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Alana Barrell began falling in love with art at about the same time her paranoid schizophrenia took hold.

Nearly two decades later, at age 33, she still has to cope with terrifying hallucinations of vicious monsters and people with guns, but her bright, colourful art is the exact opposite of the nightmarish visions that torment her. Her art portrays whimsical scenes loaded with humour, love, fun and passion.

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“It’s a lifelong, cyclical illness that she has,” her sister Liesl Barrell said. “Alana has been to hell and back.

“Some people ask if the painting helps her when she’s not well but what’s interesting is, she paints when she is in a good place. The longer she is painting, the more stable she is.”

I choose my colours in the spur of the moment.

Since March 7, Barrell has had her first solo exhibition on display at the Centre d’Apprentissage Parallèle de Montréal (CAP), located at 4865 St-Laurent Blvd. Liesl Barrell said the program has supported her sister in developing her talent and in her confidence as an artist with hopes of turning it into a career.