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A Story of Recovery

Danielle Kantola sustained a brain injury in May 2020 while planting trees in coastal British Columbia. Her passion for nature, which inspired much of her art, pulled her into the work of reforestation. This series explores her struggles and accomplishments throughout her rehabilitation and aims to invite the public into her world of recovery. Brain injuries are unique, and no two are the same. This series is on going, and new works will be added throughout her recovery.

A Flower A Day

This mixed media piece is made with ink and watercolour. It was drawn from life. Several bouquets had to be purchased. This was also the first drawing I was able to work on post accident. At first my eyes only allowed a few petals at a time, then I progressed to about a flower a day. It is inspired by the idea that every brain injury and the organization of every brain is unique. Like each flower and bouquet the arrangement will be different. It was done in black and white as at the time I could not tolerate processing colours. I had to reduce visual stimulation as much as possible.

18"x25"
Jan 2022

Brain Fog

This is a Sumi-E ink painting made to give a visual to the concept of "brain fog". With brain injury, it is often expressed that someone feels "foggy", processes slower, our minds feel less clear. Again, I chose to express this while incorporating aspects of nature.

9"x12"

Falling

This piece was made with white watercolour on stonehenge black paper. This was also made at a time where I was unable to use colour. I wanted the painting to express disorientation, spinning, double vision, and isolation.

8"x15"

Everything is Fine

Multi-media piece using ink and watercolour. I wanted to use live edge wood as the base because my accident occurred while planting trees in coastal British Columbia. I used both clear and white watercolour ground to make this piece. The words are my own thoughts and struggles throughout my recovery.

8"x20"

In the Waves

This piece is another multi-media piece using watercolour, white and clear watercolour ground, waterproof ink and sumi ink. I chose again to explore using live edge wood because of the connection to my accident. The writing explores my thoughts about emotions throughout my recovery, relating them to bodies of water such as the ocean. It ends with a quote from Shakespeare,
"For there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking it makes it so"
This piece is still a work in progress.

9"x12"

Positive Changes

This piece was made with watercolour. It was an attempt to look at the past years with some positivity and strength. I chose a self portrait including my headphones and prism glasses with binasal occlusion as they are a necessity for my recovery. The noise-cancelling headphones helped me rejoin society by limiting the audio stimulation. The glasses assisted in fixing visual disfunction causing a lot of problems including but not limited to double vision, accommodative dysfunction (blurry vision), eye movement issues, a wandering eye, fatigue, nausea and balance issues. The butterflies represent the changes both physically and mentally that brought me a lot of personal growth.

12"x16"

Chaos

Multi-media exploration with pencil, Ink, tea and vodka. I wanted to represent the changes in mind both metaphorically and physically. This painting represents the pain one endures after a head injury, but also the loss of self, and mixed signals. I often struggled to be able to express myself after injury, my thoughts and words scrambled. This is a pre-study for a future painting, as I try to figure out how best to visually represent the chaos.

9" x 12"

Untitled

Pen and Ink, drawn from life using a spine replica borrowed from my chiropractor.

While contemplating the reality of chronic pain, I decided to portray a more positive outlook. I view the nervous system as growing and blooming flora with the added butterflies and hummingbirds to symbolize transformation, resilience and joy. Hummingbirds are believed to bring healing to the suffering and be messengers of positive energy.

I am constantly working to improve my health, sustain a positive outlook and regain my artistic function and practice.

AFlowerADay V2

A line drawing was printed on Watercolour paper and then I repainted and added ink drawings for a version where further growth and recovery have started. The original plan was to continue this series with varying stages of colour and healing completed.

Dysfunction

Pen and ink, Watercolour
The concept for this piece came from Autonomic Dysfunction, which is common after a TBI. I struggled for a long time to be able to exert myself as my heart would not increase its heart rate appropriately with exertion. This caused me to feel trapped in my own body, struggling to regain the adventurous lifestyle I once lived.

This is a continuation of the idea of the body being linked with the growth of flowers raising towards the brain and the roots composing the heart.

untitled

pencil

A Life once Shared

I began practicing with portraiture again to relearn painting techniques. I found it helpful to switch to oil paint, which allows more time for myself to think while I paint.

This portrait reflects a beautiful moment of wandering in the wild Yukon with my first rescue dog, who pushed me to be able to walk him again after my accident.

Portrait

Using portraiture to work at regaining my knowledge on colour mixing, and painting techniques.

Portrait