A Different Way of Seeing

What would you do if you loved to draw, and then you went blind?

For two years now, Kathy Paul has been a regular in my drawing classes. When she started in figure drawing, I admired her uncommon and interesting way of recording the forms. Then on March 3, 2019 Kathy suffered a stroke in her optic nerve, causing double vision and a haze. On October 12, 2019, she had a stroke in the optic nerve of her second eye, leaving her almost completely blind. Even with her severe vision impairments, Kathy’s love for drawing did not waver, and she did not stop taking drawing classes. Over time, her intense practice has yielded incredible drawings, uncommon recordings of her own way of seeing.

You might remember I talked about Kathy Paul last year, in my post about “The Most Unusual Art Class” November 19, 2019. Kathy has now been attending drawing classes for over a year since her strokes.

“I have what they call popcorn vision. On the best of days I see little tiny white dots everywhere and a white haze.”

“Drawing has helped my recovery and helped sharpen my vision. When I first started to draw after my first optic nerve stroke in my right eye I saw double vision and I could just make out a few lines in the studio that we were drawing.”

“After the second stroke in my left eye, the double vision went away but it was replaced by a thick white fog. I would look at objects on a table and know they were there but needed to touch them in order to know what they were.”

“In portrait class when I drew it was like stepping into a dark hole. I could see some of the person’s outline but not enough to record the marks without my imagination in play.  The worst thing was that I could not see my marks that I drew. This made it impossible to know what I was drawing.  I felt unable to draw portraits.  This saddened me as I thought that this was one of the things I did best.  I kept coming back to the Expressive Portrait class and gradually Ì was able to see the model more clearly. I soon did not need a magnifying glass to see what I drew.  I became better at this skill of drawing the human face and I now feel skilled at it and joyful.”

“I believe that the process of finding the right marks has improved my overall vision.  My color vision which changed to black and white has also gotten better. At first, I would see a little color floating on things, such as green floating in spots on the leaves of a plant. After taking more art classes I started seeing some blue and red. Later I could see green and then yellow too. Now I can see most colors in a haze but I see them. Color is my next challenge.”

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“Drawing for me is a process of discovery. Each time I draw I am discovering my abilities and limitations for that moment in time. I am met with the joy that I am still able to create.”

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