helping other CRPS patients. One frequently-raised topic is non-medical therapies for chronic pain management; from exercise, to mindful meditation, to yoga, and almost everything from A to Z! I stumbled across some research on art as a movement therapy, and was intrigued.
So earlier this year I decided to try to learn to paint for this reason, as well as for potential long-term cognitive benefits. Despite the challenge of cognitive impairment, and using watercolours – the most challenging medium!
It’s going well, I think… I had 2 paintings in an art exhibition at the Centre d’art Montréal Art Centre (CAMAC) last month, and 1 painting in this new art show. I donated three of my watercolour paintings to charity fundraising events this fall, all of which were purchased, so my art has helped a hospital foundation as well as some community services.
And then, in November, I won the inaugural Art Competition of the Canadian Pain Society, in the (Pain) Patient category.
I suppose the moral of this little story is to never think it’s too late to try something new, or tell yourself “I can’t”.
Happy Holidays, and thanks – as always – so much for stopping by! Stay safe, keep well, and look after yourself over the holiday period. It can be a difficult time for many people, so feel free to reach out over on Instagram or Twitter… I’ve had to disable the Comments function here on the blog as it got to be too much for my cognitive impairment to handle, but love hearing from you ‘-)