Flying On Little Wings
| Flying On Little Wings |
| By Artist, Poet & Author Corina Duyn December 2006 |
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| I don't know anybody who welcomes a long-term illness or disability into ones life. I certainly did not, but must admit that after a few big fights with M.E., reality has brought me to some amazing places and has given me the opportunity to meet some wonderful people. I gained a greater appreciation for life, which I am fortunate enough to share with a good circle of friends. Looking back over the eight years of my journey through M.E. I can identify a couple of analogies that have helped me with this utterly life changing experience. If you compare energy with money, you cannot spend more than you have, and a little extra should be carefully spent. If you compare food with fuel, put the wrong fuel in a car and it won't work properly. It also helped to have a positive mindset, a home-help to keep me 'fed and watered', and many good friends who kept me informed of their lives and life outside my four walls - and of course creativity. |
 | In the beginning, I partly blamed my life as a hard working, poorly paid, doll maker, for the reason I became ill. I saw the 'time out' as a chance to become something other than an artist. It took me years to accept that I am a creative being, and the meantime; as a friend pointed out; I had made many drawings about not wanting to be creative - I rest my case! |
| After the initial sketches I made, a local art student challenged me to begin making collages, to draw on a much larger scale and to begin using paint. I now realise that these were the beginnings of a visual diary I had unwittingly created, about the journey I was undertaking. These works may not be works of art, but art that worked for me. I learned a lot about my own thoughts, feelings and hopes for the future and how I dealt with my situation. |  |
| One of the repeated themes of my work is the lifecycle of a bird. A quick sketch of an egg hatching made perfect sense to me -an egg represents something fragile, but also the chance to grow into a new individual. I was handed a gift of a new life. In time I became this hatching bird and enjoyed the 'flying lessons' as the new me. |
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| When writing became an option for me again, I started to keep an almost daily diary. This was spurred on by Julia Cameron's wonderful book, The Artist Way, and her later book The Right to Write. Writing became very important to me, again as a means of escape beyond the four walls, as a means of dealing with reality, but also to record the wonderful world I got to know so close to home. The birds and spiders became the real hero's of my life! |  |
| Bed-bound during severe relapses, notebook beside me, I wrote until the words moved beyond the pain and into the world outside. Creatively I came to the understanding that what ever happens in life, creativity knows no boundaries. |
 | My creative endeavours have, during the past few years been seen by many other eyes than just mine. Although it was initially a challenge to share these very personal works, the interaction helped me to feel part of the community again. My book Hatched was a way to put eight years of writing and creativity during the illness into one volume and move on. For the reader my wish is that apart from gaining a larger understanding of illness, they might experience the smaller details of life around them in greater depth. |
| Right now I am working on a story for children, which focuses on the interesting and 'magical' world in my garden. My life is not where I had envisaged it to be, but then again, does anybody know what tomorrow will bring? All we can do is to ‘go with the flow'! So.... Let's fly! |  |
| About Corina Duyn |
| Corina was born in Holland where she trained as a nurse and social care worker before moving to Ireland in 1990. Here she became inspired by Ireland's natural and mythical heritage, which she later incorporated into her 'Fantasy Folk' figures. In June 1998, she was brought to hospital with suspected meningitis. To date, Corina has not fully recovered from whatever virus she had contracted. A diagnosis of M.E. was confirmed in September of that year. In Corina's recently published book 'HATCHED, a Creative Journey Through M.E.', the poetry and images allow us to glimpse a sense of humour along with her strength of mind. The accompanying DVD/Documentary 'Flight Path' by Katie Lincoln, is a short documentary charting Corina's journey as she undertakes the writing of her book. This project was supported by the Waterford County Council Arts Office and Arts Council of Ireland. See Corina's informative website www.littlewings.org or www.littlewings.gbr.cc for more images of her artwork, sample of poems, pages of 'Hatched', her Fantasy Folk images, book suggestions etc. You can contact Corina Duyn at corinad@eircom.net. © Corina Duyn |
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