Between Two Worlds

Lauren O’Neal
Paris, TN
Fibromyalgia, Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, Lupus

My oil painting, Heaven and Earth, is my original self portrait depicting hard emotions I experience from daily living with a broken body with multiple autoimmune diseases. It juxtaposes two world’s colliding with my body caught in the middle. The arms outstretched and eyes closed ready for whatever change the water brings. It reveals my longing to be fully healed and free to live unaffected by disease and struggling to live life. The woman is trapped between two worlds. A my physical body lying between the sandy earth and the watery ocean world. The crashing wave can be either good or bad and leaves the viewer to decide which it is.

I have created art my entire life and majored in college in Fine Art. I hold a BFA in Painting and have a home art studio. My illness keeps me from a lot but, on good days, I paint. I believe painting heals me. It is my self care and therapy. If I become so ill I can’t make artwork it would be devastating. I don’t sell much art but it is not why I paint.