June 23, 2004
Blindness
Folks, for nearly as long as I can remember I have been legally blind. I have worn glasses since the first or second grade in school (when they figured out that I couldn't see the damn chalkboard).
Now you've all heard of the system of judging eyesight right? Twenty / twenty vision and all that. What the 20/20 means is that what you see at 20 yards is what the average person sees at 20 yards. My vision prescription (the last one I remember anyway) was twenty / four hundred and fifty. The effect this has on me is profound. Without my contacts, I can hold my hand two inches from the end of my nose and it is clearly defined. If I move it out to four and a half inches away, it is merely a color blob, along with anything wlse beyond that point.
Luckily for me, I am not color blind. If it weren't for the fact that I can discern one coloer from the next, then I wouldn't be able to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night without winding up pissing in the closet. Being blind sucks.
Back when I was in high school, my art teacher had implored me to paint what I see with my glasses off/contacts out. At the time I told her that I couldn't, and I still can't. You see, there is a certain graineyness to my vision without correction. The entire world is made of of dots of color that kind of run together. So tonight, I was horsing around with MS paint, and realized that I could approximate the effect by using the largest "spraycan" tool in MS paint. So without further ado, I bring you a sunset from a blind guy's POV.
It's all about the perspective.
Posted by Johnny - Oh at June 23, 2004 10:31 PMThat's kind of cool. Nice picture
Posted by: B at June 24, 2004 07:46 AMThanks B. I'm actually thinking about trying to do some more. Things like "What I see when I get up in the morning" and stuff like that. I may have to change from paint to an actual graphics program, but for now, we'll see how it goes.
Posted by: Johnny - Oh at June 24, 2004 11:54 AMGreat colours and very Impressionistic. I might have that as my screensaver. Then I can say "I got this early Johnny-Oh back in 2004 before he became the Internet Monet" and feel really smug and pretentious :)
Posted by: Sally at June 24, 2004 01:48 PM[jaw dropping]
You have actual artistic talent.
You never told me you had actual artistic talent.
More please.
Posted by: Harvey at June 24, 2004 02:33 PMYeah Sally. But I'll always remember you when I get rich and famous. ;) (Please note that it is a signed copy. That'll make it more valuable.)
Harvey. Of course I'm talented. Everyone knows that. :) Actually I am a published artist. I have 5 or 6 drawings in a book about the historic buildings in Blount County, TN. (That's pronounced "Blunt", not "Blownt".) I'll see if I can't find a scanner, and post a few for ya.
Posted by: Johnny - Oh at June 24, 2004 04:17 PMActually, that's 20 _feet_ not yards, if it matters.
I'm colorblind, which does not matter most of the time, but occasionally sucks.
Thanks "Nuanced". I knew it was one or the other, so I just went with the one I thought wa most likely, and figured that someone would correct me if I's wrong. I guess I could live with being colorblind if I was that way from birth, but after all the Art classes and so forth, I think it would drive me crazy now.
Posted by: Johnny - Oh at June 25, 2004 04:36 PMwow. that's just completely gorgeous jO.
MORE!!! MORE!!! MORE!!!
Posted by: goldie at June 26, 2004 08:01 PM(Shrugs shoulders) Yes dear. ;^)
More to come when the muse strikes me. Anything for you "G"!
Posted by: Johnny - Oh at June 26, 2004 10:37 PM