No matter your age, parenting is stressful—perhaps even more so if your daughter has Down syndrome. For 90-year-old Huguette Du Paul, it remains true, and painting has been her outlet for the past few years.

Walking into her Langley apartment, where she lives with her husband, Gaston, it’s hard to believe she has been painting for less than five years. Her artwork spans a diverse array of subjects, including religious depictions of Mary and Jesus, landscapes, and animals.

Huguette Du Paul stands in her Langley apartment, surrounded by some of the artwork she brought out to show during an interview with The B.C. Catholic.

Most of her pieces only come out for guests, but one painting always hangs on the wall: a tear-stained eye painted above a rose, superimposed with a name: Karina. Above it hangs a photograph of the woman.

Huguette created the painting while her daughter was diagnosed with dementia. Karina has Down syndrome, a common late-life development for individuals with her condition. Then the isolation brought on by COVID-19 exacerbated her symptoms and worsened her condition.

Huguette and Gaston Du Paul with binders and scrapbooks of their daughter Karina’s career as a Special Olympian.

Now 53, Karina has lived a full life, but she needs special care. Before she entered long-term care, she was a special Olympian and athlete, having won over 120 medals and set at least six world records across more than 35 swimming categories. But her achievements do little to lessen her parents’ concern.  

A painting by Huguette Du Paul, expressing her concern for her daughter, displayed beneath a portrait of her daughter Karina.

“The painting showed how I felt,” Huguette told The B.C. Catholic. “Painting helps me to relax, to stay calm.”

Painting has also offered other benefits. It helps her stay connected to others. Painting was never about money for Huguette; she finds great joy in gifting her artwork to people in her life. She has even taken requests and painted a few pet portraits for friends.

Huguette paints a wide range of subjects, from nature to religion, and occasionally other people’s pets.

In some ways, it was fortunate that Huguette discovered painting when she did. Her lifelong passion for cross-stitch needlework had become too difficult as her fine motor skills declined with age. Her first painting classes began just weeks before COVID-19 lockdowns would have kept her from ever picking up a paintbrush. She was a quick study, and if her paintings are any indication, it didn’t take long for her to master the medium.

“She had a talent she didn’t know about,” said Gaston. “She is happy when she is [painting].”

Many of Huguette’s paintings have religious themes. She has painted portraits of Christ and depictions of the Virgin Mary. Some were gifted to St. Nicholas pastor Father Nixon D’Silva after he came to bless their apartment. The paintings now hang in his Langley rectory.

Three paintings commissioned by Father Nixon D’Silva for the rectory at St. Nicholas Parish in Langley. (Submitted photos) 

Like much in her life, Huguette said Karina has inspired the faith that now shines through in her artwork.

“She really loves Jesus,” Huguette said. “She cries on Good Friday.”

“When she kisses the cross, it’s not like you or me—she hugs it. She has helped [Gaston and me] to be better Catholics, I am sure,” she said.

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