When a broken leg rendered Eva Lu Damianos mostly immobile in June, a whole team of nurses, aides and therapists assembled to get her back on her feet.
Months later — now sauntering around with the help of a walker — Damianos, 90, has chosen to express her gratitude by way of art to those who guided her through recovery.
The longtime artist painted 18 individual watercolor portraits of her caregivers, who she said motivated her through an arduous 10-week recovery.
“When I was painting, I was reminiscing (about) things they would say to me as encouragement,” Damianos said. “They were all unique in their personalities and all encouraging.”
Damianos lives in a country-style home in the Longwood at Oakmont retirement community in Plum. The complex is part of the Presbyterian Senior Care Network.
Originally from Fayette County, Damianos lived much of her life in Edgewood before relocating to Longwood with her husband, Sylvester, several years ago.
She was trained in fine arts at Carnegie Tech — now Carnegie Mellon University — and worked as an artist for many years, mostly focusing on large canvas oil paintings.
But at Longwood, she has downsized to smaller watercolor pieces.
Yearning to return to her work during recovery, Damianos said she took reference photos of her caregivers, which she used as she sketched and illustrated the portraits.
“It came to me because I was laying on my back so long, and I kept thinking, ‘I want to be painting,’ ” she said.
The painting process took months, and most portraits took around a week to complete, she said.
Among those depicted is Billy Maxim-Brenner, a nurse who interacted with Damianos nearly every day.
Maxim-Brenner said she remembers Damianos taking her photo early one morning but didn’t think much of it until months later, when her likeness was hung on the facility’s walls.
“I came up, and I was so taken aback. You could never think how she captured everyone,” she said. “These are all my co-workers. These are people I see every day.”
Maxim-Brenner said her work involves helping people recover from difficult or traumatic moments, and she appreciates the opportunity to get to know her patients.
Watching Damianos recover, she said, has been “wonderful.”
“I’m just so blessed and honored,” Maxim-Brenner said. “First of all, to love what I do because I really, really enjoy it, and also to have been honored by her. That’s just such an incredible thing.”
In addition to the physical therapy and aid from nurses, Damianos’ husband — called Syl for short — said the paintings also helped Eva Lu through her injury.
He said art is the “greatest form of therapy you can find.”
A former architect and artist in his own right, Syl, 92, and Eva Lu met in a ceramics class at Carnegie Tech. They celebrated their 68th wedding anniversary Sunday, Dec. 28.
He said the two often critique each other’s work and offer suggestions. Syl also wired the back of the frames in which the portraits sit.
“It’s the thing that keeps us going,” Syl said. “Pains and aches go away.”
Eva Lu said she planned to hold a reception after Christmas to gift each of the portraits to their subjects as thanks for their efforts.
But since she completed the portrait series in mid-November, other residents of Longwood have taken notice.
She now has commissions for a watercolor portrait series of her neighbor’s grandchildren, she said.
In the meantime, Damianos still attends physical therapy.
She said she hopes to shed the walker soon.
“I’m getting better slowly,” she said, “it takes time.”