I don’t have a choice that I have Parkinson’s, but I do have a choice what I do with it. I want to go forward to my Happy Place. ~Sue Edge

Multi-Talented Sue Edge…Artist, Poet, Producer, Entrepreneur

Sue was diagnosed with PD in 2010 and was forced to retire for medical reasons in 2015. She had worked the previous thirty-seven years as a teacher in Western Australia including Halls Creek, Central Desert, Pinjarra, Carcoola and Mandurah. Sue spent the first six months after retirement feeling lost, but trying to find a purpose. Her first creative efforts were fairy houses and wind and sun catchers. However, Parkinson’s affected her fine motor skills, and she found the small detail work impossible to execute. So Sue’s search for her Happy Place resumed.

Color Her World

Although she had never been able to draw or paint, she loved color. Inspired by her childhood nickname Big Bird and Lucky Legs, she began painting birds. She discovered that her quirky emus with their big personalities made people smile and made her happy.

Smile and Be Happy

Poetry in the Wee Hours

Besides painting, Sue was especially prolific for four months in 2017 when she wrote poetry in the middle of the night. She found that she had to get up and write the poem down before going back to sleep. To Sue’s amazement, she is better able express on paper what is in her head since having PD. She is now in the process of editing her collection and hopes to self-publish by the end of this year. Sue wrote the following poem in January 2017 which appears on her blog.

Awake Again!

Awake again at stupid o’clock
Wishing that I had a huge, sharp rock
To fling at that Parkinson’s annoying head
So I could sleep peacefully once more in my bed.
Wishing that I could be free once more,
To do things without them being a chore.
To be free from this ever present pain
And be able to do everything normally again.
To not be scared of freezing at inappropriate times
And be going back to work Instead of making up rhymes.
But wait…..what’s this I hear?
That ‘think positive’ bug is in my ear
Telling me to look for the good
And not go moping all over the neighbourhood.
So I’ll haul myself out of bed
And go pedal on my exercise bike instead.
Singing along with The Beatles, a bit out of key
But showing the world it’s good to be me!

PD is a family affair in the Edge household. Her children Josh and Tash are supportive. Sue has also written a children’s book based on her two granddaughters’ viewpoints. Her grandson wanted to be involved as well. So he named her book Our BobbleHead Nanna. She also hopes this book will be published. In the meantime, her younger granddaughter is helping her to make it into a video for an upcoming Parkinson’s convention.

Parkinson’s Philosophy

Sue’s philosophy is “PD does not change the fact I have a life. It changes the way I do things. Dream, believe, adapt and achieve. Adaptation is key.” For example, when she struggled with the repetitive motion of putting dots on the bird paintings, she adapted. When she played music with a distinctive beat, she successfully painted the dots.

Painting to the Beat

If her hand does not want to hold a paint brush when she is ready to do a background, she simply puts the paint on her hand and paints. Michael J. Fox would agree that Sue has found “a way through it.”  “You can be creative with PD,” Sue acknowledges. “There are days when I am painting that I am at peace. I can go longer between off periods. Painting takes me to my Happy Place and sometimes I feel normal and without symptoms.”

Exhibition Leads to New Venture

Sue’s artwork has appeared at two exhibitions held at the Niche, the headquarters of Parkinson’s Western Australia. She sold fifty-eight pieces and donated 20% of the sales to the PD Nurses Programme. Her goodwill caught the attention of an organizer of an art competition, and she was asked to enter.

Emus–Part of Sue’s exhibit at the Niche

Paintings Become Wearable Art

After winning $100 voucher to a framing shop, she discovered they made coasters from photos. Sue purchased coasters featuring her favorite paintings to give as gifts. But people wanted to buy them! One resource led to another and since coasters, she has designed leggings, yoga pants and tote bags. Her best sellers are coasters, scarves and shopping bags. She covers her costs, donates some proceeds to the PD Walk in the Park fundraiser for PD WA and then buys new stock with profits.

One of Her Favorite Emu Paintings is a Best Seller

The Art of Production and the Power of Goals

Influenced by her education career, Sue wanted to produce the rave review Kinetics play at Fishtrap Theatre in the Mandurah Performing  Arts Centre to raise PD awareness. Kinetics, written by actress  Sue Wylie of the United Kingdom, is based on her true story of coming to terms with her unexpected diagnosis of Parkinson’s at the age of 50 and her friendship with Lukas, a teenage boy struggling with his diagnosis of ADHD and who is into Parkour.

Sue’s friends helped build the set, and the leading lady was an ex-colleague. Grants flowed in from several organizations. Rehearsal started in February of 2019, with the opening in May. Ninety-nine people attended the first night, surpassing the projected thirty to forty! The reaction was fantastic with a total of 264 patrons attending the remaining four productions. Once again Sue  proves it is possible to live with purpose while battling Parkinson’s.

The Unsteady Hand

Her latest project is working with Mo Onstad’s “The Unsteady Hand” model based in Colorado Springs. She offered the first creative workshop in Australia on August 1 for people with PD based on “re-imagining Parkinson’s and promoting improved quality of life for those living with Parkinson’s through communal creative engage.”

Workshop modeled after The Unsteady Hand

It is unimaginable what the multi-talented Sue Edge will do next! What a pleasure interviewing her on Parkinson’s My Way.

Keeping in Touch

To learn more about Sue and her creations, go to

Facebook
Video
Art on Merchandise
You can also email Sue at noosemum@gmail.com

Question: Do you have a hobby or activity where you lose all sense of time when engaged in it? You are calm and peaceful and for a time you forget all about Parkinson’s. Please comment.

Blessings!
Linda

The post Sue Edge Finds Happy Place is Creativity appeared first on Parkinson's My Way.

Michele Keir’s First Painting Completed in 2018

Artist Michele Keir

How It All Started

“When I was five years old I overheard my kindergarten teacher tell my mother I am an artist. I knew from that moment on,” says Michele Keir. Mr. Robertson, who was her art teacher in both seventh and twelfth grades, was a graduate of Pratt Institute. He was the biggest influence on her educational choices. She grew up in New York and graduated from Pratt Institute with a bachelor of industrial design and a concentration in advertising design and pottery electives. While at Pratt, Michele won the 1968 Alumni Day banner competition where she experimented with juxtaposing colors and patterns. To this day she describes ”learning that out of all the talented freshmen at Pratt I was one of four artists to win that Alumni Banner competition is her most amazing moment as an artist. I only entered the contest because it was mandatory.”

Love Affair with Color and Pattern Begins

Blessed to Work in Art Field

Michele graduated during the 1971 recession and oil shortages. She was the only one in her department at Pratt who got a design job at graduation. She started in the Art Department of Hasbro and had the distinction of creating the images of the first two production years of the ”Weebles Family.”

She was dating her husband-to-be and dressed the father Weebles similarly to him. “He was the first “preppie” I had ever dated. Everyone else wore denim,” she says. She worked for Hasbro followed by Milton Bradley for six and one-half years. From there, using her training from both Pratt Institute and Rhode Island School of Design to be a creative problem solver and inventor and to never stop a train of thought, she made a career as a graphic designer, product designer and potter.

Finding Pleasure and Purpose in Parkinson’s

However in 2013, she was forced to retire due to Parkinson’s disease. Michele was no stranger to this disease. Her father died after a three-year struggle with Parkinson’s just before she began classes at Pratt. Although genetics is a rare reason for getting Parkinson’s, Michele’s brother and sister also eventually became PWP.

Painted Nails Inspire Abstract

Years ago, when Michele was first diagnosed, she discovered painting her nails stopped her tremor. “I was painting wild designs on my nails years before it became vogue. One day I noticed my nails looked like my tulip garden and  I took a photo of my hand with the flowers behind. Then, for no particular reason, I uploaded the photo and used my computer graphics knowledge to abstract the image. I was intrigued and compulsive about creating this way. I just painted my nails, photographed my left hand in different parts of my house and had fun abstracting the images until I saw something I liked.”

All the designs were derived from photos of Michele’s tremor hand. She printed and framed the images and sold inexpensively with an average price of $50 donation to American Parkinson’s Disease Association. In the end, she raised over $12,000 for Parkinson’s research.  She did not keep any money to cover her costs. “Except for my husband paying for my expenses, this was a one woman fundraiser,” she says.

Another Pleasure and Purpose of Parkinson’s

The Kiss by Gustav Klimt, Photo credit www.gustav-klimt.com

This past year Michele started to create art as a kind of personal therapy to take her mind away from the reality of Parkinson’s. The Austrian artist, Gustav Klimt was one of her favorite artists during college because of his use of patterns and colors. Her favorite Klimt painting, The Kiss set in a profusion of patterns and colors has reemerged to influence Michele’s art. She also recalls appreciating Lee Bontecou’s three-dimensional art at the Museum of Modern Art when she was a student. “I never anticipated being a fine artist. I didn’t think I could create without a reason. Never before have I created art without a teacher, boss or client limiting my creative process. It is liberating to not have to please anyone but myself. Having disposable income to buy my materials and having unlimited time to experiment are big contributors,” she says.

Blue Dog

Michele is always evolving techniques and style. “The only constant seems to be my love of color and creating things unconsciously from my mind. I am an innovator. I surprise myself.” For example, she did not set out to create a blue dog in relief/assembled style. “I glued down found objects to a canvas and just started painting patterns. I kept turning the canvas around until the dog jumped out at me. I attribute that technique (if you can call it that) to Mr. Robertson, my seventh grade art teacher,” she explains.

Home Studio

Studio Creations–Miniature Portraits for 70th Birthday

“I create at all hours of the day and night at my home studio in Warwick, Rhode Island. Parkinson’s decides that for me as I am awake a lot at night,” says Michele. When walking downstairs to her studio became problematic, she relocated her studio in her daughter’s former room. Michele is preparing for her 70th birthday party by painting a miniature portrait  place card for each of her guests.

Happy 70th Birthday

Photo Credit: Nick Stephenson

According to The Lion King lyrics, it’s the circle of life, and it moves us all through despair and hope,  through faith and love, till we find our place, on the path unwinding. In the Health Monitor–Guide to Living with Parkinson’s Disease magazine, Michele Keir is interviewed on tips and adaptations that keep her active and fulfilled. She emphasized “use all the tools available to you.” Turning to art is one of her go-to tools. In essence, she has returned to her love of color and pattern this past year that inspired her creations at Pratt Institute over five decades ago.

What a rewarding and productive year she has had! As a result of this joyous endeavor, her home is overfilled with her explosive art. In an attempt to have her art seen by others, she began entering local juried exhibitions the latter part of 2018. Michele’s art is already exhibited in eight places the first six months of 2019. She also has four “one woman shows” scheduled through November. When she discovered an April invitation, she responded, “It is my great pleasure to be offered this one woman show at The Gallery @Sprout CoWorking in Warren. This exhibition is the best seventy year birthday present I never expected! “  See video below.

Keeping in Touch

If you would like to contact Michele to purchase a creation, arrange an exhibit or see her additional work, please visit her website or email her at  keirdes@aol.com

Question: Pretend you are attending one of her exhibits. What would you ask Michele?

It has been Parkinson’s My Way’s pleasure to publish this interview on Michele’s 70th birthday and during Parkinson’s Awareness month.

Blessings!
Linda

The post Finding Pleasure and Purpose in Parkinson’s appeared first on Parkinson's My Way.

Double Delight

“Lively”
“Full of personality”
“The eyes are looking right at me”
“Amazing eyes captured so expertly”
“Follows my movement with relentless gaze”

These reactions reflect appreciation for Donna Krenicki’s artistic talent and innovative digital dog art.

Donna Krenicki

Donna grew up in Connecticut, and she has been creative since a child. Her father encouraged her to paint, and her mother taught her to knit, crochet, embroidery and sew. Eventually, those interests led her to earn a bachelor of fine arts from the University of Connecticut.

Married for thirty-four years, Donna and her husband John have three kids and two kids-in-law, a dog, a grand-dog and a grand-cat.

Living in Awe

Donna Krenicki found the ideal settings where she can pursue her passions and care for herself. She and her husband live on Longboat Key in the winter and Cape Cod in the summer. As a result, Donna photographed these soul-stirring sunsets.

Longboat Key, FL Sunset

Cape Cod, MA Sunset

Young Onset Parkinson’s Diagnosis

Donna was diagnosed with Young Onset Parkinson’s disease in 2010 when she was forty-nine-years-old. For at least five to six years before that conclusion, she was told her symptoms were due to menopause. Since diagnosis, she only has a minor tremor. She also has been successful in silencing  her symptoms such as dragging left foot, stumbling, and cramping hands, arm and feet  due to three commitments.

Hiking in Acadia National Park

Body, Mind and Medicine

Donna believes that keeping her body and mind active is not negotiable. Therefore, she stays active physically by walking, running, swimming, playing tennis, golfing and biking at least two hours a day. Although she has always exercised, one hour a day was common prior to Parkinson’s diagnosis. Through her creative endeavors including painting, knitting and cooking, she is active mentally. Finally, she takes medication. She says “the effect Parkinson’s has on my art is that I paint much more because I know I have to keep my mind active. I feel I need to get it done today because who knows what tomorrow brings.”

Open to Innovation

Her love of dogs is a powerful inspiration. However, her method of painting digital dog portraits was discovered by happenstance. Donna shares, “I paint on my iPad using my finger. I use an app called Sketches. I found the app while I was sitting in an airport, trying to pass my long layover time about four years ago. I was immediately hooked.”

Dots on Pots

During the first six months of digital painting, she concentrated on flower and food still lifes. Then she experimented with buildings and cities. Meanwhile, her dog Abby was patiently waiting to be her Muse. All it takes is one look at Abby’s portrait and you know Donna is going to be in demand for pet commissions for a long time to come!

Digital Dog Portraits and A Cat

Abby–Donna’s Awesome Aussie “You can always find hope in a dog’s eyes.” Author Unknown

Not to be overlooked, the grand-dog and grand-cat digital portraits were Christmas presents for the kids.

Grand-Dog Bucky

Grand-Cat Sunday

Contemporary Realism

Donna describes her style of art as contemporary realism. “I paint realistically but not photographic real. I like to stop painting when the subject begins to be recognizable. I use bold, intense layers of color.” When she paints with acrylics and oils, she works in her home studio, often in the evening.

Acrylic Work

Portable Painting

Donna creates digital artwork wherever she carries her iPad. “I paint in bursts. Sometimes five to six hours a day. Sometimes days go by without painting. But I do draw/write in a journal every day,” she says. It is not unusual for a person with Parkinson’s to experience creative bursts of activity. Prior to Parkinson’s diagnosis, she was busy raising her children and driving them around. Months would pass by without any painting.

Artist Cottages Orleans, MA

Open For Business

During the summer of 2018, Donna exhibited at the Artist Cottages in Orleans, Massachusetts for two long weekends and three weeks. This charming group of eight garden sheds located at Orleans Market Square is available to Cape Code inspired artists to sell and showcase their work.

Keeping In Touch

If you would like to commission Donna or to see more of her work, please visit:

Website:   dkrenickiartist.com
Facebook:  DKrenickiArt
Instagram: dkrenicki_artist
Email: krenickij@aol.com

Question:  Of the art featured in Donna Krenicki’s profile, which one is your favorite and why?

Blessings!

Linda

The post Digital Dog Portraits by Artist Donna Krenicki appeared first on Parkinson's My Way.

Peace by Frances Bertles

Frances Bertles

Frances Bertles showed her creative side during childhood when she made mud cakes with her brother. She was quick to make the distinction between mud cakes and pies. “You can decorate mud cakes, but you can’t cut mud pies.”  Later she was destined to decorate Zintangles and boxes. Frances grew up in Conway, a tiny town located on Fir Island in Washington. She married her sailor boy, Dennis, and raised three children military style by moving every few years. Frances and her husband live in their forever home in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. They recently celebrated their 62^nd wedding anniversary which she credits in part “by respecting and enjoying their differences.”

Parkinson’s and Drawing

Frances studied art history at Mohave Community College. Her interest in art has involved a myriad of objects including fiber, hammer, nails, paint, glue, rocks, computer parts, and other found items. But it was Parkinson’s disease that brought her to ink and paper two years ago. She has lots of experience with this progressive neurological disorder since her grandmother and mother had the disease. Her daughter also has Parkinson’s. Frances was diagnosed with PD when she was 75. She knew nothing about ink and paper drawings or Zentangles. What she did know was the interference Parkinson’s can have with balance and handwriting. “I don’t think in a straight line, so to be smart and careful, I had to pick a safer way to create. Paper and ink just happened because it could possibly keep my handwriting from leaving me. I thought of it as an exercise.”

Zentangle Reference

A book by Becka Krahula  inspired her to get started. One Zentangle A Day: A 6-Week Course in Creative Drawing for Relaxation, Inspiration, and Fun gave her a step-by-step process for creating the artwork. “The steps have shown me a safe place. A place to just be. No questions, no answers, just peace,” Frances says. Over 500 drawings later, here is how she does it.

Zentangle Process

A Beginning Point

Frances works with Micron pens and graphite stick for shading. She keeps an eraser on standby if the shading is too dark. She uses any kind of paper as long as it does not bleed. The first time the pen touches the paper, a journey has begun. For her, it is the journey and not the destination that is important. “I enjoy the space on the page. I make random and sometimes connected lines on the page. Those lines create spaces and those spaces are now the journey.”

Taking Shape

Although she works in one space at a time, the approach varies from space to space. One space may be decorated with triangles or with a net. Or she lets the Parkinson’s stroke fill the space.  “When I start to shake, I have to decide whether to push the pen or to pull it. Some days pushing is better than pulling. It is a simple remedy. I just turn the paper. I keep breathing on the journey and take a step back and look. Some spaces create an image when they are combined and the destination is in view. Sometimes, I don’t know if I have arrived at the destination or just run out of room on the paper!”

Adding Decorations

Zentangle Benefit

Frances enjoys creating the portable drawings in airports, living rooms, dining tables, doctors’ offices, and camp sites. She draws at least five times a week and prefers to work with 9” by 12” and smaller sheets of paper. Sometimes the Zentangle is completed in one sitting. It is not unusual for her to work three hours at a time. “I get lost in some of them and don’t know time. The pen and paper is calming. I do not feel fear or uncertainty about Parkinson’s. The peace comes in doing the intricate parts and the repetition,” she says.

According to Cathy Malchiodi, PhD, by refraining from planning and allowing the lines and shapes to unintentionally emerge, you stay in the here and now. You do not need to know the end result. You will figure it out as you go along. An anxious mind is calmed, and you are relaxed.

Great Granddaughter’s Art Lesson

I have studied art for 75 years!

Color or Black & White?

Frances enjoys doing art together with her five-year-old great granddaughter and smiles as she recalls a conversation. She looked at my work and said, “It would be pretty if you colored them.”

I like the drama of the black and white. Don’t you?”

She replied, “Yes, and they won’t be pretty unless you color them.” Then she stood with her hands on her hips and said, “I have studied art for 75 years and I know they won’t be pretty unless you color them.”

“Later we traded our work. She took five of them to her room. I bet she colored them!”

Either way the drawings are dramatic and beautiful!!

What else is Frances creating?

Although she does not work in a studio, her husband built her a 10 by 12 shed for her crafts prior to her ink and paper interest.  This place for her hammer and nails has recently become a spot for another creative endeavor. Her definition of art is “making something from what was into what is with excellence.” Frances admits, “I have a box thingy going on out there. I think everyone needs a box to put stuff in. So I decorate boxes. I picture them on a bedside table to capture dreams or ideas.”

Keeping in Touch

If you would  like to connect with Frances regarding her decorated ink and paper drawings or boxes, you can find her on Arts & Such PWPs  

Question: Do you have a hobby or activity where you lose all sense of time when engaged in it? You are calm and peaceful and for a time you forget all about Parkinson’s. Please elaborate.

Blessings!

Linda

The post Zentangle Calms Artist with Parkinson’s appeared first on Parkinson's My Way.

Karen Bryson’s Painting on Wood with Left Hand

Karen Bryson

Karen Bryson discovered her talent for art when she was four years old. She loved to draw and color she recalls. “It took me to another place. Art always, and still is, my happy place.” She grew up in Erie, Pennsylvania. She and her husband raised three children in Upstate New York. Living on the Gulf Coast of Florida now, she is inspired by palm trees and beaches. Her three children and soon-to-be six grandchildren are occasional muses.

Mother and Child Watercolor of daughter, Amy and granddaughter, Paige

She is also inspired by another unexpected force to continue to paint. When she was fifty-seven, she discovered she has Parkinson’s disease, a degenerative neurological disorder with no cure. “When I was first diagnosed, I thought about not being able to do art with my right hand which tremors. So I decided that day to start using my left hand.” Three years later Karen can paint with both hands. Although she still does fine detail work with her right hand when it cooperates, she is training her left hand to do fine detail as well. Still another proactive approach is learning to finger paint with both hands.

Karen’s Studio–Her Happy Place, Her Safe Place

Because PD symptoms  often feel out of Karen’s control, art is still one thing that feels in her control. She describes her small studio in her house as “her happy place, her safe place.” One of her favorite paintings is a watercolor of her grandmother adorning her studio and making her feel good every time she looks at it.

She does not keep structured hours in her studio, just when the mood hits her. Since PD, the mood is often. “Having PD has been a blessing when it comes to my artwork. I don’t know why it’s happening, but my mind is filled with ideas. There has been a creativity explosion. I am driven to create. When I am in that zone, it’s hard to contain it. It’s hard to sit with hubby and watch television when I have ideas swirling around.”

Flea Market Finds–Art Inspiration

One idea swirling around was to do something besides painting that incorporated using wire. As Pablo Picasso said, “The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from all over the place: from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider’s web.” Karen collects items from flea markets and yard sales that catch her eye and keeps them in her studio.

One day she was playing around with different pieces to see what would fit together. “When I placed the inverted wire cage on top of the glass bottle, ‘She’ popped into my mind. I have no other explanation. I had to determine how to secure all of it. I also wanted to use the framework for a  papier-mâché head, so that took more thought.”

Karen finds these kinds of little side projects quite fulfilling and great brain food. Her customers love them too.

Mrs. Doubtwire

Karen has a talent for connecting with others through her art. While motorcycling, Karen and her husband encountered by happenstance a man who had kayaked out to a remote island and spent the night. After sharing some photographs of the sunset he had taken from the island, Karen asked if she could use one as a reference for a painting. He later sent a photo, and she created a watercolor. In the meantime, she discovered he was a police officer with many years on the force. So she sent him the painting as her way to pay it forward in appreciation for his service. “The painting belonged on his wall, not mine.”

“The most awesome experience I can have as an artist is to see how my art touches someone’s heart,” she says. Recently she painted two dogs that perished in a tragic house fire. Their owner not only lost her two beloved pets, but she also lost her home and everything in it. After Karen heard her story, she asked for pictures of the dogs and the house. The owner also shared a picture of wispy rainbow clouds that appeared in the sky after the fire. The effect of Karen’s intuitive and compassionate work is illuminated by a family member’s comment. “You captured their eyes in this painting as Tuck and Bailey captured our hearts! Awesome talent!”

King Tuck and Bailey

Parkinson’s and painting are inexplicably linked for Karen. But often her PD  is forced to the shadows. “The actual act of painting frees me from thinking about PD. I am able to get lost in my artwork and forget about even having Parkinson’s. It’s great therapy, so I make it part of my daily life,” she says. Enjoying Karen’s artwork is therapy for us as well! If you wish to see more of Karen Bryson’s art or commission work, please visit K Bryson Art As I See It on Facebook.

Winston Churchill said, “Never, never, never give up.”  Karen has embraced her challenge with purpose while helping others. This profile will end where it started with the leaning palm trees painted totally with her left hand. Karen sent this painting to a woman in Arkansas who is in advanced stage of PD  “to inspire her when she feels like giving up.”

Question:  Of the art featured in Karen Bryson’s profile, which one is your favorite and why?

Blessings!

Linda

The post Creative Life of Artist with Parkinson’s appeared first on Parkinson's My Way.