Vision-The Beginning

Wavey Blinds 5.5" x 5.5" watercolor

It Starts

"That's odd," I thought. Afternoon light brightened the white blinds and spilled onto my drafting table in my bedroom. I looked across the room as I dressed to go to a meeting at my grandson's school. The blinds seemed to be curving at one end.

I had been told a few years ago that I had the beginning of cataracts, but it was too soon to do anything about them. The doctor told me to just blink until it cleared up. I blinked, but the curve remained until I moved closer. I thought that, perhaps, the cataracts might be a bit worse, or, maybe, I might needed some new glasses. I had a perscription for glasses, but the doctor told me that reading glasses would work just as well. So, I kept using my old reading glasses.

But, this weird vision was a bit unsettling. It wasn't everywhere, and it wasn't blurry. Just that one end of the blinds, in that one window, curved. I dressed, went on to the meeting and I didn't see the distortion anymore. I imagined that it was just some quirky little thing. Maybe it was from staying up all night for too many nights, and my eyes were just tired. Probably nothing since it didn't continue.

As I tried to paint this, I realized that I was having some trouble making some lines connect.

My original purpose in starting a blog was to share some of my recent vision experiences with others. I did some searches online and didn't see anything like what has been happening to me. In frustration with what was going on, I turned to painting my experiences, and hoped that maybe someone else can relate, or benefit from my "adventures".

As I investigated starting a blog, several people encouraged me to put my art work and little stories in a blog. Others seem to enjoy the stories and my art work, so I wanted to share those as well.

Now that holidays and the Calvert High reunion have passed, I thought I would start sharing my Vision paintings and experiences. Some of you may find some of my paintings to be a bit disturbing. Art isn't always pretty, happy, and fun, just as occurs in life. However, this series is a record of what has happened to me. History, perhaps. It is also something that might happen to anyone. I had never heard of it, myself, so I had to learn quite a bit. I was told by one doctor's office, that about 75% of their patients are being treated for AMD, and the number is growing as the population ages. I've encountered quite a few people who have AMD, once I let people know that I have it. Otherwise, people don't seem to mention it. Maybe it is something that people need to be a bit more open about. That way, it wouldn't be such a shock when it hits.

This painting was done with Winsor Newton watercolors on 140 pound Arches watercolor paper. This is a detail, 1/4 of a composite painting, that can be divided. In the full size painting, 9" x 12", I have shown four different stages of changes that I recognized in my vision. There are more paintings

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And take a look at the new links I have added. I made a change as I separated Artists and Authors, and Interesting Sites. I moved the subscription box to the top, but part of it still is hiding under the border. It does work, though.