Eyes blue and strong, the elderly woman appeared confident and calm as she entered the spacious boardroom, but a walking cane and ginger steps betrayed her inner strength as she sat down in a cushy chair.

Soon it becomes clear a cane will not slow Joan North, a Calgary artist who is legally blind and trying to coping with the strange hallucinations that haunt her each day.

North retired from her counseling career at the University of Alberta in 1986 to pursue her love of painting and drawing. Less than 10 years later North’s painting days were suddenly interrupted when she began experiencing strange and vivid hallucinations.

Calgary artist Joan North with her current artshow display at the Okotoks Municipal Hall. North's work will be shown until the end of July.

“They weren’t always scary,” said North. “But I would repeatedly see a woman in the doorway of my bedroom with white hair and bared teeth. It was disturbing.”

North began to experience visions on a regular basis, usually before she went to bed and when she woke up in the morning, but remained silent for four years in fear of people’s reactions to her disturbing hallucinations.

“You don’t tell people because of their reaction,” she said.

North continued to hallucinate images of a red brick wall and a handcrafted stonewall with a large family crest she believes is from a fortress. She also had visions of mosaic and tile-like artwork that would spontaneously appear on the sides of people’s faces while she was talking to them. Little did she know these mysterious visions were telltale sings of a rare but real visionary disease.

North was diagnosed with Charles Bonnet Syndrome (CBS) in 2004, a rare condition of macular degeneration that affects about 30 per-cent of those who have the condition.

North learned from her optometrist CBS was often a side affect from macular degeneration and damage to the optic nerve. The optic nerve receives visual stimulation and passes it on to different parts of the brain to create the images we see. North suffered extensive damage to her optic nerve in 1997 when she suffered a stroke.

Despite her condition she has continued to paint, draw and go about her everyday life saying her diagnosis hasn’t changed her life.

“It didn’t mean anything,” said North. “Actually, it’s quite interesting seeing those things.”

North said she has had to switch from oil paintings to watercolour because her hampered vision prohibits her from managing the tubes of oil paint whereas watercolours are more accessible.

The 87-year-old artist said even though she still experiences visions on a regular basis she still produces two paintings each week.

“Because of my vision I can’t go back and add more details so that allows me to paint more often,” she said. “I really have to concentrate while painting so that my visions don’t distract me.”

North said she never once thought having CBS would mean she would have to give up painting. Besides, she doesn’t want to stop simply because she loves it so much.

With her limited vision she paints from memory and mostly landscapes because she did a lot of traveling with her husband, Jack North, in the 1970s.

“I stick to landscapes and scenery because I know what it looks like,” said North. “I did a lot of cross-country skiing and hiking in the mountains, but I can’t do detail like I used to with people or buildings.”

When asked how she paints with such limited vision, North explained she first outlines the image and already has an idea of what the picture is going to look like. She can see the white border of the paper, which prevents her from going off the page. She then proceeds to paint the bottom half of the image before turning the paper upside down to paint the sky and finish the painting. North sometimes moistens a portion of the image and adds salt for added texture on snowcapped-mountains or glaciers.

North is legally blind but can still see shapes and contrasting colours but that wasn’t always the case when she was first diagnosed.

“I would see grey, black and white and I didn’t like that because it was difficult to see where I was going,” she said.

In addition to her painting, North has remained active by regularly playing bridge and doing crosswords. She is also able to watch some television on a large screen, which goes against the popular belief that CBS strikes elderly people who are inactive both mentally and physically.

She does rely on a cane for mobility and support but can get around just fine as her memory is still sharp and allows her to recall how things look, feel and where they are located.

Despite her positive disposition, North still experiences challenges of people, some even close friends, who doubt her visions.

“People would say ‘you don’t really see things,’ and I would tell them ‘oh yes I do,’” said North.

However, others look to her as a role model.

“They would later tell me they were experiencing the same hallucinations and were often relived when they learned someone else was going through the same thing.”

North still has hallucinations from when she first experienced them 16 years ago, even though she was told they would last for only about 18 months when diagnosed. Since there is no cure for CBS, North and many other who are living with it must cope on their own.

North explained when she hallucinates she knows what she is seeing isn’t real and tells herself she wants to see something else.

“I just say to myself ‘this is not what I want to see,’ and it usually goes away,” said North.

The types and duration of the visions differ from each person and North said she has experienced visions she feels have lasted a half hour to much shorter or longer.

North currently resides in Calgary and is displaying her watercolour paintings at the Okotoks Municipal Hall until the end of July.

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