Can painting improve your health?

I have always known and advocated that Art heals mental illness issues. I myself suffer from manic / depressive problems and it is when I spend too much time doing Left Brain activities which rob my creative time from me that I have episodes. When I feel this coming on I make time to Paint (no matter what) and become “Lost” for the day in it. I emerge healthy and centered again. As a result of this belief I am recommended to parents of troubled children as an Art Teacher so they can paint with someone who is like them and understands their demons and how to tame them.

Sandra, that is very interesting. Since autoimmune and many types of mental disorders stem from physical hormone or neurotransmitter imbalances, painters are “resetting the balance” by spending time painting. Imagine getting a prescription for hours of painting to make you feel better! If doctors understood how this works, it would be the greatest thing since antibiotics. The best part is that it actually works.

I struggled with depression until I began painting. Now, I am living through a serious cancer journey and face the very real likelihood of not surviving it. Painting has lifted the weight of depression and given my life joy and meaning.

Several years ago I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia (unknown at the time). After many doctors’ visits, 2 trips to Mayo Clinic, I dis-covered the treatment that works for me. Painting/drawing, etc. While attending a local art class, I would have to lie down on the couch for awhile and then get back to the easel – it worked until now I can go to my studio and enjoy the pleasure of painting with little or no pain. Some days do not require even one Ibuprofen!! Blessed.

Dorothy – I agree with you about painting being like meditation. When painting, your attention and whole being is drawn in and focused. I sometimes do not hear someone talking to me and then I know I am really in the right place. My husband (a writer) was advised by his priest that when unable to pray, to write – write anything – and that was his prayer. And whether it is prayer or meditation, painting, writing, whatever your art is, your soul and humanity get fed.

I also have an autoimmune disease and have noticed a significant reduction in discomfort when I paint. But I think it is because endorphins are released in the body. I identify the same pleasant sensation after walking, gardening, or a full body massage as when I’m painting (and writing, but to a far lesser degree because it is static. Too much sitting and the reverse is true.). It is more than just feeling content doing what you know you should be doing. I find it interesting a mental occupation produces the same effect as physical. Athletes and joggers describe this same endorphin response as an “exercise high.” I don’t know the chemical connection between serotonin and endorphins, except I’ve read there is one. I just know I feel better painting.

Meditation has proved very healing for any number of conditions. Since painting or any activity where one is completely immersed in the moment is basically a meditation, ergo, painting is a healing activity. After and enthralling painting session, I certainly feel more at peace, happier and relaxed. According to a friend, art activity is as close to our inner being as is meditation-

Funny-I have had the exact opposite reaction. Sometimes after a long session of painting, I may get a migraine that evening especially if I am under some other stress from daily matters or a business problem. I think that painting can be stressful as well as relaxing. Sometimes if a painting is not going well, the intense concentration and sometimes frustration can lead to stress on the body.

I find painting and drawing to be meditative, and therefore healing. I have turned to painting throughout my lifetime to release stress. I have found that sketching in the doctor’s office while waiting for my appointment makes the time fly, and when my blood pressure is taken it is always good because I am relaxed.

Donna may need to look at the migraine triggers she avoids on the days she paints. The opposite can happen for me if I’m so obsessed with painting that I forget to eat.

I find that the periods of depression occur when I do not paint or do any other art-type activities. Art is very therapeutic, especially for those who have or had experienced periods of depression. The best tip for painting during those “dark days” is to chose a happy and/or a comical subject matter.

When I read the current newsletter about painting and migraines, and especially the “esoterica” part, I thought it would be good to send that to the state and federal legislators who think that cutting funds for the arts is the first thing to do when a government body says they need to balance the budget. Somehow they cut the arts first ’cause they think it’s just “fluff”, I guess. Makes me real angry!

Methinks it is the inhaling of the ketones,aromatics and aliphatics that clears the head. Only an old chemical peddler would know of this solution.

I started painting three years ago and since that time, I am able to relieve my stress. My general health has also improved. Nevertheless, in the medical field, painting is used as a therapy, even with people with chronic illnesses. Furthermore, today we hear too often about violence everywhere, even in the family structure. To be an artist in the 21st century has less value and is not appreciated at all. The galleries are empty. Finally, for me painting will always be the path to reach the goal of my life.

It is true about the sanctuary of painting it does give a sense of tranquility in our hustle and bustle of our busy life.

I have had chronic migraines as far back as I can remember. My daughter has the same affliction and yes it is probably my fault. While painting doesn’t stop or ward off my migraines, I find that I do my best work (whatever that may be at the time) when I have one. Of course I have to motivate myself up off my ass to do anything but as I get older that seems to be easier to do. Could it be that, in line with your letter, Donna is already thinking about painting before she gets up which probably gets the serotonin flowing and wards off the migraine. As for triggers, atmospheric pressure will do it too.

Painting creates a special internal space that we can take refuge in.

Definitely! I have known women who have stopped drinking, smoking, just because of silk painting. For myself, it is definitely my escape and inspiration. Am sure my blood pressure goes down several points when I am painting, and in the FLOW, as they say. Even if it is to splash dye all over and create a piece to be cut up and used in another composition…

Of course it can help. Music therapy, art therapy are useful for physical pain as well as emotional. Jackie (registered art therapist).

Very Interesting. According to a piece I heard on the (CBC)Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Alzheimer’s patients in Ottawa are being given the opportunity to paint. When ask about their paintings they are able to communicate fluently and articulately but the same people are unable to have normal, simple conversations. Making art stimulates the brain in ways we don’t fully understand yet. Perhaps everyone with mental health issues should be given art therapy.

This letter has given me a bit of hope. Maybe art would work with other health issues too. Maybe painting again would help my situation. I’m on my way to being diagnosed with a disease that often ends up really crippling people. And I am not happy about this. Emotionally I’m swinging back and forth. I love to paint. I’ve even sold several paintings, but it seems life has gotten in the way lately for letting me paint. I have had some empty canvases for months just waiting for me to paint them. I’m going to have to think on this.

Love MacDonald’s work.

I think of painting (or any creative endeavor) as a means enter the ‘altered state’. Anyone who has spent hours painting with intense focus suddenly realizes that hours have passed, and it may have only seemed like minutes. Time does not exist in the altered state. It is the soul, singing.

We are on to something…I suffer chronic pain and I find when I’m really getting into my painting I don’t feel as bad.

I got a migraine yesterday while painting, looking into bright sunlight while trying to paint the seascape.

A lovely article Robert, nothing quite like being in the Zone!

You bet it can! I am on my second round of chemo in 4 years, and I actually have a blast in the studio during the treatments. There is no such thing as normal in this situation so when I’m ready to dance at 4 am I just head to the studio and do some of my best work. Maybe the drugs help, so my friends say, but getting lost in my art makes time fly and the rewards are fantastic!

Peace restless hearts find peace in creating… soulful passion emits a silent force of dreams, alive Forever

For me, the beneficial feelings accompany the satisfaction derived from a productive painting session. Even though I’ve been painting for 40 years, it doesn’t always happen. The same holds true for seasoned participants in the world of golf.

I totally endorse the healing aspects of creating art. For me, it is a totally transcendental, meditative experience. Very much like practicing scales on the piano, or learning a difficult piece. I agree with most of what you stated, except for the ‘inexpensive’ part in your last paragraph. I find that the cost of creating art is prohibitively expensive, especially living in the wonderful and beautiful and remote West Kootenays of British Columbia. I do stop feeling the horrific back pain, when I am painting, and I do stop worrying about the other problems of life that I, and everyone else experience. For me, painting is somewhat like an addictive drug, and apart from the cost of supplies, harmless and soul enriching.

I just wanted to thank you for including my letter in your twice weekly letter to artists. I’ve had some wonderful feedback via email. The live comments are really interesting as well. I may send this along to my doctor as she seemed surprised when I said that painting helped my migraines. Thanks again.

This spring I helped lead a 8 week session of Art with early dementia clients and their caregivers for Arts and Alzheimer’s in Victoria BC. The act of creating art was a calming and positive experience for all. What began with sketchbooks and coloured pencils, moved on to watercolour, tinting b/w photos and collage of road trip pictures of Vancouver Island. From the client responses during the sessions it was found that Art was the highlight of their week, they asked and looked forward to meeting together and being creative, even involving their family’s interest in ways not seen before. All that was needed from me was enthusiasm, empathy and excitement in making Art a creative experience for all of us. This session will expand to 10 weeks this fall, and enrollment will increase to 15-20!

A question was put to a group of sick people by a Native American Medicine Man….”WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU DANCED?” Painting is like a dance as when we release our creative spirit we dance the dance of personal and emotional freedom. Next time you enter the studio put your music on a little louder and ……dance.

Donna is very fortunate that painting stops her from getting a migraine. I too, have had migraines since I was 13, and get them no matter what I do or don’t do. When I have a migraine, there isn’t much that I can do. It is hard to focus on things when you feel bad and are in pain. However, I can paint when I have a migraine. I have actually accomplished a lot of painting when I take a sick day off from everything else and just spend the day in my studio. I listen to an audio book, and paint. Between those two things, my mind drifts away from the pain.

I credit painting with helping me to lead a full and happy life after a car accident gave me a permanent chronic pain disability. I was so bored and in so much pain that I picked up my brushes again, and lost myself in the world of art – and I haven’t resurfaced yet! It’s more than just being lost in the zone and painting until you drop (which on some days I literally do) it’s also about losing yourself in a passion- so that even when you aren’t actively painting you are thinking about art, thinking about the business of art, thinking about everything – it’s all about discovering your passion and living it to the full, rather than losing yourself in the pain and the feeling of loss that can come through it. it’s documented that chronic and/or frequently recurring pain can cause depression. Art is also excellent for treating depression. it’s more than just the act of creating, it’s even more than the fumes- it’s about reaching inside and exploring your feelings and finding a way to share them with the world. it’s about feeling like you are part of the world again.

What about pain relief from the wound of love lost? Yes, while memories flicker, the brush goes on and forms a new entity, bereft, yes, but it is also whole, loving, caressing, and not without joy. Stroke by stroke, color by color, the canvases mend.

This letter’s topic, the possible therapeutic nature of making art, is of inherent interest to me as an artist and a person who suffers chronic pain, often severe despite the medications. I have to chuckle too that this subject should follow the newsletter on the superiority of women. In addition to all the wonderful qualities that characterize so many women is the sad fact that they also out do men in a whole host of poorly understood, much less diagnosed or adequately treated, illnesses which all seem to have to do with having or processing enough serotonin. But doing art is my salvation on two levels. The actual doing, being engaged in painting, and the fact that I do art, that I am an artist and create things of interest and beauty on my best days. There is no doubt that painting, once I get into the zone, takes center stage for hours, keeping pain far in the background. Activities that take complete attention can do that. For instance you can find yourself surprised at how far in the background your pain was when you conclude a great conversation. But, for me, art and sex are the most complete diversion from pain. The catch-22 can be getting to that activity. Of course one always has to pay the piper at some point. And that is when the second aspect of art as salvation plays a role in keeping pain in line. The pain will reassert its dominance as I tire or on bad days and once I put my brushes down for the day. It can be so frustrating when the pain determines my thoughts and actions, when it “wins”. I find myself hurting and worn out at the end of my painting day, and I am not as productive as many of my friends. Still the pain has to share space with a large sense of satisfaction of a day well spent. And, on my best days the pain has to make room for a powerful and wonderful sense that I am able to perform magic. Overall doing art, the act and the fact, that powerful magic of creating, serves me very well in maintaining a sense of perspective in which, pain or no, I am a very lucky person. The pain can be very frustrating in all the ways it can limit my life but that all seems to pale by comparison to the fact that I get to do art at all. One lesson my chronic pain has taught me well, and to my great benefit, is that even though we may not be able to control the circumstances we can control the attitude we take toward those circumstances. Pelham, MA 413-256-6859 tfain@sadri.umass.edu

Focus on anything absorbing is good to take your mind off what’s bugging you, including pain.

Certainly in my experience painting has improved my health. Naturally, it will take a long time for the medical profession to dot the I’s and cross the t’s. I’m saddled with a genetic condition that causes chronic pain among other niceties. Since 2006 I’ve been unable to work and, at the suggestion of a career counsellor, I renewed my childhood passion for art. I began with watercolor and on the days that I wasn’t feeling good enough to paint I simply opened my palette, looked at the beautiful colors, smiled, and went back to my resting. Over time I noticed that when I pushed myself to paint I got a different result than when I pushed myself to do housework. I began looking forward to my painting sessions and showing my hubby the results. I began looking forward to living! I signed up for art classes at ACAD for a year, then found Sharon Williams’ Watermedia all year class through Chinook College. I’ve morphed through many stages of obsession; mixed media and acrylic followed watercolor, altered books, and this summer I’ve added oil painting. Now I paint as much as I can and I make it a priority – I LOVE It and it takes good care of me. Calgary, Alberta, Canada

One of your best letters! Thank-you!

ahhhhh painting and fishing – two passions requiring patience and persistence – where is my fishing pole

I began painting 5 months after my oldest son, SGT A Joseph Derrick was KIA, Baghdad, Iraq September 23, 2005. I began painting from the images on his flash drive that came with his personal effects. Words can never express what being able to bare my soul on canvas has meant to my inner healing…..the grief is always there, but I am using giclee prints made from these paintings to encourage the military family my wonderful son left behind as well. I truly feel a heart connection to my son when I paint and believe he is well pleased with my feeble efforts. I can not imagine life without painting/creating. Thank you for allowing me to share. Suzy Shealy www.suzyshealy.com suzy@suzyshealy.com Proud Mother of a Fallen Hero