Art for Recovery

We’ve had a lot of medical appointments this week and next week promises to be the same.

Nothing serious, I hasten to add – just a lot of it; GP; nurse: two-yearly hospital check-up; plus osteopath to straighten all the kinks out. Then GP, nurse and osteopath to come again this week and an MRI scan to follow. In the most part, the osteopath appointments relate to old sports injuries but the genesis of all these other appointments lies almost 40 years ago – so you can well imagine that there’s a lot of associated mental ‘baggage’ and I’ll admit I was feeling ill at ease.

So, yesterday, I went for a walk in the park – let fresh air, nature and the camera work their magic, I thought. And they did.

I breathed better; engaged better; saw more; my mind became quiet; that sense of dis-ease was dissipated – like fog burning off under the sun; I chatted randomly with two fellow-camera carriers; felt soothed; restored. Yep. Magical.

And when I got home, I sat with the photographs on the computer in front of me and re-engaged with that magic, processing the images playfully, instinctively, hopefully.

Roundhay Park, Leeds
#ArtForRecovery

Then, this morning, I saw a charcoal drawing by Liz Atkin on social media carrying the hashtag, #Art For Recovery and I knew immediately that it was the perfect way to describe this image.

The importance, to me, is not in how it looks or whether it’s ‘good art’ – but simply in the health-giving properties of the experience; it's the process of capturing it and processing it; then sharing it with you and telling you about it.

Note to Self:

More of the same, please.

Postscript:

Initially, I wasn’t completely sure what had happened yesterday – it wasn't explicitly clear to me how the magic had occurred. I just knew I felt the better for it. Sadly, I hadn’t fully appreciated that it was the ‘doing’ which was important, not the end result.

Imagining (wrongly) that the ‘better-ness’ could be made even more-better if I did something more to the image, I tried to re-work it last night to make it a ‘better’ piece of art; tried to work on the tonal range, add more texture to the white-space. And, instead of more better-ness I got more-frustrated with it and more-irritated.

So …

Second note to self (which, I hope, this journal-entry will help reinforce):

1. Quit while you’re ahead!!

2. Remember #Art For Recovery – the benefit to me is not in how it looks or whether it’s ‘good art’ – but simply in the health-giving properties of the experience.

Take care

Paddy

January 2020