By Yolanda du Toit
Tanya O’Connor is a well-known artist residing in Gordon’s Bay. Apart from her paintings and sketches, she is the creator of colour in books for adults. She says it allows her to say what she has no words for. “I’ve been sketching since I was five years old. It makes me feel safe, to focus and cherishes my spirit.”
In twelve years, she lost a loved one every three years, including her mother due to suicide and her first husband who died in her arms after a motorcycle accident. “I talk about this in my first book, Hallo Lewe. Sketching helps me to express myself without using words. It helps me to regain calmness and peace and find hope again.”
She finds inspiration in everyday life and is the answer to how she feels that becomes a picture. “It is the collaboration of my mind that leads to a sketch and the next one. I choose gratitude for every day’s sketching, and even in the worst days, I find thanks and a lesson.”
Tanya says she noticed the importance of colour in and its importance to one’s spirit after she read Dr. ST Potgieter’s preface in her first book, Kom Kleur In (Naledi 2012). He wrote, “Colouring in brings oppressed emotions to the surface and helps the person to deal with it”. Her books include Hallo Lewe (Hallo Life), Kom, Kleur In, Kom, Kleur Saam In, Colour Brings Hope, Colour in Therapy, My Koebaai Stres Journaal, and the latest publication, Koester/Cherish. “Do you cherish yourself? Do you see what is in front of you or do you merely stare? Do you say yes when you want to say no? The word cherish means to protect and care for someone lovingly. And that someone is me and you.”
“Since my 11th birthday, sketching became my therapy. Some are accompanied by tears, some by laughter, but all of them take me to places I’ve never been. I enjoy every drawing I start with, every sketch I send off contains so much of my soul.” Tanya talks about the therapeutic value of her sketches and the colour in aspect. “Throughout my life, art has carried, helped, and healed me. To find peace without asking questions, giving me moments that would lift me and help me to get up. My sketches are done in days of complete pleasure, heartache, remembrance, sadness, joy, and absolute self-discovery and discipline. For me, this is the epitome of my art, and I believe I can only grow more each day on this journey with pen and paper.”
The post Therapy in colour – By Yolanda du Toit appeared first on The Home Of Great South African News.
Tanya O’Connor is a well-known artist residing in Gordon’s Bay. Apart from her paintings and sketches, she is the creator of colour in books for adults.
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