In the news
Two years ago I changed my profile photo on my social media, to one of me wearing an orange sweater - because orange is the colour of CRPS awareness for my rare disease and chronic pain condition...
Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS), formerly called Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD), is the cause of the 'mild cognitive impairment' that stole my beloved bioethics career at the end of 2018.
This condition has also caused localized problems with my right hand and arm. These include bone and joint issues, and pain in both bones and joints. Also allodynia, an extreme sensitivity of the skin. Then there's the neuropathic or nerve pain (imagine Shingles pain, combined with both burning and frostbite), along with spasms, tremors, and more.
There are some full-body symptoms of CRPS as well, because it's considered to have both autoimmune and neuro-inflammatory effects.
That's how this one rare disease can cause so many different symptoms - in addition to chronic neuropathic pain - from full-body fatigue, to cognitive challenges, to spasms... and a long list of other issues.
It's a nasty disease, that's often PREVENTABLE with rapid diagnosis and treatment within the first 3 months.
Unfortunately it took me almost 3 months of fighting with one 'gatekeeper' specialist physician to even get a diagnosis - because he actively prevented me from getting a second opinion.
So now I raise awareness and advocate for other patients, so that this hopefully won't happen to anyone else!
This is how Art Despite Pain (#ArtDespitePain) came to be, using my art practice and resulting watercolour paintings to help raise awareness of chronic pain.
Earlier this month the Cornell Lab of Ornithology launched a contest, to win an enrollment in their newest online course The Wonderful World of Hummingbirds:
This “self-paced course features instructional videos, photo galleries, and interactive learning tools that reveal new dimensions of hummingbird life. Experience hummingbirds’ flashy transformations and discover the feather structures behind the magic, get up to speed on how they fly, and see how their bizarre tongues work. You’ll learn how to attract and protect them, plus receive special photography tips. This course is designed for anyone interested in hummingbirds and delivers a fun, science-infused look at these “flying jewels”.”
Although not about painting these gorgeous birds per se, any learning that helps me to understand an animal’s anatomy and behaviour will help me to better portray it – in my own way – with my watercolours.
Last winter I participated in a weekend watercolour painting workshop on owls, and was fascinated by how much the positioning of their feathers affects how they reflect light; this is important when trying to paint a realistic or semi-realistic bird.
To participate in this hummingbird course contest, all I had to do was share my own photo or other artwork featuring a hummingbird on social media – and tag the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
We only rarely see hummingbirds this far north, and only one variety; the ruby-throated hummingbird. I’ve never seen one land or settle for long enough to get a decent photo, but last summer a hummingbird visited our gardens over several days and I was able to create a watercolour sketch of its flight path as it flitted among the hosta flowers near our patio. I shared that painting, as my entry into the hummingbird contest.
A few days after tagging them on my “Hummingbird Flight Path” painting, I received a surprise message from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology… my little painting had won an enrollment in their new course.
That weekend, my dad passed away suddenly, so I haven’t had the heart to start this self-paced online course yet – nor to really paint again.
I’m slowly working my way back to my art practice, adding the finishing touches to some recent watercolours. And reorganizing portions of my studio space, something that I tend to do these days whenever I need some time to think.
Once I get back into the swing of things, I look forward to starting this course on hummingbirds – and to fulfilling a promise I made to a distant family member a few months back, to paint a hummingbird for their new home.
Stay tuned for some paintings of hummingbirds, over the next few months.
When my dad passed away this past weekend, we'd been making plans to do a few things together over the summer...
My sweetheart had retired this spring, and he and I had already written up a list of outings with my dad - all dates weather-dependent, of course:
1. Next Thursday, July 27, we were planning a day-trip to Rawdon, to where his family had a summer cottage for decades (and where we spent all our summers 'til 1976).
He and I had talked about this day-trip by phone last Wednesday night, and were meant to finalize our plans last Friday night during a BBQ at our place.. but my dad had already passed by then.
We'd talked about stopping to see Dorwin Falls, the lovely old stone Church where his dad is buried, and the house he rented the summer I was a newborn in the late 1960s.
Then we'd head to his favourite place in Rawdon for French fries, for either a late lunch or an early dinner, depending on what time we'd hit the road;
2. Thursday August 4th we'd go to the beach at Voyageur Provincial Park in Ontario, where he had a season's pass. Depending on the state of my old camping gear, we might stay and camp overnight;
3. August 10th we'd drive to the Long Sault Parkway, near Cornwall (Ontario), for another beach day and maybe another overnight tent-camping stay;
4. Aug 17 my husband and I had planned to take my dad out in our canoe, from the Anse à l'Orme Nature Park onto the Lake of Two Mountains, and paddle to La Petite Plage (the 'hidden beach') for a swim;
5. Aug 24 we'd take my dad to 'our' beach, the one just a few minutes from our home, at the Cap Saint-Jacques Nature Park.
I wish we'd had just a few more weeks with him, one last summer.
Miss you already, dad.
My dad was a guy who loved the outdoors and especially - as a Royal Canadian Navy veteran - the water.
Camping, canoeing, cross-country skiing, cycling, hiking, kayaking, skating, snowshoeing, swimming, walking; he did all this and more.
He passed on this passion for outdoor sports to me, one of the many things for which I'm grateful to him on a daily basis.
This weekend he skated off into the sunset.
There will be a brief service and Visitation on Thursday July 20, 2023:
Rideau Funeral Home
4239 Sources Blvd
Dollard-des-Ormeaux (Montréal)
. 1130-1300 Visitation
. 1300-1400 Service
. 1400-Family departs for Cemetery
. 1430-1530 Interment and prayers, with Scottish Piper (bagpipes)
The official Obituary should be published on Wednesday, in the Montréal Gazette, and will appear here once it has been posted to their website.
I’ve just received some fantastic news! Several of my watercolour paintings will be featured in upcoming issues of two different magazines, and not as paid advertisements. As an emerging artist, this is a real honour.
First off, there should be a brief profile of my artwork in OT Now – the online magazine of the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists (CAOT). The focus will be on how I use art to raise awareness of chronic pain, through my “Art Despite Pain” initiative (#ArtDespitePain).
This piece will also highlight the ways in which I’ve adapted traditional art practices to account for my chronic pain, cognitive disability, and other outcomes of my rare disease. Three or four of my watercolours will be included, as the Managing Editor and her team are still deciding on the final layout.
The second magazine is a local print and online publication, also in the area of healthcare. An upcoming issue will include a two-page spread on one of my chronic pain awareness paintings, for which I created a companion 3D model of one of the imaginary figures in the artwork. I also provided the text for this article, as a kind of How-To for artists and others who are curious about trying the 3D printing services available at several Montréal-area libraries.
Another of my watercolour paintings will also be featured in this issue, as the backdrop for a poem by a local amateur writer.
I can’t share images of any of these layouts until the magazines have been published, but I’m too happy about this news to keep it to myself any longer.
When I began learning to paint and sketch in 2021, I had three basic goals which were all intertwined with my patient advocacy for chronic pain as well as for my own rare disease; CRPS or Complex Regional Pain Syndrome. My first goal was to use painting and sketching as movement therapy for my right hand and arm, which are significantly affected by a long list of CRPS symptoms. My second aim was to treat artistic skills-learning as a form of brain-plasticity training for my CRPS-related ‘mild cognitive impairment’, to hopefully prevent any further decline in my cognitive function over time. Finally, I wanted to use my artwork to raise awareness of chronic pain – and as an integral facet of my patient advocacy and Patient Partner activities.
It will be lovely to see these three goals come to life, in two different upcoming magazine issues!
Not only was yesterday Canada Day, it was also the Vernissage or official opening of another art exhibition. The “Marvelous Montréal” art show is being presented by Artists in Montréal, a local arts organization, to raise funds for the nearby Sainte-Justine Hospital. Fifteen percent (15%) of all sales will be donated by the artists to the charitable foundation of this children’s hospital.
Participating artists were limited to one artwork each, all fifty-five (55) of which are now on display at the Valmi Gallery. Located in the trendy Outremont area of Montréal, this gallery is well-positioned on a street corner with two full walls of windows – it’s filled with beautiful natural light.
Unfortunately I couldn’t make it to the Vernissage, as my husband and I have been spending a lot of time at a rehabilitation centre while his dad recovers from major surgery in his 90s.
So I stopped by the gallery earlier, and was thrilled to see that my watercolour painting of a raccoon was one of the first artworks to greet anyone walking in the door. What a lovely surprise! Another nice surprise was to find that my raccoon was paired with a watercolour squirrel, painted by an artist I know from two other art groups. Sometimes Montréal seems like a small town, particularly within the arts community – a lovely feeling.
You can take in this free visual arts show from 1000 to 1800 daily, until Sunday July 5, 2023, at: Galerie Valmi, 1595 Van Horne (just north of Rockland Avenue), Outremont.
For those of you who aren’t in this area, here are just a few photos of the “Marvelous Montréal” exhibition.
After a cool and rainy start to spring here in Montréal, we had several spells of much warmer weather from late May into June. Too warm, in fact, as we’ve already broken several heat records. On June 1 “a 131 year old temperature record fell, with a high of 34.8C (95F), surpassing the 1892 record”. Then our traditional mid-summer humidity kicked in, earlier than usual, triggering several heat waves with RealFeel or Humidex temperatures above 38C (100F).
Although I could do without the humidity kicking up the heat, this warmer weather has meant that I’ve been able to get back to my favourite form of watercolour painting; en plein-air, or outdoors, off the back of my bicycle.
There’s a tangible sense of artistic freedom in setting off from home on two wheels, under my own power, with all the art supplies I’ll need packed into my saddlebags.
As a bonus, my trail-ready bike allows me access to secluded natural areas where the only sounds are birdsong and rushing water. I particularly enjoy riding the older and almost abandoned trails within local waterfront nature parks and reserves, so my plein-air paintings are often scenes of the creeks, lakes, and streams in the Montréal Island area.
Painting en plein air isn’t something that I can do in cooler weather, because my right hand and arm are affected by CRPS rare disease – which makes this limb extremely sensitive to cold temperatures – so it’s something that I’ve been looking forward to since early last autumn. Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) is also responsible for my ‘mild cognitive impairment’, and for the severe and constant chronic pain in my right hand and arm.
That’s why my motto is Art Despite Pain, because I’m painting in spite of this nasty rare condition and the multiple autoimmune and neuro-inflammatory issues that it causes – and because I’m using watercolour painting as a form of movement-therapy for my affected limb, combined with aerobic or cardio exercise as part of my pain-management plan. And one of the reasons for which I began learning to paint a few years ago was research showing that art skills-learning could be used as a form of brain-plasticity training, that might help prevent further cognitive decline over time.
Painting off the back of my bike isn’t only fun, it’s a way to combine different aspects of my disease-management plan and to share the beauty of our natural world.
Last night I attended the opening night vernissage for another art event in Montréal. This one was to celebrate the exhibition of Montréal's annual city-wide visual arts competition, in which I won First Prize in the amateur Watercolour & Gouache category last year. Past prize winners are ineligible for any new awards for a period of four years, which means that I can’t win any prizes in this competition until 2024. I was still invited to participate in the exhibition, with one artwork, so of course I was happy to do so!
The first photo shows the moment the doors were opened, the view into the centre of this large gallery; the following two photos show the right and left sides of the long exhibition space - and some of the crowds.
There was already quite a good turnout at 1900, despite the dinnertime schedule!
As for my painting, I chose this particular watercolour because it's a local scene. I painted this one from a series of photographs that I had taken during a rest stop on one of my bike rides, just a few kilometers from this art show.
This old boat was intermittently catching the light, as it drifted around its anchor in a sheltered bat on the Lake of Two Mountains. I was drawn to the gorgeous shimmering light of the boat's reflection in the water, and know immediately that I wanted to paint it.
This art show continues until July 5, 2023, with no entrance fees or tickets needed, so feel free to drop by. It's open every day except Mondays, and also closed for the Canada Day holiday on Saturday July 1, at the Pierrefonds Cultural Centre (lower level), 13850 Gouin Boulevard West, Montréal.
Weekends: 1300-1700
Monday: Closed
Tue-Thu: 1300-2000
Friday: 1300-1700
Visiting an art show is a lovely way to celebrate the transition from spring to summer, so I hope you'll be able to stop by before July 5, 2023!
A lovely surprise was waiting for me this weekend! I'd just started reading the latest issue of Artists Magazine, which I'd received in Friday's mail. My sweetheart and I were sitting on our patio quite early in the morning, having coffee and enjoying the sound of birdsong. I flipped one of the pages of the magazine, and my name in print caught my eye.
At first I thought it must be another artist with the same name, but as soon as I saw the title of the page I realized that I was indeed being quoted in an art publication!
Back in mid-April, I replied to a question on the publisher's social media, asking: "What is your favorite seascape painting of all time, and why?"
I then forgot all about that question, and my response.
The Artists Network, by the way, publishes several print and digital art magazines, including Artists Magazine, Paste Journal, Southwest Art, and Watercolor Artist.
They occasionally ask a question, through their social media, and then select their preferred responses to highlight in their posts – or even to publish in their print magazines.
Are you wondering now which seascape I chose, as my all-time favourite?
This is what I replied to that question, and exactly what appears on page 14 of the July/August issue of Artists Magazine:
"My favorite seascape is Claude Monet's Twilight, Venice (also called San Giorgio Maggiore at Dusk or simply Dusk) for its use of luminosity and brilliant colors, particularly in the water and reflections."
Isn't it gorgeous?
Note: I can legally post a photo of this artwork only because this Claude Monet painting is now considered to be in the 'public domain'; he died in 1926, and the copyright term in effect are the author's life plus 95 years (i.e. to 2021). This particular photo of Twilight, Venice is from WikiMedia Commons.
I'm truly honoured to have been selected as the Artist "Client of the Month" by a Montreal non-profit organization, in recognition of my intertwined art practice and patient advocacy.
YES Montreal provides three different streams of programs and services; one for artists, another for employment and job-search assistance, and one for entrepreneurs and small-business owners. This organization has been active in our area for almost thirty years, due to Montreal's "thriving creative landscape, encompassing everything from video game development to music to visual arts".
Within the arts sphere they "offer a variety of artist focused workshops and events that will help you grow your artistic practice", which is particularly helpful for emerging artists like me.
I've taken a number of virtual webinars and workshops with YES Montreal since last year, and was even juried into their one-day outdoor pop-art show last summer; "What the Pop!" 2022. It was a fantastic event, run as an outdoor art fair, and I adored having the opportunity to chat with visitors about my art - and to raise awareness of chronic pain at the same time.
You can read my interview-style profile on the YES Montreal website here:
June Client of the Month: Sandra Woods
