Becoming legally blind in 2015, I began to paint in the fall of 2016. I had completed my training at Florida Center for the Blind in Independent living, Technology, Orientation / Mobility and was trying to find where I fit in next. At those cross roads is where I had to determine, which way I was going to go. I read a statement on a blind person’s blog that said, “You have to choose to be a disabled sighted person or an amazing blind person”. I Googled Amazing Blind, that’s when I met John Bramblitt. He taught me that everyone can paint, it’s not what you know, it’s about what you believe. My goal is to make sure that there are art incubators like MAX to help others to be inspired, learn, motivated and to believe in themselves..I love watercolors. I use wet on dry technique mostly. I use my Go Vision CCTV computer to enlarge the painting so I can see what I am doing. Some of my paintings can take months to complete. I am now learning to use acrylics so I can use my sense of touch as well, so one day if need be, I can paint totally blind as John does.
I only paint things that I think will make other people happy, that is what makes me even happier. In “and through the woods” it is the lane to our Grandmothers house. To most, it may only be a tree line lane in the country but to many it is a lifetime of memories that come flooding back at every glance.
In “Red Eye” it has no meaning at all. But everyone that looks at it seems to smile. That’s a positive emotion. I donated “Red Eye” and “Hibiscus” to the Florida Center for the Blind, to display at their campus to show the abilities of the vision impaired.
Most of my art can be viewed at harry-batten.pixels.com
