A Lochaber carer has had her love for art reignited as she dedicates her time during lockdown to embrace her creative side.
Christine Muir from Fort William had not picked up a paint brush since her high school days, dedicating her life to caring for her housebound daughter Shauni.
The 27-year-old, who has lived with mental health issues for 12 years hasn’t left the house for more than found years.
After receiving a creativity in care pack by Highland-wide charity Connecting Carers, her life has been transformed.
She said: “My Carer Link Worker Lisa (MacGillivray) told me about the packs and so I asked her to send me one. I got it at the end of June and with lockdown and just looking for things to do I started painting wee stones.
“I’d put a cat on, or a ladybird, at first just for the grandkids. Then I thought, ‘crikey, I’ve not done drawing since I left school at 16’, so I just put pencil to paper and started drawing giraffes and elephants and other animals.
“It’s had a good impact, it’s been great, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it. I forgot how much I liked it.
Ms Muir says rekindling her artistic passion has helped with her caring role, which has been made so much harder by lockdown.
The 50-year-old said: “It helps me with my caring role too. It’s a distraction. Even when I’m not doing the actual painting of furniture, I’m thinking what else I can do, or what colour will go with this. It’s taking my mind off things, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it.
“I know lockdown’s been hard, but if it wasn’t for that I might not have got back into art. There’s only so much cleaning and decorating you can do.”
