Abide

Illness - Coping | Art journal pages that, at the time or in retrospect, deal with my feelings and experiences with chronic illness.

Looking for something else, I found this photo-set that I made long ago at flickr. I'd forgotten how often I made art journal pages about my illness, and my attempts to cope with it. Perhaps it will speak to someone else:

 

 

(This isn't working as a slide show, not sure why. Will research and try to fix it. The one at Watermark is working ...)

I MISS ME

   

   

I MISS ME

For Digital Scrapbooking Studio’s layout artist Play-Along competition (Artistic Style.) Everything is from The Urban Fairy (A Little Frustrated, himb, Inside, Stressed, & Today Is Hard.) The fonts are Catandra Script & bulkyRefuse Type.

   

   

FIBROMYALGIA

   

   

FIBROMYALGIA

For Digital Scrapbooking Studio’s layout artist competition (Artistic Style.) Made with Angel Hartline’s kit “This Woman’s Work.” The font is akaDora. The poem is mine.

   

   

Coping with Illness

Coming back online after a long absence, a friend reminds me to pay attention to this blog as well as Watermark. I notice that my last post here was an art journal page, and decide I can just do that for awhile, post pages every few days. 

I went to flickr to see what I could find. I didn't expect to find a lot (my most common coping mechanisms being repression & denial) but I was wrong. I may not write about being unwell very often, but I certainly do express it. 

I made an album. It's not only about the bad days, but also about how I cope, so there is some light in here: 

    

    

Just click the image to go to the album. Maybe there is something in it that might be of use. 

 

#artjournal #digital #collage #illness #chronic #fatigue 

Chronic Illness: 2 sides of the coin

 

For Dig iDare #311. Some assistance/ inspiration from Turning Straw Into Gold.

After a hard crash, over a week of no poems, no haiku, no pages, this DigiDare seemed a good place to begin again. 

 

[Click the image to see credits & larger sizes at flickr.]

 

Oxymoron: Chronic Fatigue Activist

For Art Journal Caravan w/Tangie Baxter: Itinerary #34 {Wordography: Oxymoron}

 

[Click the image to see credits & larger sizes at flickr.]

 

Game of Life

 

For Art Journal Caravan w/Tangie Baxter - Adventure Quest in Cartography #07 July: Game of Life

 

 

 

 

 

[Click the image to see credits & larger sizes at flickr.]

 

 

Only Today

 

 

some days i wonder 

can i live like this 

another twenty years?

 

then i remember 

there is only 

today

 

 

[Click the image to see credits & larger sizes at flickr.]

 

pain braid

 

 

 

 

[Click the image to see credits & larger sizes at flickr.]

 

conundrum

 

For Art Journal Caravan w/Tangie Baxter: Itinerary #13 {Wordography: Conundrum}

 

This word had me stumped (ha!) for quite awhile. Then I considered the main conundrum of my own life; the need to balance my inherent introversion, which is much exacerbated by illness, with the need for human connection. I'm either exhausted, or isolated. One, or the other.

 

[Click the image to see credits & larger sizes at flickr.]