When complications from a pressure sore left Rachel Smith-Ruffle with 15 months of bedrest, she found herself becoming extremely depressed and started painting in 2018 to distract herself from her circumstances. Fast-forward three years later, and Rachel is now a prolific self-taught artist with over 13,000 followers on Facebook and goes by the name ‘The Wonky Artist’.
CommunityAd caught up with Rachel, 46, who spent a lot of her childhood in Tunbridge Wells and has been a full-time wheelchair user since 1998 due to a serious spinal injury, to find out a little bit more about incredible journey so far and the process of her incredible work.
Painting landscape and ‘maps’ of cities and towns is one of Rachel’s greatest passions, finding pleasure in the ability to explore new places and reflect that in her work.
Telling us about how The Wonky Artist was born, Rachel explained: “I started painting to try to distract me from my circumstances and started to paint landscapes and places I wanted to visit and it helped improve my mental health so much.
“I am paralysed and can move my arms but not my hands and cannot move or feel anything from the chest down. At that time, I had to constantly lie on my side and had to use two hands to paint and so nothing I painted was straight and it was then that The Wonky Artist was born!”
The process for a painting usually takes Rachel between three days and a week to complete, whereas her ‘maps’ need to be researched so she can accurately showcase the landmarks and scenery.
“Painting has opened up a whole new world of colour and creativity to me and is a hidden talent I didn’t discover until my mid-forties,” explains Rachel.
“Since then, I have been creating for people all around the world and have sold many commissioned paintings and prints. As a result, my mental health has greatly improved and I have been able to help others by sharing my story which, in turn, has benefitted me as I feel I am doing something good.”
Rachel has received a host of messages from people all over, detailing how her story and her art has helped and inspired others on their own journey through life.