Three years ago, in January 2021, I started learning to paint – and to draw/sketch – as a way to help me deal with the severe chronic pain and the mild cognitive impairment resulting from my CRPS rare disease. At that point, to be honest, I’d have been hard-pressed to draw a stick-figure!
By then I’d already become a patient advocate and Patient Partner (co-author) in pain research, since being struck with CRPS in 2016, so my new art practice was intertwined from the outset with my pain advocacy activities. So my Art Despite Pain [#ArtDespitePain] initiative grew organically out of this, using my art to raise awareness of chronic pain and to encourage others living with pain to try creative pursuits because of the strong research evidence showing their benefits.*
By 2022 I’d won two different art awards for my watercolour paintings, to my utter surprise; one a city-wide Montréal prize, the other a national art contest. And although I’d almost completely transitioned from amateur nature photography to amateur painting, one of my nature photos came in second – with an Honourable Mention – in a national contest run by an art foundation. My watercolour paintings have now appeared in more than 25 group exhibitions, and I’m already preparing for a solo show in April.
The basis for all of my paintings, as well as for my nature photos, is the idea of “composing” or planning the shapes within a frame or photo shot… creating a pathway for the viewers eyes to follow, as they move through the scene. The foundation for this, as I quickly learned when I started trying to paint, is sketching – or basic drawing. It’s so important in making a scene or object seem at least semi-realistic in a two-dimensional image, to be able to sketch it – and its shadows – with at least some level of accuracy.
Like many creative or sports activities, sketching is the kind of thing that improves with practice. So to get back into the habit of doing at least a quick drawing each day, I set myself a “sketch a day” self-challenge for January. So I thought it’d be fun to share a few of my first sketches of 2024 with you.
Now it’s YOUR turn = Why not try to do something creative today, if this isn’t already a part of your life?
Colouring with your kids or grandkids, doodling on paper or screen, painting, woodworking, writing a poem, or anything that appeals to YOU.
If you need some additional encouragement to add some creative activity to your life, feel free to read this piece in the New York Times*:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/22/well/mind/art-mental-health.html
The notion that art can improve mental well-being is something many people intuitively understand but can lose sight of — especially if we have become disconnected from the dancing, creative writing, drawing and singing we used to enjoy as children.
But there’s a “really robust body of evidence” that suggests that creating art, as well as activities like attending a concert or visiting a museum, can benefit mental health.”
As always, thanks so much for stopping by. Feel free to reach out with any comments – over on BlueSky, Instagram, LinkedIn or X (formerly Twitter). Or in the Guestbook/comments section of my art website. Because of my CRPS-related ‘mild cognitive impairment’, I’ve had to disable the Comments feature here on this blog because all the spam became too much for me to deal with on a daily basis. I love to hear from you, but can’t manage the Comments here anymore.
I wish you all the best for the New Year, and beyond!
