Angela Outerbridge’s art exhibit, New Creations, stemmed from a series of road crashes.

In 2017, the Southampton resident was rear-ended while driving.

“I guess I blacked out for a moment because when I came to, firemen were holding smelling salts to my nose,” she said.

At first, she did not think her injuries were bad but she then experienced a range of symptoms: vertigo, numbness, tingling and problems with her hearing and vision.

Doctors in Boston, Massachusetts, diagnosed a neurological disorder and said that the crash caused part of her brain to shift.

A crash the next year resulted in another concussion; then came another fender-bender the year after that.

“I didn't want to drive again,” the 57-year-old said. “I was so afraid of driving on the road, or just being on the road, period.”

A psychiatrist helped her through. Ms Outerbridge now drives occasionally.

In 2020 doctors advised her to stop working, as stress and tiredness made her symptoms worse.

“I loved caregiving dearly,” she said. “I started to become depressed. I did not want to do anything.”

Still, she knew she needed to do something to occupy herself and bring joy back into her life.

Her fiancé, Tracy Lambert, suggested she sit on the beach and “listen to the waves” to gain perspective.

He was right. Sitting on the sand, she remembered how much she had loved drawing and painting as a child.

“I had this book of Disney characters, and I loved to draw cartoon characters,” she said.

On Saturday mornings Ms Outerbridge would “rush to the television” to see The Joy of Painting, an instructional art show that ran from 1983 to 1994. Its host, Bob Ross, was known for turning painting mistakes into “happy little clouds”.

As an adult, Ms Outerbridge took an online art course, but stopped painting when her two children were born.

“I was occupied with so many other things in life,” she said. “I was working and I just let it go dormant for a long time.”

Although nervous after having multiple concussions she decided to "give it a try” and bought paints, brushes and an easel online.

As it turned out, art was different this time around; Ms Outerbridge felt more creative.

“I use acrylics in all of my art,” she said. “I use glass and I use different media that I never would have thought to use previously. I find now that art is joyful to me, therapeutic and relaxing.”

To show his support, Mr Lambert turned a room in their house into an art studio. “I call it my girl cave,” Ms Outerbridge laughed.

It contains things she finds soothing – a plastic bonsai tree, a butterfly figurine and her pet canary, Sunshine.

“She is yellow and makes me happy,” Ms Outerbridge said. “While I work she sits on my easel and chirps.”

She paints whatever comes to mind, but particularly loves flowers and nature. Other ideas come from things she sees online or on television, or from just being out and about.

Ms Outerbridge loves putting texture in her art with materials such as spackle, a kind of putty normally used to mend cracks in walls.

It can take her anywhere from two weeks to a month to work on a single piece.

At first, she kept her art hidden as it was deeply personal and she did not know how people would react.

“Then I had a girlfriend who said you need to put your heart out there,” she said. “She said, you never know. I thought about that for months.”

She started posting her work on Facebook and was surprised by the wave of positive feedback.

“I was lucky,” she said. “A few people were very interested in purchasing my work.”

In recent weeks she has been painting every day to get ready for her show at the Bermuda Society of Arts.

“I have 16 pieces at present,” she said. “It has been a lot of fun.”

The hardest thing has been making sure that everything is just right.

“I go over my art five, six, ten times,” she said. “I want the public to see my art and say, ‘Wow!’”

Three weeks ago she started feeling anxious but it soon passed.

“I do not know why, but now I am really relaxed,” she said. “The show will bring exposure for me so people can know I am here. This is my time. God had played a role in this for me as well. Without these accidents, I wouldn't be where I am now.”

After surviving three car crashes, she feels she must be here for a reason.

“I’m here to do what I love,” she said. “I’m going forward with my art. I want people to know, no matter what you have been through in life you can accomplish things. Anything that is artistic within yourself, you can bring it forth.”

• New Creations opens Friday at 5pm at the Bermuda Society of Arts and runs until November 14. For more information see bsoa.bm