Abi is an Award winning artist who lost her sight but gained her vision.
In 2001 Abi Abigail to become a full time artist. She began to develop fully her love of the female form. Nearly 20 years later this subject along with the email portrait is still her primary inspiration.
She started to exhibit and sell her work in France and England in 2007.
In 2010 however life threw her a curved ball. Due to some head tumors that damaged her optic nerves Abi lost, completely, the sight in her right eye. This, however, didn’t alter how she saw things too much. But… in 2013 everything changed. The problem returned in the left eye, and Abi lost 40% of her remaining vision and gained a confusing pattern over everything she looked at.
She would never see the world the same again.
This, for a while, stole her confidence. Art however became first her saviour and then returned as her absolute passion. Not only did her art save her, it now has real purpose. She sees the world in a very different way than before.
In her own words…
“I’ve had to adjust to seeing very differently since becoming partially sighted in 2013. My painting style had to change and evolve along with everything else. I have to wear specialized jeweler’s glasses to do the details. Because of this my work is now often driven by me trying to show people how I see, whilst continuing to explore the beautiful curves of the female form or through my never ending fascination of the portrait! I'm especially interested in the expression in the eyes. What is that person seeing? Do we all see differently? Do we really know what each other sees?"
“Backgrounds seem to continuously merge with foregrounds, whilst some colours appear warmer, or cooler, than when I study them up close.
“I see lines that aren’t there, which confuses an ordinary scene,
and as in the paintings below, a very strong background will merge with a person who is in foreground, obscuring the true forms. Sometimes this can be a beautiful experience, other times a little scary! Always fascinating.
“Due to my visual impairment I also see colours in a very different way. Blue for example, in its many shades, is more vivid and vibrant to me now, as is yellow !!.”
All of Abi’s work is an insight into the world of the visually impaired which the rest of us can only imagine.
Light Space & Time Online Art Gallery
