The feeling of numbness, the shock, the diagnosis of having a neurological disease, is something I will never forget. However, that was almost six years ago and slowly yet surely the disease has tightened its grip, with devastating consequences. Eventually becoming all consuming, to the point where one’s life seems to revolve around the disease itself.

Consequently my artwork slowly, yet inevitably, began to change. It was on a different trajectory now and was leading me on, until my focus eventually shifted towards ‘The Self’, as the subject.

My painting titled Fear of Falling represents personal feelings expressed in a visual format and is directly related to my own experience with Parkinson’s disease. Freezing of gait, is a debilitating condition which affects many of us who suffer with this disease and it inevitably leads to falls, which this painting is all about. It is a painting that evolved slowly over quite a long period and during its evolution has morphed through many iterations before this final image was created. The history of this journey can still be seen in the many layers that are visible through its surface.

When making a painting I like to concentrate on the colour and composition, I find when using bold colours, that in some strange way I am making a positive statement against Parkinson’s. I see the disease as a dull and miserable condition and that by using colour in this way, I am confronting it head-on. It’s a good feeling.

I have tried to simplify the image although, metaphor and symbolism may make it appear more complex than it actually is. The feelings that I wanted to convey were of vulnerability, isolation, frailness, dependence and fear, that I think creates a certain kind of nakedness experienced by some who live with Parkinson’s.