Sunday, December 31, 2017

New Art! "Hatching Fire"





Art is a well known treatment modality in a variety of chronic illnesses and conditions, including traumatic brain injury, PTSD, autonomic dysfunction, cancer, and more. Some people have had an artistic flare their entire lives, while others would say that they don’t have a creative bone in their bodies. I was the latter, until I suffered a life changing concussion in 2011. Overnight I became an insatiable artist. Within a year it was confirmed that I had what is called “Acquired Savant Syndrome.” That meant that I was suddenly able to paint, where no ability existed before.
From a left-brained business strategist/entrepreneur/CEO to right-brained artist/poet/emerging Theologian…yes it was a significant shift. But it was through this shift and the language of color, that I have been able to engage in deep healing. I have been able to express things that are beyond words and allow the canvas to hold the insights until my conscious mind can integrate their powerful message. I simply allow my hands to do what they feel – and the art unfolds.

My most recent art piece comes at a time when I am finally being given a name for the condition that has affected me for quite some time. After years of persistence and repeated episodes of terrible illness, I was diagnosed with a very rare disease – Lambert-Eaton Myesthenic Syndrome. According to various websites, there are anywhere between 400 and 1000 confirmed LEMS cases in the US. Add this to the already rare disease that I have – Pituitary Dysfunction and Adrenal Insufficiency – and I find myself somewhat shocked. Furthermore, a large percentage of people with LEMS have an underlying cancer that needs to be aggressively evaluated. In my case, all signs point to an autoimmune origin (the other 50%), but we still must search for a potential hidden malignancy. This means an even deeper walk into the unknown.

In the face of Mystery, I find that art helps me to capture the ineffable on canvas. So I am sharing this with all of you. Below is a poem that I wrote along with an art piece – both are called Hatching Fire.

“Hatching Fire”
48 x 60
Original Art and Poetry
by Heather Thompson Blue Phoenix Art

Pyrole red
burns unseen
in the dark crucible
of creation.

Cobalt blue
swirls beyond comprehension
in a maelstrom of
the vast unknown.

Where the absence of light
is actually an explosion of color
black holes become brilliant rainbows
sparkling with splatters of iron oxide.

The impenetrable shell of nothingness
cracks open exposing the fractured
prism of light in the depths.
Hatching FIRE

I also created a YouTube video documenting my healing journey through art over the last year.
https://youtu.be/5PV1aS1QX58

I hope that you have the courage to pick up a brush, crayon, pastel…or even use your fingers like I do…and express yourself through color….then again…perhaps you already do! And if so, please share in the comments!!!!

No comments:

Post a Comment