Anne Cohn Donnelly

By way of background, I am a 75-year-old grandmother of seven who was diagnosed with Parkinson's 11 years ago. Once I got over the shock of the diagnosis I pulled back from some of my professional work and I started to search for new ways to joyfully fill my time.

Then one day a niece approached me and asked me to paint a silk Chuppah for her wedding. While not known as an artist, I had from time to time dabbled in silk scarf painting. I wasn't at all sure that I could still do so with Parkinson's.

But, I couldn't say 'no'. I found that creating the 6 foot by 6 foot piece under which the bride and groom would stand was very demanding; and, it was also very fulfilling. Several more relatives asked me to create Chuppahs for their weddings which I gladly did. Then Covid hit and life changed for everyone. .

As I started to hunker down I decided to organize a painting area in our home and have found myself spending time there painting almost every day. Starting with 36-inch squares of silk and slowly migrating to somewhat smaller sizes, designs just seem to appear on the silk. My painting has become my meditation, my stress reducer, an easy source of joy.