Anyone suffering from Myalgic Encephalitis (ME) - alternatively known as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) - or other closely related illnesses, such as Lyme Disease or Fibromyalgia, will understand what I'm talking about, and how this picture relates to one particular symptom we suffer from (one of far too many), known as Sensory Overload!

Experienced as brain fog (I used to refer to this as brain itch), we find ourselves unable to register everything that's going on around us, and we feel as though we're experiencing our environments through a kind of cotton-wool sensation within our heads. This affects perception, the ability to multi-task, the ability to register something said to us if we're doing something else, even the way we perceive things or recall information. Often we simply can't recall information that's quite vital, and this makes learning processes very difficult as well. There's a lot more I could say but I think this is sufficient for non-sufferers to get the gist!

This picture was done in spare moments and hours, on smooth white paper resting on a lap-tray, often during times when I couldn't do much else. It took several weeks to complete in all, and I first did all the drawing using a calligraphy pen and black ink. I then coloured it in, painstakingly using Crayola color pencils, then adding a little more pen work with a fine .01 Edding 1800 profipen.

I've left it free for download onto your computers because, if you're interested, you can then turn the page in varying degrees to see all the many details there are to be found within it. (Warning - it's a big file!)

Part of the experience of sensory overload can be a completely jumbled up thought-process in which there are too many things crowding in on our minds at once. I believe the imagery here expresses something of that!

Permission granted to to use and display this picture.