I’m applying for my first Canada Council arts grant today. It’s been anything but fun. (Turns out, I would rather have my nails pulled out than write grant essays. I am assuming this feeling lessens with practice.) It’s an equity/disability travel grant and I’m hoping it will offset some of the costs of the Paris [...]
Category Archives: Coping With Chronic Illness
ME/CFS Awareness Day: 11 things of gratitude for 11 years of illness
May 12, 2012 – 11:33 am
Today is International ME/CFS Awareness Day. I’ve written a lot about my experiences living with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia. I was diagnosed at 12, and the first 5 years were the toughest of my life. Back in 2010, I wrote another post for ME/CFS Awareness Day about how art helped me find purpose in [...]
Between the strong and the small
May 7, 2012 – 9:42 am
I’ve spent most of this year flip-flopping between 2 states of mind. In the first state of mind, I am strong, confident, powerful, and focused. Everything goes swimmingly. Jobs show up, paintings practically sell themselves, and my voice is clear and strong. The words that I want to share flow freely from my fingertips. I [...]
An anniversary, remembering and moving forward
January 14, 2012 – 2:12 pm
Eleven years ago today, I got sick. The emotional effects didn’t hit me till weeks later, but today was the day it started – 11pm at night, suddenly awake and feeling ill. And then that feeling just never going away. It’s been a long road to the place where I am now. Last year felt [...]
I may be “disabled” but I’m sure as heck no victim.
April 6, 2011 – 9:52 am
On Monday, I was featured in an article in our local paper, the Guardian. (You can read it here.) It talks about my journey from being very ill, to creating a life for myself that I love. It’s a great piece and the reporter, Mary MacKay, really captures my voice and my energy. I’ve had [...]
Why you should never, ever give up.
January 11, 2011 – 10:15 am
I was writing a letter to my email list this morning, telling them about the ways they can help me go to France and how I’ll be donating a portion of the proceeds to the Creative Spirit Art Centre and trying to explain why that’s important to me. I realized though that none of you [...]
Mine.
July 13, 2010 – 2:29 pm
I am, occasionally, accused of working too much (usually by well-meaning friends). It’s probably true. I work a lot. Longer than 8 hour days, by far. Probably closer to 10-12. But it doesn’t usually feel like work to me. This is what I’d be doing for fun if I had a cubicle job. [...]
I’m back in the studio, baby!
July 10, 2010 – 9:52 am
This week has been fantastic as far as studio time goes. I am back on a creative roll! I just kept finding that flow. I contribute a lot of that to the Dance of Shiva. It just gets my brain all wired up for creativity. But the most important thing I did to go from [...]
Remembering myself
June 28, 2010 – 10:03 am
Recently, I was afraid someone was going to prevent me from participating in something because of my CFS. In the end, the decision was left up to me, but it pushed all of my buttons. It was like I imploded. Something inside collapsed, and all I could feel was sad, discouraged, listless. Sometimes I forget [...]
Painting the roses, healing my soul
June 22, 2010 – 6:27 pm
I woke up this morning, early. It happens sometimes when my sleep is drug induced – I was in so much pain yesterday I had to take sleeping pills last night to get any kind of relief. I pottered around for a few hours, did some web design work and then wandered into the living [...]
