Janet Bell is aged 75 and currently retired. She studied painting in the 1960’s at a London Art school. During her career she taught painting and drawing, was the art inspector of schools, and her last employment was as Deputy Director of a local authority education department with responsibility for post 16 education, staff training, libraries, theatres and art.
In Janet’s words:
I have lost some vision in my right eye resulting from age related Macula Degeneration. It started in April 2019. I awoke one morning whilst in Italy having lost the vision almost totally in my right eye. I unfortunately left it for about 4 days thinking it would rectify, before I talked with a doctor friend who then took me directly to hospital where it was diagnosed.
I have regained bit by bit some considerable sight. It can vary a bit throughout the day, depending on my level of tiredness. I see the world clearly through both eyes but through the affected eye the colour is somewhat monochromatic, there is movement of objects, and the vision is blurred. My paintings are about the visual experience of two eyes and then with the damaged eye painting the same subject.
When producing these paintings, I was surprised by the experience. In both paintings I worked from the same still life setup, used the identical colour palate and painted at the same time of day. I found it easier to see the still life than I had expected although blurred and with less colour but found it very difficult to see either the palate or the canvas, being nearer to me. As I had painted the painting with both eyes first I don’t know how much knowledge of the colour and form I was using and thus not being totally reliant on my vision.
I look forward to exhibiting with other painters and to discuss their approach to their work and the strategies they use for overcoming specific problems. As well as further understanding as to how other painters cope with a range of eye conditions, and how people with perfect vision see my paintings and the differences.