For many, art serves as an escape from reality. For Point Loma artist Ansley Pye, painting helps her handle the reality of living with multiple sclerosis. “If I’m feeling really bad, I’ll always attempt to paint because somehow it makes me feel better,” Pye said. “I get so focused on my painting and it’s so meaningful to me that I think it kind of walks me through whatever I’m feeling.” Pye will have a collection of her art showcased at the San Diego Fine Art Society (SDFAS) Hollywood Glamour Ball in downtown San Diego on Saturday, April 17. The exhibit, “Launch Pad,” celebrates Pye’s completion of the SDFAS Mentor Program — a yearlong intensive program designed to launch talented artists into a professional career. “It is the first time I’ve ever had the opportunity to completely expose a body of work to people as its own entity — this big grouping of where I am at with my art. I think it’s a big deal,” Pye said of the Hollywood Glamour Ball. Pye said her true launch point as an artist came two decades ago. In 1989, she owned her own mortgage company in San Diego and painted on the side when she started having physical and neurological problems that doctors couldn’t pin down. The following year, Pye was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS), the incurable disease that affects the brain and the spinal cord. “The neurologist said that it possibly had gone degenerative and the prognosis was really five years of any realistic quality life,” Pye said. “At that point in my life, I sat back and asked, ‘If I really had only five years left, what would I want to do?’ So I started to paint.” While she had always had a passion for painting, Pye leaned on art because the MS was taking a toll both physically and financially. She did so even when it was difficult to simply hold a brush. “There were times when I had to tape the paintbrush to my hand in order to be able to paint, because with MS you have very unpredictable movements,” Pye said. Pye began painting what she considered imperfect items to understand what she viewed as her own imperfections. Twenty years later, her art still captures the beauty in seemingly flawed items. “I was trying to answer a question for myself – to find something beautiful about my imperfect state,” Pye said. “That was the impetus for my painting and it’s also the underlying message in all of my work. I paint things that are not perfect.” On good days, Pye can paint between four and six hours. On bad days, nerve pain in her hands can limit brush control and nerve pain in her face – called trigeminal neuralgia – can shut her down completely. “It’s a little bit of a jackpot. I know what a good day is because I really know what a bad day is,” Pye said. “When I have a good day, I try to get as much into that day as I can.” Pye was born in San Diego and has lived in Point Loma for the last four years. After owning a studio downtown, she currently operates her studio, Damon Studio, out of her garage. “If I can keep the money coming in to do what I do, I will do it more,” Pye said. “I want to be able to paint and take care of myself and my daughter.” Pye is one of three artists in the inaugural year of the SDFAS Artists Mentor program, which includes guest speakers, personal coaching and instruction from former famed Los Angeles art dealer Yoram Gil. SDFAS executive director April Game said Pye’s art has matured as part of the program, including the texture of her work. “This layering is something that has been done since the Dutch Old Master days and it has this layered thin glazing, this translucent richness. But it’s very contemporary, too, because it has this modeled textured look. It is very fresh,” Game said. “Her art has taken a shift from being very flat and literal to a freshened-up style.” Pye said the program has helped her consistently paint a wider repertoire of subjects. She said her exhibition at the ball would show that. “This body of work has been a growth in my ability to express the same meaning through a multitude of various subjects and developing my ability,” Pye said. The Hollywood Glamour Ball will be held Saturday, April 17 from 7 to 10 p.m. at Anthology, 1337 India St., downtown. For tickets or more information, visit www.sdfas.org/events.