This website was created to encourage those who have lost or are losing their sight, not to give up hope if they used to paint.

The Art Sight is open to all ages and all degrees of sight, plus those of you out there who think they can't paint a picture for toffee! But the Art Sight will show that just by using plasticine and acrylics, everyone can.

Why bother and who would believe...?

Because you still have that desire to paint within you and to show that you can paint a landscape or whatever despite your sight loss.

The Art Sight shows some of the paintings I have done since I became totally blind in 1979, but it wasn't until the mid 90s that I began to paint again for real, rather than just thinking about it.

From my first fumblings with plasticine in "The Echo" to "Lonely Water" - which became the first painting I have ever sold since going blind - this website shows a series of works which track my development and technique of working with plasticine and acrylics.

Who said plasticine was kid's stuff?

Well, it's what I use to sketch out my paintings, filling in the gaps with more textured plasticine, then applying acrylic paint.

Sounds easy? Well in part it is. It's like working with pastry to start and by rolling out a thin line of plasticine, you can use this to draw the outline of your painting. It's only when you get down to adding texture to your subject and then to the mental and physical mixing of your colours does it get harder; especially the paint mixing and at this point - if you have no sight at all - it is then you need someone you can trust who will try to mix the colours you want. The colours you remember, or those you can see in your head; or both.

How to start.

The best plasticine to use is those sold in blocks (lengthwise), comprising several layers of single lengths which, where necessary, can be used as tree trunks, railings or gate slats, etc.

With hindsight, I've found it best to use whichever colour that matches what you are making, i.e. brown plasticine for trees, green for grass etc. etc. Never use white unless you are working on a snow scene - for the paint will only cover the top and side of the plasticine, it does not seep into it. So, if you paint something and are not satisfied with its position and you move it and you have used white plasticine, the white will show, and you won't know unless someone tells you - and it might be too late by then.

Well, I usually work on the floor, because the plasticine needs a lot of strength - funnily enough - to press onto a canvas board (rather than stretch canvas) and it can be frustrating when you've been working at your design, only to find that the plasticine comes away on your finger. It gets easier when you use larger pieces of plasticine.

So roll out a thin line of plasticine and use this to sketch the outline of your design. Other pieces of plasticine can be used to represent, for example, textured areas for trees, tracks, walls, foliage and grass, which can be worked on later.

Once you are satisfied with your outline, you could apply a thin wash of colour to fix the plasticine to the board. Any colour wash will do, but it would be preferable to use a colour which would feature in your painting and so would not matter if it showed through.

As a rule - though I forget sometimes - always work from the background inwards and it is now that you need to apply, for example, your sky.

When the sky colour has been mixed to what is needed - I usually prefer it streaked, so as to give the impression of cloud - brush in the sky, using varied brushstrokes and it doesn't matter if you cover the whole board with this - what you don't need can be over-painted later - but if you have a range of hills marked out, then aim for those.

Ask for help to check that your sky hasn't got any "bobbles"or other unsightly marks in it, as it can be very frustrating to find out that after all your work on the sky there are "foreign bodies" spoiling its surface.

You can now begin to add more substance to your painting by using larger amounts of plasticine on your canvas board. Start anywhere you like, but put in the "ground areas"such as grassland or paths or tracks etc. and build upon these later. Grass, for example, is by flattening out a large and thickish area of green plasticine, laying it where required and then texturing it with your fingers into level or uneven ground - the farther away the impression you want to give re perspective, the flatter and smoother the texture of your work. The foreground and the middle distance can be worked on with as much texture as you think necessary, e.g. pinching and scrunching the plasticine to give the effect of grass and fallen leaves or the rough surfaces of woodland tracks. These can be created by scraping out plasticine from the grass area or shoving it sideways to make a path and the residue to make track or path verges.

Once you are satisfied with your ground work you can then start to add, for example, trees and stone walls. A tree can be as simple as using a single strand of plasticine or - for the benefit of perspective - you can intertwine several strands to make a stouter or "in your face" tree (as shown via one of the links above). The foliage is just scrunched-up plasticine and you add it to your basic-looking branches as you think is realistic; and to hide the lack of actual branches.

I once tried a tree with bare branches - in the painting entitled First Snow - but it didn't look convincing and the tiny boughs were difficult to apply; so I now only make trees in full foliage.

For stone walls all you need - depending on the size of your wall - are squarish pieces of plasticine, which you can make into rough stone shapes and place them where necessary. In the building of your wall, leave holes and spaces and dislodge some stones and put others in irregular positions, so that the wall looks weather beaten.

I like to keep the designs of my paintings simple, leaving more room for expression in the working with plasticine and paint.

In my landscapes, I never create any kind of building, as this would involve too many horizontals and verticals and with all those lines it is easy to become confused; a log cabin though, could be simple enough to construct using single strands of plasticine. However, I associate those with the USA and as I've never been there my paintings evoke the countryside of the UK.

So, that's about it for applying and working with the plasticine. To hold it more firmly to the board, you can cover the whole worked areas in an appropriate wash and when this has dried you can still work the plasticine if necessary.

Then it's on to the painting and that is up to you.

If you want to see these words put into action you can watch an edited version of a video ("A Touch of Colour") showing me at work on one of my paintings called The Track.

So Welcome to the Art Sight Gallery, where you can see ten of my paintings from The Echo through to Lonely Water.

And finally, if you feel inclined, or even compelled to do so, there is a contact page where you can leave any comments. Also, on this page are the acknowledgements to those people without whom this website would not have been possible.