![A woman smiling and looking to the right](/sites/default/files/styles/header_xs_mid_focal_point/public/fields/lead_image/Wendy%20resize.jpg?h=3fa4feeb&itok=12kv__4M)
![A woman smiling and looking to the right](/sites/default/files/styles/header_xs_mid_focal_point/public/fields/lead_image/Wendy%20resize.jpg?h=3fa4feeb&itok=12kv__4M)
Wendy's stammering art
Having been covert about her stammer for 45 years, Wendy Ronaldson was known to some as 'the listener'. But through art she discovered her voice.
I have been a covert stammerer for 45 years and I am known to some as ‘the listener’. My journey became a creative one through frustration at not being able to have a voice. My hands became my voice, not just through a paintbrush but anything I could get hold of.
I joined a local art group and began painting. I soon found that mark-making could be very expressive and I began experimenting with colour and form. My work progressed into beautiful flora work: very detailed and realistic, although the imagery had different meanings. For me it is also about the line, curvaceous and free flowing.
I went to the group religiously for around a year but felt unable to mingle with the other group members as that meant talking and possibly stammering. Even though I enjoyed the painting, part of me was frustrated because I still found it difficult to communicate. So I stopped going and worked from home.
Experimenting
I sat down at the table and thought about what I honestly wanted to paint. I pulled out a brush and began painting. This time no flowers appeared on the canvas but instead letters, repeated until the whole canvas was covered. I sat down and sighed. I picked up another canvas and painted tiny figures, almost trying to hide them among the paint. I felt ashamed at what I had painted —
not because they weren’t picture plane correct, but because I had ‘surfaced’, so I hid them.
![Abstract artwork full of words crossing over each other](/sites/default/files/uploads/Your%20Voice/Wendy%20Ronaldson/6.The%20Listener.jpg)
I began painting the garden shed. It transformed into something unusual, a representation of my ongoing frustrations — a bulging shed, not packed with rubbish but with words.
I love painting. One day I was sat on an old stone bench admiring all the beauty in the garden. I had taken out with me a pencil and sketchbook. I picked them up and began drawing — not the flowers, but the garden shed. This shed transformed into something unusual, a representation of my ongoing frustrations — a bulging shed, not packed with rubbish but with words. I continued along the same thread, words jumbled up and contained within a space, on a space.
![Abstract art of blurred figures](/sites/default/files/uploads/Your%20Voice/Wendy%20Ronaldson/12.%20Conversation%20IV.jpg)
I was covertly satisfied with my work but I still didn’t have a voice. “I need to go to speech therapy,” I thought. “Me? No, never.”
Confronting issues
My speech and language therapist Christine was very patient with me. I just used to sit there and say nothing. This went on for quite a while and I used to go home and say to my husband Neil, “I have been to speech therapy today and I just sat there. I feel like I wasted her time.” Of course I hadn’t wasted her time so if anyone is thinking of going to speech therapy, don’t worry and just go.
![Abstract art featuring rocks and several words](/sites/default/files/uploads/Your%20Voice/Wendy%20Ronaldson/11.%20Acceptance.jpg)
It wasn’t a quick fix but it changed my life. I was able to confront my issues and get to know me and who I really am. It sounds strange when I say that but I have been in denial for a long time because I didn’t feel able to confront my own issues.
I was able to confront my issues and get to know me and who I really am.
Speech therapy gave me confidence and I felt I was able to explore it further within my artwork. This exploration took me to university and I can now proudly say I have just completed a Fine Art degree and I loved every minute of it. It had its challenges but that’s good as it took me out of my comfort zone. I have met some lovely people along the way and they are very understanding about me and my stammer.
![Abstract artwork of a cabin in the woods](/sites/default/files/uploads/Your%20Voice/Wendy%20Ronaldson/7.The%20Big%20Secret.jpg)
My work is always related to communication, either from my life experiences, chance meetings or fleeting conversations with friends, family or the general public. For me it has been a long journey which is still ongoing. I am still working on being overt but I now feel I have a voice and can be ME.
See more of Wendy's artwork on her website.
![Abstract artwork of two stick figures in a room](/sites/default/files/uploads/Your%20Voice/Wendy%20Ronaldson/13.%20Celebrating%20Talk.jpg)