“Diagnosed at 16 with Usher’s Syndrome (deaf/blind) has taught me to look, feel and create in unique ways. Art has always been part of my life, living on Vancouver Island, BC is the perfect canvas for creating and adventuring.
“I practice in different mediums such as watercolour, acrylic, pen and alcohol ink.
After several years of exploring abstractism using alcohol inks, I have added more elements to the mix, textures in both visual and tactile nature. Combining alcohol ink with other mediums has yet opened another creative door for me.
“As I continue my journey of blindness, my curiosity does not wane. I am in my 3rd year creating the Blindfold Series and discovered something new, spatial awareness. I try to imagine what I am going to paint whilst in the dark, finding my borders of the paper was a challenge – so I used puff dots outside of each corner, using my hand to scan the area and memorize its size, I have a story in my mind’s eye and then I let the inks do the narrating. Using a circle template, I placed red on each painting. I turned on the lights, and the story unfolded before my eyes: Storyteller & the Girl with the Red Ball and Woman with the Red Ball. I can feel the emotion of childhood memories lingering on with these two pieces.
“Once again, my confidence to create in darkness has brought light into my world of creative opportunities. This is how I am coping with going blind, letting go of the visual world and making it my mind’s eye to maintain my path forward in life and in art.”
