Keeping me sane – the role of Art as a coping mechanism through cancer by Penny Golledge

Visionary Artists inspire us all to look beyond the veil of cultural and linguistic limitations.  Human consciousness is evolving; the artificial boundaries between art and science are rapidly being erased.  Using the imagination and tapping into mystical, magical themes, the Visionary Artist transcends this physical world, opening a doorway into other realms we all recognise.

My latest mystical, more esoteric artworks are a reflection of the Spiritual Awakening I had whilst on my journey through Cancer. My eyes were opened to the more esoteric and sacred meaning of art and how it has been used since time immemorial to illustrate this phenomenon.

I realised art awakens the soul and illuminates the spiritual path of each person by providing access to the highest mystic truths. It provides a bridge between the material, creativity and spirituality.

Art helps us recognise and integrate ALL wisdom paths that expand consciousness and provide personal contact with the Divine.  When I paint my visionary artwork, I often find I have channelled the images from somewhere else! The Spiritual journey isn’t ‘owned’ by any one religious faction or cult - it is an Al-chemical process experienced by the Soul of every individual.

Carl Gustav Jung said:
“There is no coming to consciousness without pain. People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in order to avoid facing their own Soul. One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.”

Alchemy of the Soul can only be learned through experience, and self- examination so ‘Go within; and discover who you are, why your feel the way you do, and what actions you intend to take to alter your life’s path. Your EMOTIONS ARE the key to enlightenment.

I live in the beautiful New Forest, nestled in the South of England, so I am very close to the coast, but also a stone’s throw away from the forest where ponies roam free. I started painting at a very young age.  I would walk along the beach, pick up stones then take them home and make them into characters with paint. My friends all liked them and soon I was making them as little gifts. I would sit for hours and paint anything and everything. No surprise my favourite subject at school was Art, and I just continued on into adult life, painting just for pleasure. I was asked by friends and family to paint their pets, and in my first job, I was always the one making banners for the baby showers, or farewell messages to hang above the desks of colleagues at work on special occasions. Commissions for Pet Portraits increased, I began to paint Wild Animals but often dipped my toe into the world of Fantasy.

How life changed when my daughter was diagnosed with Leukaemia

I married in 1984, and had my first child, a little girl in 1985. My second child was born in 1987, a little boy, but in 1989 life changed when my daughter was diagnosed with Leukaemia at the tender age of 4.


For two years, she was in and out of hospital receiving chemotherapy and radiotherapy and our priorities changed. In 1991, the doctors performed a lumbar puncture to find out if the cancer had gone, but sadly my daughter (aged 6 now) had relapsed and the cancer had spread to her brain and spine, so her chances of survival were very much reduced.

We were told, the only hope was for her to have a Bone Marrow Transplant, so we were all tested to see if any of us matched.  Miraculously, my little son (her brother) who was 4 was a perfect match, and the doctors prepared them both for the transplant in 1992.    My amazing son saved my daughter’s life and words cannot convey the gratitude and love I feel for them both.

After a traumatic 8 months in isolation, my beautiful daughter eventually began to show signs of recovery despite many setbacks. I am pleased to say she did survive and went onto live a full and happy life well into her early 20’s. She went abroad on two conservation projects and even sky dived for charity putting all her childhood trauma behind her. She is one of the longest surviving Bone Marrow Transplant children in the U.K and life returned to ‘normal’ for a while.

Unfortunately, all the stress took its toll on my health and I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer in 2010.  After 2 cycles of chemotherapy and surgery plus invaluable advice from amazing people in holistic and alternative medicine, I am still here to tell the tale. 

Sadly, the chemotherapy and radiotherapy my daughter received as a child left its legacy.  On December 6th 2011, she collapsed from a sudden and devastating stroke which has left her disabled. Despite all the odds, she managed to survive again and today she is walking and talking. Stroke is a known late effect of cancer treatment, something few people like to acknowledge or talk about.

If that wasn’t enough, in 2013, my husband was diagnosed with Oesophageal Cancer. Unfortunately he didn’t survive. He died on 6th December 2013, two years to the day that our daughter had her stroke.

Life has been exceptionally difficult at times, but I can honestly say, Art and painting has kept me sane.  

In the 90’s, as my daughter was recovering from her bone marrow transplant, I was asked to create 3 CD covers for the hard rock/blues guitarist, Bernie Marsden his band The Snakes.  He was one of the original core members in the band Whitesnake and wrote the hit song “Here I Go Again” and co-wrote “Fool For Your Loving” along with many others.  Hampshire Brewery commissioned me to design beer bottle labels, winning them the Camra Award for that year and in 2002, I won the overall first prize for ‘Paint a Wildlife Subject’ at the Business Design Centre, London.

I then joined Marwell International Art Society in Hampshire and the Society for the Art of Imagination, exhibiting at a number of prestigious galleries around the world including: the Mall Gallery in London, H.R. Giger Museum in Gruyere, Switzerland, Renaze in France and recently in October 2015, the Ecomusée du Fier Monde in Montreal, Canada.   I continue to exhibit in local galleries in and around Hampshire and Dorset UK when I can.