Julia finds comfort in canvas

8:54am Tuesday 8th April 2008

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Artist Julia Nash has expressed her feelings in paintings which go on display today - she has been inspired to paint by a three-year rollercoaster ride of emotions.

Julia, of Water Lane, Kings Langley, has been on the emotional rollercoaster ride of her life, which started in 2004, when her husband Pete was diagnosed with an Arteriovenous Malformation (AVM) in his brain, a tangle of abnormal and poorly formed blood vessels ths size of a lemon.

West Hertfordshire Primary Care Trust (PCT) refused the life-saving operation to cut the AVM from Pete's brain, as they considered it "too risky", but he went ahead with the operation in May last year.

Despite a legal battle against the PCT to recover the cost of the operation, which would be put back into Pete's Fund, the couple have also been refused cover from their insurance company, which has not paid their Critical Life Insurance policy, forcing the family to put their home up for sale.

Julia, 42, a nail technician, launches her exhibition of artwork, "Colours of Emotion" next week, when her work will be on public display, with all profits going to Pete's Fund.

The mother-of-three said: "I have had a rollercoaster ride over the past three years, which has resulted in this very emotional journey to be displayed in colour.

"I am an ordinary mother, wife, sister and daughter who has had to push my strength and emotion to the absolute edge in order to save my husband's life for which I feel I have sold my soul.

"Abstract art is my passion and I have been painting for most of my life, colours seem to reflect how we all feel whether it is good or bad and for me it has helped a great deal to express these emotions onto canvas and ironically has probably saved my sanity over and over again, a kind of healing therapy for me."

Julia explained that her trademark of hidden hearts painted in most of her art work is a reminder of her love for Pete, who has just turned 40.

For more information about Pete's Fund, visit www.petesfund.co.uk.

The exhibition opens today at the Newton Price Centre, Grosvenor Road, Watford, and runs until April 27.