For the fifth year running, watercolourist Lee Stammers – who took up painting as a hobby after watching a TV show called ‘Watercolour Challenge' – has opened his annual FeBLUEary Challenge.
He’s dyed his hair blue once again and will be producing a daily painting based on Sir David Attenborough’s ‘Blue Planet’ TV series to raise money for the ME Association.
It’s his way of beating the winter blues and keeping at bay the M.E. that has dogged him now for well over 20 years.
“It’s hard often to feel worthwhile as the exhaustion and pain can rob you of your self-worth. So I am doing this challenge to show that I still can do something and feel worthwhile,” he writes on his fundraising page.
“I will be updating daily on Instagram, where you can follow me on stammertime10.”
When he last talked to us about FeBLUEary a couple of years ago, Lee from Plymouth said he found the TV show a useful outlet for the anxiety, frustration and pain that came with the M.E.
The accomplished watercolourist told us that he thought he had developed “some talent”.
He said: “It is the thing I go to most and often the only thing that stops me feeling totally unproductive and worthless”.
You can judge for yourself from the selection of pictures that he’s turned out so far for this year’s fundraiser and just have a look at that exquisite portrait of the puppy, which was recently painted for a friend.
Lee first became ill when he was a teenager at college and struggled to get his A levels. He then studied sports science at university and indeed got his degree – but he has been ill ever since.
Thank you, Lee, for what you're doing for us once again. Please keep the painting going – it's fabulous!
If you would like to support Lee's FeBLUEary campaign, please visit his fundraising page: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/lee-stammers21
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