If you’ve been following along on this journey – of a bioethicist become rare disease patient and chronic pain advocate – then you’re probably already aware that I started learning to paint two years ago. Almost two years to the day, but not quite.
I was working in bioethics, or healthcare ethics, when I was struck with a rare disease in 2016. By the end of 2018 that same disease had caused a number of health issues, including a ‘mild cognitive impairment’. That’s because this condition, Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS), is considered to be both an autoimmune disorder and a neuro-inflammatory condition.
CRPS primarily affects my right hand and arm, with chronic neuropathic pain, bone and joint issues, skin changes, spasms, tremors, and more. But my entire body is affected by autoimmune fatigue and other immune system symptoms, while with the neuro-inflammatory facets of this bizarre disease leave me with memory deficits and trouble with my concentration and focus – particularly when reading or writing.
At that point, due to the cognitive issues, I had to step away from a career that I loved. I often say that CRPS stole my bioethics career in 2018. A few years after that, I decided to find out whether my other lifelong dream – other than bioethics – could serve as a form of DIY (do it yourself) movement-therapy and brain-plasticity training… And a way to help me deal with fairly severe chronic pain.
I’d already gotten involved in chronic pain patient advocacy, and as a Patient Partner in several healthcare research studies, and had been using my amateur nature photography to raise awareness of chronic pain. Are you wondering what that other lifelong dream was, that I mentioned?
It was learning to paint, with watercolours. Apparently the most difficult medium, much more challenging than oil painting or using acrylic paints. I’d been seeing research for some time showing that art practice – actually creating art – could be beneficial for both chronic pain and for cognitive impairments, so decided to give it a try with some free virtual-but-live sessions led by wildlife artists on ZOOM.
And I fell in love with watercolours, that very first session. My attempts at painting were absolutely horrible, but I knew I could get better – I literally couldn’t get any worse at that point! And also from that very first day, from the first time I held a paintbrush in my CRPS-affected hand, my artistic practice has been intertwined with my chronic pain awareness and outreach activities.
That first time I picked up a paintbrush was January 27, 2021, and I couldn’t have imagined how much I’d love it. Nor how large a part this art practice and interwoven chronic pain advocacy has had on my life over these past two years.
My paintings have already won a Montréal art contest and a national art award, and I’ve had pieces in almost twenty group art shows – both virtual and in galleries or public buildings.
And this week, for the first time, I have paintings in three different art exhibitions – all at the same time.
The “Entre-Nous” gallery exhibition at the historic Trestler House, marking that building’s 225th anniversary, opened on January 19th and continues to March 19, 2023. The “Painted Postcards” gallery show and paired online auction with the Laguna Plein Air Painters Association (LPAPA) runs until February 27, 2023. This is my first participation in an international exhibition, being held in Laguna Beach, California (I’m in Montréal, Canada).
And this week the third art show opened, a virtual event presented by Artists in Montréal (AiM). The theme of this “Virtual Valentine’s Art Show” is ‘Object of My Desire’, and I took a nature-lover’s approach to this one. My painting is of a kingfisher flying low over the water. What does a kingfisher desire? A fish, of course! So mine has a little fish in its beak as it flies off to enjoy its meal, or maybe to bring it home for some hatchlings.
You can this virtual exhibition by clicking on the Artists in Montréal link below. Keep an eye our for my watercolour painting; it’s number 32 “I Got One: Kingfisher”.
https://www.artistsinmontreal.com/s
As always, thanks so much for stopping by. Keep well, stay safe, and look after yourself. You’re worth it, and you deserve it. Oh, and before I forget, feel free to reach out over on Instagram or Twitter; I had to disable the comments feature here on the blog as it got to be too much for my cognitive issues to handle. But I do love hearing from you!