Category Archives: The art of pain

Distraction art

Creative flow is one of the methods I use to distract from pain.

Yes, I know, I also would have punched someone in the stomach had they told me to distract from my pain with meditation or art or anything other than pain killers but then I learned I had a disease that didn’t respond very well to pain killers so, I had to try.

Turns out the brain is REALLY good at distracting itself from pain, so who knew?

So when I hurt badly enough that I can’t “normal” but not so badly that I am utterly flattened I turn to paints and paper to create myself some pain control.

Lately I have been using acrylic paint pens with brush tips. Here are some of my recent creations:

Poetic bliss…

Poetry and I have a long standing relationship.

When I was a child I spent hours writing poems in journals, sometimes I would even put them to music. Somewhere in my rambling house is a series of journals filled to the brim with the least discerning poetry ever written. Some of it is good, I remember, but most of it is the kind of stuff that makes one think of Sweet Valley High novels.

Then I took a break from poetry. I learned technical wordsmithing and stepped away from the comforting world of creative writing.

Then I discovered Haiku Fridays, right here on this blog, in 2006. I spent a lot of time writing Haiku while my kids played at my feet.

Lately the poetry has been flowing again, demanding attention by waking me up in the middle of the night with fully formed verses demanding a paper and pen.

I’ve given in.

As of the first week of February I am taking a hiatus from the gallery and spending a year collaborating with a sister spoonie on a book of poetry.

To begin the journey I have been honored to have some of my work shared by the Southern Plains Land Trust. You can view it here: https://twitter.com/SouthernPlains/status/1356307578230226944?s=20

You should also keep your eye out for some of those Haiku I was talking up. I created a series of Valentines ecards for a February fundraising campaign.

Stay safe loves.