Jan. 18, 2011

     Today a friend of mine had surgery on her right eye... a second surgery to improve the outcome of a prior surgery which has forced her to keep her right eye closed since the first of the year. Despite that, she has been doing the sketch a day too! 
     Around the 17th or so, she commented that sketching with one eye closed had helped her see her values better. Intrigued, I announced that "in solidarity" with her condition, celebration of her resolve, (and out of curiosity about the effects) I was going to do my next sketch with my right eye shut. I had to tape it shut with duct tape (not so ouch as you would think), and here is the sketch, done on the 18th... posted on the day of the second surgery.
     I did not notice a difference with how I perceived values (but the human mind adapts and she may have been getting different effects after a few weeks of monocular vision) but I did notice that the edges of things acquired a strange, almost shimmery but subtle effect as though back-lit with a peculiar kind of light. I believe it was from my mind dealing with the edge information being singular as opposed to being averaged from two eyes. For me, the real difference came in my ability to see what I was putting on the paper. I felt uncertain about placing my pencil quite where I wanted it. Unassisted, my single eye did not want to refocus between jar and sketch pad quickly and I had some trouble with bleariness as well.
     Here's hoping she's back to working and enjoying life with both eyes soon!