Tears of joy flowed as women from across Conwy saw their highly personal artworks go on display at an exhibition at a library.<\/p>\n
The show, Emerging Woman Art Journey, features 13 paintings produced by talented tenants of the Cartrefi Conwy housing association over the course of the last three years.<\/p>\n
The courses were conducted by the acclaimed Shropshire-based artist Lisa Lochhead.<\/p>\n
The women attended courses organised by Cartrefi and now Llandudno library, in the town\u2019s Mostyn Street, is staging the month-long exhibition which also features a short video in which the embryo artists talk about their work.<\/p>\n
Watching the video left many of the women in floods of tears, among them Diane Woods, a mum from Old Colwyn, who credits the course and its organiser, Cartrefi\u2019s Lydia Watson, with turning her life round.<\/p>\n
Diane said: \u201cI was virtually bed-bound and had lost all my confidence because of illness and disability and wasn\u2019t able to drive for a long time.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was my midlife crisis, and I was in a wheelchair, but Lydia has helped me, one step at a time.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would be at home in my pyjamas, and I\u2019d just come along like that. I was in a mess, but this course has made me realise that I can do things and I am worth it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has changed my life and I have started looking after myself again. My daughter and my six-year-old grandson, Harrison, think I\u2019m a genius \u2013 I can\u2019t wait to bring him here to see my painting in the exhibition.\u201d<\/p>\n
Four two-day courses have been held by Cartrefi Conwy, for six people each and organised by community involvement co-ordinator Lydia Watson with artist Lisa Lochhead, from Whitchurch, in Shropshire.<\/p>\n
The first was held in person followed by two online and the most recent, as lockdown eased, back in person again.<\/p>\n
Lydia said: \u201cIt was a wonderful experience and I got so much from it myself from doing it with Lisa and the video really captures people\u2019s experience. It\u2019s very cathartic.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a special skill in taking these ladies along on that journey. It\u2019s changed some of their lives massively.\u201d<\/p>\n
Among them is Sheila Campbell, from Llandudno, who said: \u201cI feel like the girl singing in the Sound of Music. I feel alive now and my life is so full and it\u2019s all down to meeting Lydia.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cI\u2019ve been going to groups since I was 12 and living in Liverpool but this group is magic, and my mental health now is the best it\u2019s ever been.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been on medication since I was 21 and now, I\u2019m almost drug free and I\u2019ve lost two-and-a-half stone but it\u2019s really more about my emotions.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy painting is of me and of the little frightened child I used to be.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like myself now and I never really liked me before. I felt dead proud that this is my artwork on the wall.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lorraine Riley, from Old Colwyn, said that although no-one in her group knew each other before the course started, they soon formed a connection and they have stayed in touch.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cI\u2019m coping with anxiety but over the two days of the course I\u2019ve never felt so relaxed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just got so much out of it, being creative, making friends and helping deal with my anxiety \u2013 I\u2019m so glad I let Lydia talk me into it and I\u2019m going to keep it up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vera Evans, from Llanfairfechan, added: \u201cIt was a very magical experience. I started off looking at a blank canvas.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen I flicked a bit of paint at it and over time everything came together. It was just so amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lydia added: \u201cYou never know how things are going to go. A lot is trial it and see and most things do work out.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut this course was the most powerful thing we\u2019ve done. It\u2019s been quite phenomenal.\u201d<\/p>\n