How I Create Art While in a Flare

Welcome back to Musings of an Arthritic Artist! Today I'm going to be talking about how I create art while my body is attacking itself. That's right! This is another personal post.

Without further ado, let's get into it!

King, Alexandria. Musings of an Arthritic Artist. 2021.

It's very hard to create art while you're in pain. Add an autoimmune disease and that pain is usually worse. 

My preferred medium is graphite, which means I prefer to use a sketchbook (or loose-leaf paper), along with a drawing/mechanical pencil. My productiveness regarding art varies on what's bothering me while I'm in a flare. 

Sometimes it's my knee, which I don't need (pun not intended) to draw. Sometimes it's my jaw, which makes eating a pain (I'm normally bad at making puns and silly jokes, but for some reason they want to suddenly appear), but it doesn't impede my ability to draw.

Or it's my wrist. Usually my right one. My dominant hand. This makes drawing incredibly difficult, though there are some days where I still try. Those are usually days where the pain is minimal.

If my hands are bothering me too much, I'll try to create art another way. Sometimes, it ends up being writing, because it's easier to type when I'm in pain than it is to hold a pencil. Other times, I pick up my camera to take photos, because it's a decently big camera without being too heavy to where I can hold it relatively loosely. More often than not (as long as my lower body isn't in pain), I'll dance instead. 

As I mentioned in my dance post a few months ago (linked here: Dance: One of My Therapeutic Arts (opens in new window)), my favorite style is Lyrical. Dancing to the lyrics of an emotional song tends to help me "create" something, even if I never show anyone. 

There are other times where I will put on my wrist brace and draw through the pain, even though I should really be letting my wrist rest. Most of the time I do give my wrist a break, but sometimes my wrist will hurt consistently for so long (7+ days) that I can't not create something. 

One of my problems is that sometimes I will go a month without drawing. Then, when my wrists are in pain, I feel like drawing every day. I guess it's standard human psychology. When my body tells me that I either can't draw, or shouldn't, the more I have the desire to ignore it and draw instead. 

Because of this, I have cruised the internet numerous times for wrist pain due to drawing tips. This is surprisingly very handy, because a lot of artists who draw a lot for a lot of time tend to get repetitive strain injuries and sometimes end up with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. 

This makes drawing harder sometimes because I already have arthritis. If I'm not careful, I could potentially also end up with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome because they can occur together. When I remember to, I try to draw with my whole arm, but to be honest, most of the time, I forget.

For the most part, I just switch whatever type of art I use to create. If my legs hurt, I avoid dance. If my wrists hurt, I (try) to avoid drawing and writing. It's very difficult to be unable to do the things I love while I'm in the middle of a flare, but I've gotten to a point where I try to shift the way I do things. 

Luckily, I don't have flares often, though they're often enough to be annoying. Mostly, I just overuse my joints (which can be just as problematic if I'm not careful).

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I sometimes find it difficult to be a creative soul inside a body that's defective, but it is what it is. To a certain extent, I wouldn't change my life for the world. I love being an artist, and just like everyone else, I have obstacles. The only difference is that one of my obstacles is myself. 

I'm not going to say that having juvenile arthritis/autoimmune disease has made my life better, because that'd be a bit of a stretch. However, I will say that I feel as if it makes you see the world differently. 

That may be true, it may not be. I've never known a life without autoimmune disease, so this is pretty much how I've always viewed life, but I think you learn to cherish the small things. While this is the only way I know how to live, I do see things differently than I did as a child. I understand myself and my limitations more, being a teenager and having arthritis for about 18 (almost 20) years now.

I never know how I'm going to feel day-to-day. As I'm writing this, I feel fine. However, in a few days, I might not. My elbow might decide to annoy me. My jaw might decide to hurt a bit more. My wrists may be sore from working on an art project. 

Any day where I feel good is usually a good day. Any day where I can draw one drawing (or set of drawings) on a few pages in my sketchbook is a good day. Any day where I can do at least ten pages of written schoolwork is a good day.

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Last month, I put up a post about writing (linked here: Does Writing Improve My Autoimmune Disease and Mental Health? (opens in new window)) where I briefly mentioned one of my worst fears, but I opted not to go in-depth in that post, because the topic was writing and not fine arts.

When I say that one of my obstacles is myself, I'm not just talking about when my body decides to attack me with burning pain. I'm also talking about mental obstacles. It's weird when you fear that which you love. 

Due to my condition, there have many times in the past where I've been unable to draw or do other types of art. Because of this, my biggest fear (besides creepy Halloween clowns and cleithrophobia [fear of being trapped and unable to escape]), is doing art so much that I mess up my hands permanently. 

This is sometimes what causes me to go one month without drawing a thing. I enjoy other artistic endeavors, but for some reason, this one is the only one I have a fear of. I don't fear messing up my legs when I dance, nor do I fear messing up my hands when I type. It's purely when it comes to drawing, painting, and writing with a pen or pencil. I can't fully explain it. I can write (on a computer) regardless, but sometimes I have a hard time forcing myself to sit down and draw. Honestly, it makes my life complicated. 

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In short, when I'm in a flare, I use different media to fit my needs. Legs, feet, or hips acting up? I don't dance. That's a better time for drawing and writing. My wrists are bothering me? I don't draw or write. That's a better time to dance (or brainstorm for a writing project by hearing my characters have conversations in my head; whatever works).

What do I do when I can't dance, take photos, draw, or write? Watch hockey/sports (along with movies and TV shows), read books, watch my sister play video games, brainstorm for writing, research, and hope I don't cry too much when I lay down to sleep.

That's it for this post! I hope you enjoyed it!

See you Thursday,

Lexi K🖌