Chronic Pain Art: ‘Within the Shadows of Pain’

 

Today, I want to take the time to write about my piece of chronic pain art titled ‘Within the Shadows of Pain‘. This is my first piece of artwork directly inspired by my experiences of living with Fibromyalgia and Lyme Disease. This is a very personal piece and it was created using watercolour and coloured pencils. It is available as a Limited Edition print in my shop.

Why I Created ‘Within the Shadows of Pain’

For a long time, my creativity was stolen from me due to chronic illness. Pain, fatigue and brain fog stole my ability to conceptualise ideas and I struggled to sit upright for any length of time to actually draw or paint.

It’s been a very long process but– after years of chronic illness– I have been fortunate to regain much of my health and, with this, has come the return of my creativity.

To me, it made complete sense to use my artistic skills to convey how I felt during the difficult times I experienced. In a lot of ways, I find it easier to express how I felt using the medium of art.

My hope is that– by sharing my art– I may offer solidarity and hope to others who are in (or who have been in) the same situation as me.

Art Is Open To Interpretation

Real quick before I begin, I want to say that art is, of course, open to interpretation. And, I always love to hear what people have to say about my art and how it speaks to them.

This post is simply me sharing my thought processes behind the creation of ‘Within the Shadows of Pain‘.

I welcome alternative thoughts on how you see the piece (so be sure to comment and let me know).

The Theme Behind My Chronic Pain Art ‘Within The Shadows of Pain’

The main theme I wanted to express in this artwork is the invisibility of chronic pain.

One of the biggest difficulties of living with conditions, such as Fibromyalgia, is that they are considered invisible illnesses.

How someone looks is not an indicator of how they actually feel. Not only can the symptoms be invisible, but the impact these illnesses have on someone’s life can be too.

My aim was to depict the invisibility, isolation and suffering of chronic pain, whilst also offering glimmers of hope within this artwork too.

The Woman In the Painting

The focal point of this piece is a white woman with dark hair, scraped back into a messy bun who is walking through a field of lavender. Her hair hides her face.

She wears a thorn crown on her head, which has a small butterfly sitting on it.

I deliberately decided to obscure the woman’s face with her hair because I did not want her to be identifiable.

The idea behind this decision is that she could be anyone as chronic pain and illness does not discriminate.

(And as a disclaimer: This is merely a concept as I fully appreciate that a white woman is not inclusive and doesn’t represent everyone with chronic pain. Though it is not a self-portrait, for this piece I took inspiration from my own characteristics/traits and experiences when creating the subject).

Details Of The Subject

Her Appearance

I wanted the woman to look well put together on first glance. You would never know she was carrying the burden of chronic pain by her appearance alone.

Yet, there are signs if you look for them.

For example, I deliberately decided to paint the woman in this chronic pain art piece to have a pallor appearance.

This is because a pale complexion was one of the subtle yet visible signs of my chronic illness. For me, I often looked– as us Scots would say– peely-wally.

How pale I looked was one of the ways someone who knew me could tell if I was having a particularly bad day.

Her hair is scraped back in a low bun because I rarely had the energy to do anything with my hair. And, on first glance, her hair may look elegant but on closer inspection, you can see it is quite messy with frizz/loose strands of hair.

My hope is that I have conveyed invisible illness with her appearance; that she looks perfectly normal but if you pay attention you will notice subtle signs that all may not be as it seems.

The Red Lipstick

I deliberately chose to depict her wear red lipstick. The colour is contrasting and almost a little jarring as I actually wanted this to stand out.

I wanted to portray that wearing make-up is not necessarily a sign that someone is having a good day or doing well.

Too many women are not taken seriously by medical professionals because they wear make-up and look well put together.

I write about this topic in this post if you would like to read more.

Her Clothes

With her clothes, again, on first look I wanted her to look quite elegant. In actual fact, she is wearing a white silk robe.

Many may not realise but getting dressed was at one point a huge achievement for me.

It sounds silly, as it is something that most take for granted, but the energy needed to get washed and dressed would absolutely wipe me out.

More often than not, given I spent a lot of time confined to my bed, I stayed in pyjamas and only changed into clean pyjamas.

Not only that but when you are in chronic pain clothing and things like tight waistbands can hurt! Wearing loose pyjamas and a robe was often the only comfortable thing to wear.

The THorn Crown

Although I wanted to convey invisible illness in this art piece, I also wanted there to be an obvious sign of pain. Essentially to show that we always carry the pain with us; even when we look well we still suffer from it.

When thinking of something conspicuous to represent the burden of pain, the first thing that came to my mind was a thorn crown.

I initially wanted to shy away from the use of a thorn crown because of the significant religious connection.

However, I felt a strong connection to this imagery as it also made me think of hardship and endurance.

Within this thorn crown, there sits a small yellow and purple butterfly. The butterfly represents hope and transformation; that life and pain are not static and things can change and improve for the better.

The Background of this chronic pain Artwork

Initially when I was playing around with the idea for this piece I was going to do a detailed background. I quickly decided against this though.

Instead, I opted for an out-of-focus background. I felt this best-conveyed isolation.

In addition, I wanted to portray the idea that chronic pain can sometimes be so all-consuming that we lose the ability to take in the colour and detail around us.

This can be seen in the lavender that is dull and lacking detail and vibrancy behind the woman.

Darkness Vs Light

You will notice that the background behind the woman is also darker than what is ahead. I wanted to have a ray of light coming down in front of her.

The idea being to portray hope; that there is always light to be found even in the darkest of situations.

As she is moving forward, the darkness hasn’t completely disappeared, but there is more light, detail and colour to be found. You will notice that the lavender is bright, more colourful and detailed.

I specifically chose lavender as, to me, it represents calmness. And, I wanted to use it as symbolism that acceptance and peace can be reached.

SOlidarity & Strength

My wish for ‘Within the Shadows of Pain‘ is that it offers hope, solidarity and strength to those who see and identify with it.

Limited Edition Prints

Limited edition prints of ‘Within the Shadows of Pain‘ are available in my shop.

This is a limited edition of 50 prints and once they are gone I will not produce prints of this piece ever again.

If this artwork speaks to you and you’d like to give it a home, click here to purchase.

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I’d love to hear your thoughts on my chronic pain art piece ‘Within the Shadows of Pain’. Comment below with your thoughts.

further reading:

• Oska Pulse Review: What Is The Oska Pulse & How Does It Work To Reduce Chronic Pain?
• A Few Notes on Working with Chronic Illness & Creating a Future For Myself
• Recovering from Fibromyalgia, CFS & Chronic Lyme Disease

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