So, how does a person carry on painting when they can't see very well or even at all?
For sighted people the question is one of interest and curiosity but for someone who has been a sighted artist and is losing their sight, it is far more important. There is no simple answer - it is different for everybody. Factors which come into play include:
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the person's original painting style (for example, planning and layout methods, physical technique etc)
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the medium used (such as oil, watercolours, pastels etc)
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the type of eye condition. For instance, some people may have only peripheral vision, others only central.
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the severity of the person's eye condition and fluctuation of sight levels at different times. A person's vision can be better one day than another.
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the person's ability to make good use of available light and to use special optical aids. This can depend on whether or not they have had good professional support and training.
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and above all, the person's own attitude towards their sight loss and motivation to continue.
Ian Reynolds, painter
Ian is an artist who was registered blind in1984 but wanted to carry on painting. He here describes how he creates a watercolour from beginning to end.
Preparing the paper
Ian uses a method of "wet on wet" watercolour painting. To start the painting, he brush-covers the white paper with water.
"I start the painting by applying clean water across the entire painting area using a large hake brush to do it. The water will run down the paper anyway, so we need less on the bottom than we do at the top. I don't want it completely swimming in water but it does need to be fairly well covered.
Ian then adds the yellow of a sunset, using broad stokes with a large brush.
Working from a sketch
Ian prepares a pencil sketch of the photograph which he also draws upon as a guide to colour. This sketch is propped on a stand vertically behind the desk upon which Ian's painting is placed. Ian uses two types of low vision aids (LVA). One being special spectacles which he uses when working on medium sized details. "They're about times 2 or 3 (magnification), and they focus at a reasonable distance. The problem is that I can't see the rest of the picture, so I've got to keep looking at the picture as a whole and make sure that what I'm doing makes sense compared to the whole picture."
Working on the fine details
"If I've got a particularly detailed bit I need to check out, my spectacles won't do the job for me and I need to rely on my Keeler aid, which is a times 9. But the disadvantage of this aid is that I have to work very much closer and can only see a very small area." Leaning close to the painting, Ian says: "I've just got room to put my brush between me and the picture and I can only see really an inch / two and a half centimetres across. So it's quite a limitation. But, if I've got to land a window in a building in the right spot or something similar, then these glasses are required."
Framing
"At this stage, I find it quite useful - particularly with a very traditional sort of picture - to look at it with a mount." This mount is a single piece of cardboard, with a hole the size of the painting in the centre and borders that are thicker at the top and bottom than the sides. "It helps (you) to see the balance of the picture. It makes it very much clearer as to how things are operating."
"And the final stage, having completed the painting, is to place it in a frame. There is a real reason for doing that, and it is that the glass helps the colour to be very much richer. The darks are darker and the lights are lighter, and the contrast and the definition is that much stronger. Ordinary glass make a huge difference to watercolours, and particularly in terms of the space and the area of the picture disappearing into the background. The frame - and the particularly glass - makes a huge contribution to the success of the painting."
Terry Hopwood-Jackson - working with plasticine
Terry Hopwood-Jackson uses plasticine to create highly textured pictures to which he later applies paint - go to Terry's site to see how creates his paintings.