AN artist with an illness which makes her shake continuously has spoken about how she refuses to give up her art.
Manx born Corrina Dooley has myclonic dystonia, which is similar to Parkinson’s.
She was born with the hereditary illness and has been gradually deteriorating throughout her life.
And since having cancer seven years ago her shakes have worsened.
She is on 25 pills a day plus painkillers and has lost quite a lot of weight recently in spite of eating well and is now a size 6, weighing under 7 stone.
‘I’m just using up too much energy shaking,’ she explained. ‘I’ll be in a wheelchair soon.’
But she said: ‘The shakes don’t stop me doing my art. When I sit down, relax and concentrate I don’t even notice them. I mean I’ve done it for years, it just comes naturally.
‘If it ever came to the stage where I didn’t enjoy it anymore I would put the pen down and say it’s not worth it. But I don’t see it stopping me from doing my art. I’m so used to focussing on it that I just do it without thinking.’
The grandmother, who lives in Douglas with her dogs Angel and Cassie, said: ‘Both my parents did art. I went to the old art college in Douglas but I think it was already in me. It’s part of me - I eat, breathe and sleep art. If it stands still for long enough I’ve got it down on paper.’
Corrina uses paint, pastel, collage and even makes jewellery. She has a vivid imagination and works on anything from t-shirts, plates and even breeze blocks to create images of animals, flowers or simply patterns.
‘You name it and I have used it,’ she said. ‘I pick up leaves from the floor if I like the colours. I’ve even been in skips finding stuff (to my children’s embarrassment). It’s not an expensive hobby.’
Corrina even designed her husband Charlie’s grave stone.
She doesn’t really notice her shakes. She explained: ‘You just learn to live with it. I used to carry on going out and doing things as normal in spite of them it’s just part of my life.’
She jokingly added: ‘However, the dogs run away when I have a cup of tea in my hand. And it’s a good way to give up smoking because I can’t hold the cigarette in my hand anymore.’
Corrina held her first solo exhibition at Noble’s Hospital in December and January.
‘It did a lot of good,’ she said, ‘It made people aware of my illness. To start off with I didn’t really want people to know about it and to judge the art on itself, but the response from people, especially disabled people, changed my mind. It helped them believe that yes we can achieve these things. The Parksinson’s Disease Society has suggested I do another exhibition at their drop-in centre so I’m working on that now.’