It's Personal

Blind Artist Vision: blog by Stella De Genova

There is no doubt that artists are storytellers.  Visual art may not use words to relay a message but as the old Rod Stewart song goes, “Every picture tells a story, don’t it?”

When I go through my files of my art images or contemplate one of my paintings hanging in my home, each one evokes a memory, a moment in my life and thoughts of loved ones. Some paintings I can let go of and others, I just cannot.

I have done paintings of places we’ve traveled to and places that my family and friends have gone.  Some of my paintings are sentimental because of the moment it takes me back to.  And I have done paintings for others of an image that matters to them. 

Tarantella on the Piazza is a painting of me when we were in Italy.  We were on the piazza and the street musician started playing the old Italian song I’ve heard since childhood.  I started showing a friend who was with us how to do the traditional dance.

I also do paintings of still lifes -- and who doesn’t love a good pear?  LOL  For me, the challenge of a still life helps me hone my skills and works as a study in light, color; it allows me to study the style of a master while working on my own style at the same time.

Pear Still Life was a painting from one of my pastel classes and I enjoyed finding lots of color in these pears.

This painting came from a photo taken of my brother and his son enjoying time together while hiking along a mountain path. To me, it feels warm and sunny and I wish I were on the hike!

Creating art is so often cathartic for an artist.  There are many artists who put their emotions on the canvas.  We can look at the artwork of Frida Kahlo and feel her emotional and physical pain, just as we can look at Toulouse-Lautrec and see a passion for life in spite of his physical disability.  We may not know the story behind every painting but if we gaze upon any painting long enough, it will evoke an emotion.  And then, we feel it and remember it and, through this personal encounter, we’ve written our own story.  When I go to the Art Institute of Chicago, my favorite place to wander around since I was a teen, it always evokes awe, inspiration and so often, I wonder what the real story was behind a painting.

Although my style of painting is traditional and the viewer may not know the emotion behind each painting, I have painted when I was sad or frustrated and I have painted when I was happy.   No matter how I am feeling, there is a need to paint.  Being legally blind, I am thankful that I have just enough vision and drive left to keep trying.

This painting comes from a sunset near my brother and sister-in-law’s home in Door County, Wisconsin. It is a serene scene, but it also happens to be the place where we distributed my mom and stepfather's ashes.  Whenever nature is involved, it evokes relaxation.

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