Here at Daylight Company we'd like to introduce you to another one of our Daylight Ambassadors - low vision artist Barrie Goodfellow.
I was born with bilateral glaucoma, retinitis pigmentosa,
acute myopia and a hearing defect. My sight condition was not diagnosed until I
was 11 years old so I missed out on my early years of education as I was unable
to see the blackboard and most teachers wrote me off as being uneducatable. I
spent most of my school days painting in the art room, collecting milk crates
or playing football and I grew up on my wits in a mining village in the heart
of the Northumberland coalfield.
Throughout my life I was faced with a visual challenge but
was never deterred by my handicap and went on to enjoy a very successful Import
and Export Shipping career that took me all around the world. The culmination
of my career was starting my own business which became known in every part of
the world and won many National awards.
In 1997 my sight diminished further and I had no other
choice than to take early retirement and I was registered blind. It was at this
point that I started painting with water colour and later moved to acrylic.
Most of my paintings feature seascapes, fishing boats or some element of water
that are always captured in my mind when out walking with my wife, Janet, and
guide dog, Marshall, around the many beauty spots of Devon and Cornwall.
Because of my blindness it is not possible for me to sit out
and paint on location. My wife takes photographs with a digital camera for me
which are downloaded and I then use the Daylight Professional Artist’s Lamp and Magnifying Lamp which is a prerequisite in making the required details
accessible. Without quality lighting it
would be impossible to follow and see the digital photographs in detail to
create a quality painting. I am able to
use Daylight lamps for long periods of time without sustaining any side effects
such as flashing, floaters or even headaches which is often the case when I
have used other lamps. My motto is ‘We
have little sight, so keep it bright and of course we require very good light’.
Daylight Lamps have helped me in my journey to enjoying art again, and I look forward to being able to share some tailored advice and product reviews for others living with low vision.
