Fran C. Crowe
In 2003 after 11 successful years of teaching French at secondary school level, I had my first devastating episode of Bipolar. It turned my world upside down in many ways. But it also released a very creative side of me. During the autumn and winter months away from school, I produced pictures. Many of them! Over 500 ! Many years before, I had produced pictures using lead pencil and charcoal. But with it, Bipolar brought an explosion of colour. Bipolar clearly had a beautiful side. The pictures often don’t have recognisable objects in them. The colours are what are important. They are a mix of calming and energising colours. The pictures were produced rapidly without any conscious thought. Titles came to mind swiftly and dates and times of completion were a necessity. Apart from the first picture, which was done immediately after leaving hospital for the first time in May 2003, the other 500 were done in just four months in October and November in 2004, and November and December 2005. At the time I believed my actions were being governed by Divine Intervention, however I have since learned that this is very common among bipolar sufferers. The pictures have a simple purpose. They are to stimulate your mind or calm your mind , whoever you are and wherever you live. I also hope that in some way these pictures might inspire people to create pictures themselves. It can be fun to create pictures in company, although my 'work' needed to be done alone. It’s very interesting and surprising what can turn up on the paper! 3
