JIA Painting Competition

[Jora]

I was thrilled to be asked to judge this competition, held at the Evelina Children's Hospital, next to St Thomas's in Lambeth. I found time to say a few words (positive of course) about each entrant and then announced the winners in the two age groups.

Firstly, the older group. This was a tough one, so I made two of them joint first. (I'm amused that the word Joint has been tagged by Healthunlocked!) This one is a bold 3D piece by Millie (aged 8). The photograph of the other one isn't clear enough to upload. I chose to read Millie's piece from the bottom step upwards, which suggests that the illness is now under control for her after a pretty tough climb. I am pleased to say that I was right to do that.

In the younger age group, the winner was Lauren (aged 5). The red pom pom on her knee really spoke to me as I stood there in pain. It was very red with glistening spikes. I loved the confidence of this painting and, having spoken with her mother, I was completely satisfied that it was all her own work. She said: "now I really know what Lauren's painful knee feels like".

The portrait of Dr Nick was a runner-up. I couldn't resist pointing to him in the audience (I happened to have heard him being introduced to someone earlier) and saying "That's you, isn't it! What a brilliant likeness!"

Clearly, Dr Nick is a very popular paediatric rheumatologist as he featured in the paintings of several children. I found that quite touching.

Thank you NRAS for inviting me to do this. Any time! Jo

[Hidden]

How lovely Jo

I think red Pom Pom knee lady could be you!

Thanks for sharing.

Kiki X X

[Jora in reply to Hidden]

It could indeed Kiki, but she hadn't met me at that stage! x

[smithfield]

Thank you for sharing. It must of been so difficult to choose. I love them all.

And the pom pom is a fantastic way to express your pain when sometimes words are not enough.

[nomoreheels]

Like Kiki I actually thought that was you Jo, especially with the knee being so prominentl! How wonderfully expressive, I think they'd do worse than to have these printed in information leaflets for parents of children attending clinic, Millie's is just as we all hope for & has such a positive message. x

[Jora in reply to nomoreheels]

They will definitely be using some of the images -either in publicity material or for cards.

I'm flattered that you thought it was me! I must buy little pink bows for my hair!

J x

[helixhelix]

I think I'm going to make lots of red pom-poms and attach them to joints that hurt. Maybe it will make people wonder why I'm walking around with 7 red pom-poms attached to my shoe. And it would stop people trying to shake my hand if it was covered with red pom-poms.... Do you think it could catch on?

[hatshepsut]

Sounds like a plan....I'm a dab hand with pompoms....any size. Seriously, sounds as if you did a great job Jo. The pictures are fantastic. M xx

[Smiler53]

Brilliant Jora. Love the children's paintings. What a great way of illustrating pain in her mum's knee. I think we can all relate to that. X

[AuroraB]

Fantastic pictures. Reminds me that adults we can

[AuroraB]

Fantastic pictures. Reminds me that as adults we can perhaps learn more about our disease and why it behaves as it does, but if you are very young how do you make sense of variable fatigue, pain and so on. The resilience and determination of young people with arthritis is amazing.