Art right
153 creative works found
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Turn around is fair play , and it’s just as funny when the shoes on the other foot, or in this case , the foots on the other charm !
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This is a cross between a seascape and an architectural shot, for those that are never sure which they prefer…... Title sourced from the Brisbane News real estate pages A shot from my Sunday coast trip with Steph REAL ESTATE SERIES / NEW ZEALAND / FROGS / LENSBABY / INFRARED / BEACH / INDUSTRIAL / PANORAMAS / LANDSCAPES / SPAM PHOTOS
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Real estate speak from the Brisbane News Moeraki Beach, NZ / Canon 5D w 16-35mm lens at 16mm. Three shots bracketed with photomatix REAL ESTATE SERIES / NEW ZEALAND / FROGS / LENSBABY / INFRARED / BEACH / INDUSTRIAL / PANORAMAS / LANDSCAPES / SPAM PHOTOS
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Protect Your Copyright - URGENT ACTION REQUIRED
by Helen BascomIf you are an artist or photographer in the United States PLEASE TAKE HEED: you may loose all rights to your work very soon. A bill is b…
If you are an artist or photographer in the United States PLEASE TAKE HEED: you may loose all rights to your work very soon. A bill is before Congress which will essentially make all works of art ever created orphaned works and send them to the public domain. Essentially what this bill will do is force artists and photographers to pay fees to commercial registry companies to register a copyright on every single work you have ever created or ever will create. The current law protects your copyright without registration. Registration with the United States Copyright Office merely sets statutory damages in the event of copyright infringement. The new law will REQUIRE registration NOT WITH THE COPYRIGHT OFFICE but with COMMERCIAL REGISTRIES. The purpose of this bill seems to be the enrichment of corporations to the impoverishment of the people. If this bill passes and you want to protect your work, you will be required to pay a fee FOR EVERY SINGLE WORK OF ART ALREADY CREATED and EVERY SINGLE WORK YOU WILL EVER CREATE. Additionally, you will be required to register with more than one commercial registry to secure your copyright protection. Now let’s see, I have just on RB 250 works. If I have to pay $5 USD per photo to three different registries to protect my copyright that will cost me $3,750. This is just the cost to protect the work I have uploaded to RedBubble. What about the other 8,399 photos on my computer? If I ever print them, upload them, show them in a gallery, I have to pay for each of them as well. / Folks, this is serious. EDIT – URGENT UPDATE The Orphan Works Bill is out of committee. Now is the time to zealously advocate for defeat of this bill. Please go to the Illustrators Partnership of America Legislative Action Center for more information and useful links to contact your Senators and Representatives. This Bill will substantially limit your ability to recover financially if your work is infringed, even if your work was registered with the U.S. Copyright Office prior to infringement. So registration with the U.S. Copyright Office is a waste of your money if this Bill passes. Important elements of the HOUSE BILL Coerced Registration • The Orphan Works Act would force artists to risk their lives’ work to subsidize the start-up ventures of private, profit making registries, using untested image recognition technology and untried business models. These models would inevitably favor the aggregation of images into corporate databases over the licensing of copyrights by the lone artists who create the art. International Impact • Because an unmarked picture cannot be sourced or dated, works by artists outside the U.S. will be as vulnerable to infringement in the U.S. as work by domestic artists. • Presumably the Copyright Office and Congress expect non U.S. artists to register all their past and future art with the new hypothetical U.S. databases, or see their work exposed to commercial infringement under U.S. law. • It is a violation of the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works for any country to impose registration on a rights holder as as a condition of protecting his copyright. Please take this opportunity to protect your rights under the current copyright law by speaking out against this proposed legislation. Go here and read this journal entry by Crockpot The Orphan Works Act of 2008 ~ RELEASE FROM THE ILLUSTRATORS’ PARTNERSHIP The Orphan Works Act of 2008 will be officially released momentarily. The language in the draft confirms our warnings. If this bill passes, you’ll be forced to clear all your secondary licensing rights through at least two government certified databases – or risk orphaning your art. Despite its masquerade as the “last resort” to search for a rights owner, these databases will likely become the only source many users will rely on for finding a rights owner. Reason: it will give users the legal right to infringe any copyright not in the databases. ERIN JAY’S JOURNAL ENTRY CLICK HERE FOR FULL TEXT OF THE SENATE VERSION CLICK HERE FOR FULL TEXT OF THE HOUSE VERSION CLICK THIS LINK FOR MORE INFORMATION CLICK THIS LINK FOR EVEN MORE INFORMATION CLICK THIS LINK FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION CLICK THIS LINK FOR REGISTRATION PROBLEMS Below is a sample letter I sent to my senators and to my congressional representative. Please adapt it for your own use. Click these links to find your state representatives: STATE SENATORS CONTACT INFORMATION STATE REPRESENTATIVE CONTACT INFORMATION Here is an interview with Brad Holland of the Illustrator’s Partnership. He explains how passage of this bill will affect every artist and photographer in the Country. Under current United States and International Law, your copyright is automatic from the moment you create the work. Registering your work provides you with legal fees and statutory damages upon discovering an infringement. If you do not register your work, your are limited to actual damages which are typically far less than provided for in the Statute. International law, and current US Law prohibit forced or coerced copyright registration. Copyright is a longstanding common law right. The proposed legislation is a back door effort to require registration with commercial registries in order to protect your work from being deemed orphaned. SIGN THE ONLINE PETITION HERE SAMPLE LETTER TO YOUR REPRESENTATIVE and SENATOR Congressman Baron Hill / 279 Quartermaster Ct. / Jeffersonville, IN 47130 / Phone: (812) 288-3999 / Fax: (812) 288-3873 Re: The Orphan Works legislation Dear Congressman Hill: My name is Helen M. Bascom and I live in Jeffersonville, Indiana. After reading about the Orphan Works bill, I am outraged that this could happen in my country. This Orphan Works legislation, if passed, will severely impact my income and life as an artist/photographer. Not only will it give license for others to legally steal and use my work for free, it will be virtually impossible for me to afford the time and money to register my creations in all the potential new registries. Commercial registries will be the only organizations that will profit from this legislation. I have thousands of photographs and works of art and I simply can not afford to register my works, even at a few dollars each. This bill, if passed, will force me to close my on line galleries which will destroy my business. Should someone consider my work to be orphaned and take my work for their own use, I can not afford the legal fees to protect my copyright. I demand that you to vote AGAINST the Orphan Works bill and protect my rights, my copyrights, to all that I have and will create. Thank you. Regards, Helen M. Bascom, / Bascom Digital Art
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OTHER INDUSTRIAL / REAL ESTATE SERIES / NEW ZEALAND / FROGS / LENSBABY / INFRARED / BEACH / SPAM / PANORAMAS / LANDSCAPES
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“THE STORY OF DESTINY She was separated from her Mother who had escaped into the frigid waters, during the terrifying confusion of the seal hunt. Meanwhile the Baby floated away alone, on a tiny raft of pack ice. She drifted throughout the night, desperately calling for her Mother. Morning came and found her miles from where the humans had caused such panic the day before. After many hours of lonely despair, the two loving Harp Seals found each other; finally safe from the reach of the fishermen! Reunited again, the Mother in her gratitude, named her miracle child “Destiny”. ~ Skye Ryan-Evans © ~ This beautiful image and story was created to protest the annual seal hunt and to raise awareness of the beauty and gentleness of our precious Harp Seals. Not only are they endangered by rising ocean temperatures, but they also suffer huge losses at the hands of seal hunters every year. It’s time such barbaric activities were stopped immediately. 25% of all sales benefit the great harpseals.org. Thank you for caring about endangered wildlife.
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So I Thought – Flyleaf - Ignorance is bliss cherish it / Pretty neighborhood / You learn too much to hold / Believe it not / And fight the tears / With pretty smiles and lies / About the times You can hear the song on Flyleafs PureVolume page
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ST JOHNS / OTHER INDUSTRIAL / REAL ESTATE SERIES / NEW ZEALAND / FROGS / LENSBABY / INFRARED / BEACH / SPAM / PANORAMAS / LANDSCAPES
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“To Be Free” is a crop from the Genetic Bill of Rights Painting Series by Mariam Muradian / & CC Arshagra.The Genetic Bill of Rights was drafted in 2000 by The Council for Responsible Genetics and GeneWatch, yet most people do not even now that it exists. These rights exist for everyone; to inform people that they have the right to govern their own genes, bodies, cultures, and biodiversity. / Copyright 2000. All rights reserved The Council for Responsible Genetics. / Professional photographs of the paintings by Kevin Sharp. / Acrylics, oil pastel, charcoal on 24”x30” canvas. Note to Artists: In the event that The Genetic Bill of Rights words inspire you to action, and you wish to use/reproduce them in any integral and aesthetic artistic way to spread the knowledge and collective conscience of these human rights worldwide; The Council for Responsible Genetics states: “Copyright 2000. All rights reserved The Council for Responsible Genetics. May be reproduced without permission ONLY in its ENTIRETY, INCLUDING this copyright notice.” / (This copyright is painted on the side of all these original canvases.) / This entire 11 piece painting series is available for exhibition. Curators please contact artists via BubbleMail. You can also go to URL http://www.thebigboxofcolors.org/ourmission/thegbrpaintingseries.html / to read the GeneWatch Magazine Cover Story Article about the series. CC Arshagra is HERE / on RedBubble! / www.ccapoet.com ............................................................................................................................................. THE GENETIC BILL OF RIGHTS / 1. All people have the right to preservation of the earth’s biological and genetic diversity. / 2. All people have the right to a world in which living organisms cannot be patented, including human beings, animals, plants, microorganisms and all their parts. / 3. All people have the right to a food supply that has not been genetically engineered. / 4. All indigenous peoples have the right to manage their own biological resources, to preserve their traditional knowledge, and to protect these from expropriation and biopiracy by scientific, corporate or government interests. / 5. All people have the right to protection from toxins, other contaminants, or actions that can harm their genetic makeup and that of their offspring. / 6. All people have the right to protection against eugenic measures such as forced sterilization or mandatory screening aimed at aborting or manipulating selected embryos or fetuses. / 7. All people have the right to genetic privacy including the right to prevent the taking or storing of bodily samples for genetic information without their voluntary informed consent. / 8. All people have the right to be free from genetic discrimination. / 9. All people have the right to DNA tests to defend themselves in criminal proceedings. / 10. All people have the right to have been conceived, gestated, and born without genetic manipulation. Spring, 2000 / Copyright. All Rights Reserved to The Council for Responsible Genetics
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An Orangutan pondering something
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“Consequences”, the signature piece from the Genetic Bill of Rights Painting Series by Mariam Muradian. The artist was rapidly losing her sight throughout the painting of the entire series; this one signature piece was painted by Mariam Muradian when she was blind (a side effect suffered from a medication given to assist her heart). The Genetic Bill of Rights was drafted in 2000 by The Council for Responsible Genetics and GeneWatch, yet most people do not even now that it exists. These rights exist for everyone; to inform people that they have the right to govern their own genes, bodies, cultures, and biodiversity.The entire card set is worth owning and sharing. The knowledge this series embodies is priceless. 2007 Copyright. All Rights Reserved to Mariam Muradian. / Acrylics, oil pastels, charcoal on 48”x 60” canvas. This artwork is on the cover of GeneWatch Magazine, August/September 2007 / and is part of the “CRG SPONSORS NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON / DNA DATABANKS AND RACE: Issues, Abuses, and Actions Announcement. / You can also go to URL http://www.thebigboxofcolors.org/ourmission/thegbrpaintingseries.html / to read the GeneWatch Magazine Cover Story Article about the series. www.ccapoet.com / .............................................................................................................................................. THE GENETIC BILL OF RIGHTS / 1. All people have the right to preservation of the earth’s biological and genetic diversity. / 2. All people have the right to a world in which living organisms cannot be patented, including human beings, animals, plants, microorganisms and all their parts. / 3. All people have the right to a food supply that has not been genetically engineered. / 4. All indigenous peoples have the right to manage their own biological resources, to preserve their traditional knowledge, and to protect these from expropriation and biopiracy by scientific, corporate or government interests. / 5. All people have the right to protection from toxins, other contaminants, or actions that can harm their genetic makeup and that of their offspring. / 6. All people have the right to protection against eugenic measures such as forced sterilization or mandatory screening aimed at aborting or manipulating selected embryos or fetuses. / 7. All people have the right to genetic privacy including the right to prevent the taking or storing of bodily samples for genetic information without their voluntary informed consent. / 8. All people have the right to be free from genetic discrimination. / 9. All people have the right to DNA tests to defend themselves in criminal proceedings. / 10. All people have the right to have been conceived, gestated, and born without genetic manipulation. Spring, 2000 / Copyright. All Rights Reserved to The Council for Responsible Genetics
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Not much more to say…..... / A mantra I always live by and so should all…. / I had this on one of the walls of my Gym when I was Teaching Physical Education and Coaching (before retiring) / for my entry into Visions of a Mantra Challenge in the / ABSTRACT DIGITAL ART AND WRITING group / It started with this painting of clouds and I worked some computer magic and got this background like it is / I hope you like it…........ / /
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Petition To Stop Copyright Theft at Polyvore.com
by Crokus LabelWe, users of RedBubble.com ask that all of our works be completely removed from Polyvore.com. That also includes all works that have been…
Petition to keep our Copyrights.
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A digital painting combined with photography and hand-painted elements. This rich scene invokes powerful emotions about the majesty of wildlife and the glorious treasures found in Nature. “Golden” was created by Skye to add to a large series of Heron and Egret artworks for a private collector. Now she is offering many of these uniquely spectacular images here on Red Bubble for your enjoyment. 25% of sales proceeds go to the Mountainaire Avian (& Mammal) Rescue Society in BC, Canada. Thank you for helping the critters.
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So nice to make new friends! :) Also on a tee:
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Then Kronos from his ambush stretched forth his left hand & in his right took the great long sickle with jagged teeth & swiftly lopped off his own father's members & cast them away to fall behind him
by kathleenUS$4.28–US$114.00
love is born from what can only be imagined as incredible, excruciating pain.
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No bears or little critters were harmed in these photoshoots, they got fed well with Honey and Jam Sandwiches and Pink Lemonade, which is the reason they have Red Tee Shirts to hide the spills. / /
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THE GODS ARE CRYING!!! NB. I have never drawn a tank with a pencil, let alone a vector curve and quite frankly I didn’t care to spend much time drawing weapons (poopoo) but I think you get the idea…
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With No Immediate Cause By Ntozake Shange / (pronounced en-to-zaki shong-gay) every 3 minutes a woman is beaten every five minutes a woman is raped/every ten minutes a lil girl is molested yet i rode the subway today i sat next to an old man who may have beaten his old wife 3 minutes ago or 3 days/30 years ago he might have sodomized his daughter but i sat there cuz the young men on the train might beat some young women later in the day or tomorrow i might not shut my door fast every 3 minutes it happens some woman’s innocence rushes to her cheeks/pours from her mouth like the betsy wetsy dolls have been torn apart/their mouths menses red & split/every three minutes a shoulder is jammed through plaster and the oven door/ chairs push thru the rib cage/hot water or boiling sperm decorate her body i rode the subway today & bought a paper from a man who might have held his old lady onto a hot pressing iron/i don’t know maybe he catches lil girls in the park & rips open their behinds with steel rods/i can’t decide what he might have done i only know every 3 minutes every 5 minutes every 10 minutes/so i bought the paper looking for the announcement the discovery/of the dismembered woman’s body/the victims have not all been identified/today they are naked and dead/refuse to testify/one girl out of 10’s not coherent/i took the coffee & spit it up/i found an announcement/not the woman’s bloated body in the river/floating not the child bleeding in the 59th street corridor/not the baby broken on the floor/ there is some concern that alleged battered women might start to murder their husbands & lovers with no immediate cause” i spit up i vomit i am screaming we all have immediate cause every 3 minutes every 5 minutes every 10 minutes every day women’s bodies are found in alleys & bedrooms/at the top of the stairs before i ride the subway/buy a paper/drink coffee/i must know/ have you hurt a woman today did you beat a woman today throw a child across a room are the lil girl’s panties in yr pocket did you hurt a woman today i have to ask these obscene questions the authorities require me to establish immediate cause every three minutes every five minutes every ten minutes every day. Foot note: I am just an artist, not an activist.
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"You're not doing ART right!"
by BlueKnotGot an interesting and somewhat saddening bubblemail today. An artist who was being criticized for digital manipulating a photo and dari…
Got an interesting and somewhat saddening bubblemail today. An artist who was being criticized for digital manipulating a photo and daring to call it “art.” They wrote to me because I also work in digital art, and asked my opinion. First let me describe the Artwork in question. It had started as a photo, then was converted to a line art drawing using software. (And by the way, if that sounds easy to you, you haven’t tried. Sure the software does most of the “work”... once you find good settings for your particular image! ...and that can be a major headache!) But more than this, the Artist had gone over each section, adjusting color and gradient. This was not a lazy piece of work. I started off addressing the work: “I actually like both versions; it’s clear that some people just don’t ‘get’ that the intention is a sort of digital impressionism, not photorealism.” “I note you said ‘Photographers’ were panning it. There are some – not all – in that category who are …. er, “purists” is a nice word. Let’s use that. The purist feels that the skill and effort of capturing the perfect picture is the ultimate achievement – they and their camera vs. the world. For them, digital manipulation is a distasteful “cheat.” Maybe to smooth over a flaw or two in the otherwise perfect picture, but it shouldn’t alter the overall look of the picture (so they say.) Fine for them, but some will insist on enforcing their opinions on everyone else.” “You have started with a great photo, and then you saw more in it: it became the canvas for another work. And you’ve done a fine job. Even if you’d just “run it through a filter”, that was your decision, you made the input of altering the picture that way. (And sometimes that yields spectacular results… look up a guy by the handle “lightsmith” here. I like his name, too: he doesn’t just capture the light with his camera, he works it over in photoshop as a smith does iron.)” The artist also asked me if I had ever “gotten flack from other artists because you don’t get your fingers dirty with paint?”... “Have I gotten flack for not getting my fingers dirty? For not even using a camera? Well, not so much personally but I’ve seen it over and over in other communities. I look at it this way: The photographer does not usually sculpt or give birth to his or her subject, they do not cause the sun to rise or the landscape to teem with flora. They take what they find and use it, manipulate it, frame it and capture that wonderful image that they saw and wanted to share. I have pictures in my head… to get them out I use models created by others and software I did not write, but I carefully place, pose and arrange. I adjust the light, changing it’s intensity, color or direction (an ability some photographers would kill for!) I compose and frame my images the same way as the photographer, I just have a somewhat fantastic camera and infinitely patient subjects. ;) “ But the big question in the email was Is it Art? “To borrow/paraphrase the definition of a friend of mine (“GoofyFoot” here) ‘Art is anything created by one person capable of eliciting an emotional response in another person.’ “ “And if I were to extend it into the definition of an artist, I’d say “A person capable of creating Art, as defined above, and who does not deny the validity of someone else’s ‘art’” ... because once you cross that line, you’ve become a snob, and the only reactions you can create are unpleasant ones.” And there you go. If it makes you feel, it’s Art. It doesn’t mean you have to like it. I’ve seen plenty of Art I didn’t like. It doesn’t mean that your way of doing Art is “wrong” and you need to do it that way. But what it does mean is that however it was created is a valid way of creating Art; and you have no right to deny the legitimacy of it because techniques were used that you don’t approve of. The traditional media artist critisize the photographers for “just snapping pics of what someone else created.” The photographers criticize the digital artists for working in a medium that has “undo.” The digital painters criicize the 3D artists for “playing with digital dollies and letting software make all the art.” The ‘pro’ photographer criticizes the photographers who “manipulate their work artificially.” The ‘pro’ 3D artists criticize the hobbyist for “not making their own models.” The oil painters criticize the watercolor artists for working in a “lightweight medium.” It’s all ridiculous. I have a friend who likes to turn the tables and ask the painters if they bind their own brushes and gather and mix their own pigments. After all, if you don’t you’re taking credit for work that is partially someone else’s. ;) Art comes in all flavors. And while it is part of redbubble’s massive organization problem, it is also one of the things that makes redbubble great. They (almost) got it all. I would never go to a photography-only site, but I’ve seen some awesome photos here that I’m glad I didn’t miss. Excuse me, I should have said “I’ve seen some awesome Art here that I’m glad I didn’t miss.”
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Daisy reflected in water I also have an online greeting card store. / Kimberly’s Card Store Images copyright ©Kimberly Palmer. / Copying, displaying, manipulating or redistribution of any image from this portfolio without permission from the artist is strictly prohibited / / Past and Present Group Features /
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Say "NO!" to the Orphan Works Act
by bchrisdesignsI found out about this ludicrous proposed law on Red Bubble...
I found out about this ludicrous proposed law on Red Bubble and wanted to let everyone else know what they can do about it! If you have not heard about the Orphan Works Act, then you should research it and speak out before it is too late (especially if you are an artist, writer, and/or musician)! No, this Act is not about displaced children or found animals. It revolves around works of art (including fine art, photography, writing, music, etc.) that are not registered with newly proposed agencies. ANY work not registered would be considered in the public domain. This is a dangerous concept and just goes to show how greedy and capitalistic our society, government, and big businesses have become. According to GoPetition.com: “If the Orphan Works legislation passes, you and I and all creatives will lose virtually all the rights to not only our future work but to everything we’ve created over the past 34 years, unless we register it with the new, untested and privately run (by the friends and cronies of the U.S. government) registries. Even then, there is no guarantee that someone wishing to steal your personal creations won’t successfully call your work an orphan work, and then legally use it for free. In short, if Congress passes this law, YOU WILL LOSE THE RIGHT TO MAKE MONEY FROM YOUR OWN CREATIONS!” We would be forced into a world where big business can bully us and use whatever they wanted and not be penalized for it. And, this law not only affects artists, writers, and musicians. It also affect the everyday consumer! If you are planning to get your the photographs of your cousin’s wedding developed at a Wal-Mart or other big box retailer, then you better be prepared to get every image copyrighted or you may just end up seeing them on Wal-Mart’s billboards! Gone would be the days of having rights the minute you create something. Now, if you don’t pay to protect it, then it is like no one created the image and it is up for grabs! Who wants to live in this kind of world other than greedy politicians and businesses? And, it does not surprise me that this has all happened under the Bush administration. Who were the idiots that voted for him and thought he would do us some good? Well, seems like the joke’s on YOU! In an April 10th article in Animation World Magazine, award-winning animation producer/director and speaker, Mark Simon, writes: “It is currently against international law to coerce people to register their work for copyright because there are so many inherent problems with it. But because big business can push through laws in the United States, our country is about to break with the rest of the world, again, and take your rights away. With the tens of millions of photos and pieces of artwork created each year, the bounty for forcing everyone to pay a registration fee would be enormous. We lose our rights and our creations, and someone else makes money at our expense. This includes every sketch, painting, photo, sculpture, drawing, video, song and every other type of creative endeavor. All of it is at risk! If the Orphan Works legislation passes, you and I and all creatives will lose virtually all the rights to not only our future work but to everything we’ve created over the past 34 years, unless we register it with the new, untested and privately run (by the friends and cronies of the U.S. government) registries. Even then, there is no guarantee that someone wishing to steal your personal creations won’t successfully call your work an orphan work, and then legally use it for free.” So, what can you do about it? Well educate yourself on the issues, write to your congress men and women, and sign as many petitions as your can. To get your started, check out this petition, which I have already signed: Say ‘NO!’ to the Orphan Works Act on GoPetition.com Also, be sure to check out these resources for more information: Say ‘NO!’ to the Orphan Works Act on GoPetition.com Mark Simon’s Mind Your Business: You Will Lose All The Rights to Your Own Art IPA Orphan Works Resource Page for Artists U.S. Copyright’s Office Orphan Works Page ASMP’s Update on the 2008 Orphan Works Act You can also find more information about the Orphan Works Act on Red Bubble: Helen Bascom’s Protect Your Copyright – URGENT ACTION REQUIRED Erin Jay’s Something every artist should know about! Crockpot’s The Orphan Works Act of 2008 ~ RELEASE WanderingAuthor’s Writers’ Concerns bchrisdesigns’ Say ‘NO!’ to the Orphan Works Act The Red Bubble forum dedicated to this discussion Say No to Orphan Works Thread @ Burst Anime and Manga Mike Cressy’s IMPORTANT! READ AND ACT NOW!!!
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100% of proceeds received from Redbubble in respect to sales of this item, will be donated to Bush Heritage Australia Elk, photo taken at Jasper, Canada
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Acrylics & oil pastel on canvas 2008 Copyright. All Rights Reserved to Mariam Muradian. This painting was directly inspired by one of the visions I had in the Native American “Deeksha” Healing/Blessing on New Year’s Eve. My eyes were closed. / I saw penetrating yellow light pouring and radiating out from behind my eyes. I was able to see things in a “Maxfield Parrish way” again. Now consider from whence I have come….. August 2006 I was given a drug to assist my heart; helping to end 40 years of continual “heart attack magnitude” chest pain and to keep me from slipping in and out of consciousness. It was a new, still somewhat experimental, drug on the market….aka “expensive”. In January 2007, after my 13th heart surgery, the drug was increased to get me past a difficult recovery. I began having elevating pressures in my eyes and pain like knives inside my eyes. Very rapidly I lost my peripheral vision, my color vision, and my central vision. My eyes had become extremely light sensitive; I was given the darkest glasses. This was in the middle of painting The Genetic Bill of Rights Painting Series. I had to sort my colored paints into shades of grey (which I fell into quite naturally from my formal art training); I continued to paint in color even though I could not tell you what color it was, apart from some incredibly intuitive color vibrations I would get; sometimes I could even hear the color. The signature piece of that series was painted when I had only a sliver of vision remaining in my left eye. / Because I had so little sensitive vision left, the Blind Society deemed it unreliable and trained me blindfolded. I painted the signature piece 80% blindfolded. It was a beyond trippy time for me!!! During this whole loss of vision, I had the Blind Society coming to my home to train me in skills and navigation. I was taught to use a blind cane. I learned to type and use voice recognition software. I was learning to cook by sound. One day I set out to get the mail: I was gone for two hours, had fallen into a bush, and returned with no mail in hand! I was so overwhelmed and challenged. After much painful testing, it was decided that the new drug was the cause of the blindness. I was left with a lousy choice and no guarantees from the medical community. In October 2007, I found myself a long way from home, down a road that I didn’t like nor was I sure I could reverse, go back to the fork in the road, and choose again. Morphine and the runaway bobsled to hell! So I stopped the drug! I began Chinese Tong Ren. / Miraculously, my sight returned, color too! My peripheral is still not as it was before the drug…..whose complaining?!!! Painting is like candy to me now; I was born with the gift, but now it means even more! My mind and soul are still playing catch up with all that happened. I do not understand the “taking” or the “giving back” of it all…..maybe it is for the comfort of others? I suppose the worst way to come away from such a trial would be with a “metaphorically myopic soul”? (I would like to hear your comments on my last statement, please. Write.) What we see can be such a distracting illusion to the essence of what is really there. Oddly, sometimes I miss the darkness. I remember the lessons of the darkness. As my Father would say, “I have made the circumference.” / Gratitude does not even begin to cover it!.... ~Mariam Muradian See the other paintings in this series! /
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