How a man used a cancer diagnosis to explore his artistic talents
A 70-year-old has spent seven years discovering his artistic talents, after a shock cancer diagnosis forced him into early retirement.
Michael Kiely, from the NSW central west, found his love of painting when he was 63, despite struggling to keep the brush steady after living with Parkinson’s disease for 20 years.
He didn’t let his ailments stop him, instead using art as a form of therapy to come to terms with his health issues.
After a second cancer diagnosis in which he was given just three months to live, the former farmer decided he needed to host an art exhibition.
The exhibition, which has been cheekily called My Kids Could Do That, will be held in Sydney’s Circular Quay on October 30th.
He told Daily Mail Australia, “I paint every day - if I stop it feels like I am going to explode, but I still feel like a fraud.”
“I am amazed when regular people come up to me and tell me they like my paintings. It means more than when they say it, because regular people can't afford to buy them unless they do like them,” he said.
As Michael came to terms with his illness, by spending time on his artworks, he was able to embrace his life-long love of creativity.
“I hadn't painted since I was nine years old. But when I got cancer (the first time) and my wife and I decided I should retire I started again,” he said.
“When it is working for you then painting is like breathing. When it isn't, it is frustrating - but I find you can only come back to a work a few times before you lose it, then it is for the bin,” he said.
Now fulfilling his dream of putting on an exhibition, Michael is focusing on how lucky he feels to be alive to see it.
Thanks to experimental immunology, it's been three years since his devastating three-month diagnosis.
“He spent two years doing the treatments, and saw his oncologist recently who is really impressed with how things are,” Michael’s daughter Jessica said.
While Michael admits he doesn’t understand much about art, including what makes artists popular, he hopes his unique style will strike a chord.
“Do yourself and an old man a favour, buy my art before I die. I want to see these pieces going home with people. And just think, as soon as I cark it, they all become limited editions,” he said.
Image credits: Supplied