It has been a very strange six months since I wrote my last blog, (autumn / winter 2024). I’ve only managed to complete three paintings in that time and this was due to a very rapid deterioration in my little bit of sight.
As you probably know, I’ve been visually impaired since 1990 and registered as blind since 1999. This basically means that I have just a wee bit of sight in the upper part of my right eye and nothing at all in my left.
I’ve adapted to this limited view and have developed my career as an artist despite it.
In late 2019 however, a cataract in my right eye, finally got really bad and I was put on the waiting list to have it removed and a new lens fitted. There was a long delay due to Covid, but I eventually had it done in April 2022. It was very successful and gave me back a little bit of light and colour and a sense of space; I was still registered as blind but was back to where I had been ten or fifteen years earlier.
I had once again started developing my paintings and we were tackling bigger and more serious hills again ….all was looking good. Then, towards the end of the summer last year, I started to notice that I was once again struggling to see, especially in bright light.
By the autumn I knew for sure that something was wrong and when I saw an optician, he said that I had a problem with the new lens that had been fitted. He said however, that some fairly simple laser treatment would rectify matters and he referred me for the treatment, …… but told me that it could be 3 – 9 months before I got it done.
This all seemed pretty good except that my little bit of sight deteriorated very rapidly indeed and by the end of the year I was really having problems seeing my paintings and everything was taking longer and longer and longer.
Thankfully I received an appointment for the laser treatment in early April and the improvement was almost instant, …..by the time Nita and I walked from the hospital back to the car, my sight was back to my normal level. Phew! So then, this is why I’ve done so little painting.
The three 80 x 80 cm acrylic and pastel pieces I had been working on through this difficult period …… and which I thought were finished, were on inspection, (post laser treatment) found to be far from finished. They were all very ‘thin’ and I had to repaint each one. I’m pleased to say that they are now finally finished and all three are framed and on sale.
It has been a very difficult and trying time and it has set me back six months, but, I’m once again working and we have already started getting out onto the hills again. I have three new works under way and several more planned, so all is good. Below are the three finished acrylic and pastel paintings.
We’ve been away twice this spring. We spent two weeks up in Sutherland at the end of March and were lucky with the weather for most of the two weeks. As this was pre laser treatment, I really couldn’t see very much and so nearly all the walks we did were on easy estate tracks.
We did go off-piste onto the open hillside on a couple of occasions, but it proved quite stressful, both for me and for Nita as my guide. That said, we had a lovely time and I still enjoyed being out in these wild places experiencing them in an even fuzzier way than normal!
Just over three weeks ago, we headed up to Ardnamurchan and spent a wonderful time exploring what for us was a new area of Scotland. I had only been to the region once as a child with my family in the early 1970’s and then on a couple of quick visits to the Resipole Gallery when I had some work there about 15 years ago.
We had perfect weather the whole two weeks and as well as doing a good few short exploratory walks, we walked our first proper hill since June last year. This hill was the splendid Ben Hiant.
Situated at the western end of the peninsular and with superb views out over the isles of Muck, Eigg and Rum, this small hill, (being a little short of the 2000 ft mark) proved challenging for me. It is quite rugged in places, but with my trusty and very patient guide Nita, we made it to the top, just as most of the other walkers had left and so had a very peaceful time just taking in the big views.
Anyway, I had better get back to my work now…….I have a lot of catching up to do! If you are on the Irvine Harbourside, do call in to my studio. I also currently have work at the Scotlandart.com Gallery on Bath St in Glasgow and in the Seagull Gallery in Gourock. Finally, one of my new ‘Painting with Words’ pieces has recently been long-listed for the Scottish Landscape Awards and exhibition this summer. I’ll put up more details about the show nearer the time.
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