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Phillip Island Artist Sharnee Taylor still remembers lying on the ground at her workplace at age fourteen, screaming in pain, unsure of what was happening to her body.
It was an awful, undiagnosed medical issue that would rear its ugly head often, increasing from once a year to nearly once a month by the time she was 23.
‘I was in and out of emergency a lot, given pain killers and all different explanations from doctors leaving me more confused until finally I went in for a laparoscopy to see what was going on,’ Sharnee said. ‘I woke up to a diagnosis of Stage Four Endometriosis and ruptured cysts, which had been burnt off through ablation surgery. I was quickly put on more hormones and had mild relief, then experienced worsening symptoms.’
Sharnee tried different hormones, pain killers, natural remedies and diets before turning to a personal trainer who helped her me come up with an exercise routine and instructed her to eat a healthy, clean food diet. This change in lifestyle helped minimise Sharnee’s endometriosis symptoms, but a few years later, she ended up in a morphine patch to handle the constant pain.
‘I found an endometriosis excision specialist called Simon Gordon who booked me in for surgery immediately. He separated fused organs and cut out a lot of endometrioses. I felt great after I recovered and was so blessed to have my daughter.’
But with the rollercoaster that is Endometriosis, Sharnee eventually ended up on morphine again, was housebound in pain, and eventually had to have a hysterectomy to treat adenomyosis- a condition where then tissue that lines the uterus grows into the muscular wall of the uterus.
Besides enduring years of physical main brought on by debilitating chronic illness, Sharnee’s creative outlet was compromised.
Having always loved drawing and painting, and after receiving her certificate four Design from Box Hill Tafe and studying illustration in the city, being housebound meant Sharnee wasn’t able to spend time exploring the outdoors to be inspired by the island’s natural beauty.
The hysterectomy opened the doors to a new pain free life and a burst of new artistic energy.
‘After a long recovery I finally got my life back and was able to get off all the pain killers and hormones. I finally felt like myself again. I could also finally paint again! I could get outside to be inspired again,’ she said.
‘I always loved creating, especially drawing and painting. It wasn’t until a year ago after surgery that I started mainly focusing on painting,’ Sharnee said.
‘I used to do mostly realistic portraits and occasionally paint. My healing was going to the beach to look at the sunset.
‘One day I painted a photo I had taken of the beach to put on our wall to help me feel that peace I felt at beach at home. I felt so calm and peaceful that I started painting more and started posting them on social media as well as the process of me painting. People started liking them and feeling the same way I did when looking at them.’
Her work caught the eye of The Store owner Courtney, who approached Sharnee and invited her to run beach painting workshops from the popular Ventnor café. Now, Sharnee runs several different workshops from The Store as well as from her home studio in Surf Beach and will run some alongside her solo exhibition at Clay and Co in Cowes this February.
The exhibition opening will be held on Saturday 1 February from 5pm to 8pm which will include children’s activities, food, drinks and live music. Sharnee will be auctioning one of her paintings to be donated along with 10 per cent of the profits going to Endometriosis Australia.
‘I want to raise awareness and bring other locals suffering from endo together as it is quite a debilitating and isolating illness.’
Sharnee will also be running workshops at Clay and Co over the three weekends that the exhibition will be on at Clay and Co as well as continuing her workshops from The Store and her home studio, including a four-week painting class that is one night a week for two hours.
‘It’s so good to build on your skills and watch people get better and better every week,’ Sharnee said. ‘We drink cups of tea, eat yummy snacks, chat and paint together. I list classes about one to two months in advance so I will always have more classes coming.’
You can view Sharnee’s work as well as all of her available classes on her website www.sharntayillustration.com
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Unwind acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the land – The Bunurong People of the Kulin Nation and we pay our respect to Elders past and present.
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