The Hubble's got nothin' on these puppies.
After four operations in 2009 and a bonus laser surgery (12-09) to weld my retina back together (...and hopefully that's where we stop counting...) months of recovery and finally regaining use of my sight in 2009, I was inspired to try painting once again. (Update: Surgery six was performed on 3/2/2011...hopefully that's the end...)
They may not be much, but they're mine. After you go blind, regaining enough sight to be able to even distinguish one color from another is such a gift.
Thank you, from the bottom of my heart to my surgeons at University of Michigan Kellogg Eye Center (as well as the wonderful nurses, the entire Anesthesiology staff and everyone at the Glaucoma and Retina Clinics...the best anywhere) without whom I would now and for the rest of my life be living in darkness.
Thank you too, to those who helped me find my way through that darkness in the meantime.
You know who you are.
New artwork last added to this page on 09.12.11. To see over 75 of my most recent paintings, please follow me on Pinterest: my username there is februarygrace . Thank you!
Where Hope Resides
Catching A Memory
Roses in Pencil
Flowers
Dot
(This painting, a gift for a very special veterinarian, is now hanging up at the animal hospital where Dot was saved...thank you, Dr. Davis!)
(This painting, a gift for a very special veterinarian, is now hanging up at the animal hospital where Dot was saved...thank you, Dr. Davis!)
White House Reflecting The Sky
The Colors of Paradise
Grandmother's Orchard
A Clockwork World
Kim's Jacarandas
(inspired by a photograph by Kim Austin, with permission)
(inspired by a photograph by Kim Austin, with permission)
Wishes: "Trust your heart, just believe..."
(the mate to We Go On: IllumiNations, Reflections of Earth down the page a ways...)
(the mate to We Go On: IllumiNations, Reflections of Earth down the page a ways...)
His Majesty
(and I think he approves...)
Enjoying The View
(Taken from a blog post in which I wrote, about my writing: You can't make a Cadillac out of a carousel horse, but you can enjoy the view from either on a pretty day. In other words: I am what I am.)
"...and all the stars wept with her."
(unfortunately this is too large to fit on the scanner, so you can't see the detail or the iridescence of the acrylic paint, and you can't tell the window frame is silver. Here's a closer picture.)
Man's Best Friends
Unconditional: Impressions of Pocket
(my first attempt ever at painting an animal...)
(my first attempt ever at painting an animal...)
We Go On
(IllumiNations, Reflections of Earth 2010)From my Walt Disney World series (the first is Wishes, below) this painting changes so much with the light I did a scan and also took a photo but neither captures the colors quite right- the fireworks are pink, silver and green...pink just like this:
Because that is how close up I got to see them. Thank you, Harriet and Leah *hugs*.
The Tour (Fitzroy Gardens)
inspired by a photograph by M.I.
The Steady Hand to Victory
(inspired by my favorite of all the characters I've ever written)
Ultraviolet Light
"Baby, baby, baby, light my way..." ~U2
(I love U2...)
"Baby, baby, baby, light my way..." ~U2
(I love U2...)
Standing Like Stone
"Two things stand like stone:
Kindness in another's trouble.
Courage in your own.
~ Adam Lindsay Gordon
"Two things stand like stone:
Kindness in another's trouble.
Courage in your own.
~ Adam Lindsay Gordon
Somewhere Only We Know
Springtime in Blue
Numbers and Figures
Art and science, music and mathematics.
(the words are from a favorite song of mine by Coldplay, The Scientist)
(the words are from a favorite song of mine by Coldplay, The Scientist)
Wishes
(Inspired by a photograph by BL)
Acrylic on canvas, 8X10
(Inspired by a photograph by BL)
Acrylic on canvas, 8X10
The Sheltering Forest
(16X20 acrylic on canvas)
(photo of painting by M.I.)
Wintersong
I'm afraid that these two really lose something in the translation; I had to take a picture of it with the video camera as it's too large to scan. They're really a vibrant jewel tones: emerald, electric blue...(the same blue you see in When it is Darkest, below and the ornaments on the large tree are bright blue, red, green and gold) This is the largest painting I have ever attempted. A scan of the corner of the painting (all that fit on the scanner) shows true colors.
Tea Roses and Sympathy
City at Night (5X7 acrylic on canvas)
This painting is the first in what I hope will be a series of works depicting how I see the world through aphakic eyes (eyes with no natural lenses); to try to show people what I see when I am not wearing my exterior prosthetic lenses along with my glasses. This is how I see the main drag of my city at night with my eyes alone and nothing more.
There are street lights (each many points of light in a perfect circle like an exploding fireworks shell, suspended in air) there are blurs of blue streaks that represent illuminated store signs. There is of course a traffic light and there are tail lights of cars lined up, brakes applied while waiting to be able to move through the intersection.
I hope to paint the way I see the sky during an electrical storm, among other things, as without UV filtration, colors are very, very bright and vivid to me...
A World Less Lonely
Coming into Color
This painting is very special to me because I wanted try to demonstrate as closely as possible how the same flowers (roses and another of my favorites, Purple Statice) would have looked to me before and after my surgeries. Of course this would have been before it got to the point where I was beyond seeing anything at all (complete blindness) on the left and almost nothing (dim light/movement/legal blindess) on the right.
I have loved vivid colors all my life; watching them slowly fade away over ten years time and then losing them completely in the last year was very difficult for me, one of the most difficult aspects emotionally of the time I had so little vision. It wasn't only the world going dark, having to be led everywhere, all of that. It was the world dimming to sad, distorted sepia tones and then going dark. Getting colors back is truly a gift beyond description.
This painting is dedicated with affection and gratitude to the gifted surgeon who saved my sight, Dr. Sayoko Moroi.
Additionally I'd like to thank Doctor Johnson at the U of M Retina Clinic, Doctors Mathai and Learned of the Anesthesia Department (love you guys!) at Kellogg and special gratitude goes to Doctor Jerome Finkelstein, without whom I would not have been able to have the chance to see any of the others and who continues looking after me so well. Also, thanks to Doctor Leung for his endless patience in working to try to maximize the vision I have regained.
Thanks are not nearly enough.
I also cannot say enough to explain how the nurses they have at Kellogg are the very best I've ever met anywhere- and believe me, I've met these ladies repeatedly. They took such good care of me when I was so sick from various complications, and I love em all.
Going through something like this is surely a nightmare, but if you have to, believe me, you want a dream team like the one I have.
Go Blue.
Lightly Turns
Hydrangea in Springtime (5X7 acrylic on canvas)
Hydrangea in Springtime (5X7 acrylic on canvas)
The title is a tribute to lines from my favorite Tennyson poem, Locksley Hall: "In the Spring a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love."
Deciduous
Fireworks Flowers
Please do not reproduce/link/use these images without permission, thank you.