Posterior vitreous detachment- PVD – Myodesopsia – (trying to represent what’s going on in my head at the moment)

On holiday in Portugal recently I started getting visual distortions. Flashing, strange floaty shapes and some lines like a window that went away when I closed my eyes.

I get a visual aura before my migraines but these didn’t develope into pins and needles or a headache.

I have had an eye test and and learnt that it is PVD. This usually happens with age. According to my optometrist at Spec Savers people with visual auras/ migraines have more problems too.

There is lots of good information out there about this and if you get sudden floaters or flashes you should see a doctor ASAP

https://eyelovethesun.com/blogs/news/why-am-i-seeing-flashes

https://www.great-eyes.com/santarosa-eye-surgery/floatersandflashes.html

As an artist I was interested in seeing what sort of representations there were around of this condition which is annoying but should settlement down in a couple of months.

This is a good images of what a floater looks like for me now – they are irritating because if you try and look at them directly they swim off to the side of your vision.

https://www.great-eyes.com/santarosa-eye-surgery/floatersandflashes

In the beginning it was much more intense and wriggly like a brown worm with a fluorescent edge. They are called Myodesopsia- I love learning new vocabulary (lol)

There don’t seem to be many images of flashes that look like mine. There is talk of similarities with fire works and lightning but nothing really like I experienced

I have been trying to make some images of the wiggly worm electronically without much success

The sparkler trail isn’t bad but the edge is too violent

I have given up on the worm for a bit. Here is a what looked like a silhouette of a man sitting – it’s not quite correct but it followed me around for a bit after the worm disappeared

Earlier there was some weird upside down windows in both eyes that flashed occasionally

As the disturbances have settled down over the week. The weird shapes have morphed in to circular flashes in both eyes but they appear as one

Luckily it’s not there all the time and just appears instantaneously

However, every time I go out into the sun/ dark/shade other shapes and lights get picked up and added – thank fully not lasting as long as the wiggly worm, the man or the windows.

Been playing a bit more after a walk outside – flashes have a bit more glare and flare than the top pic ( lol)

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Lisbon mini break

We are in Lisbon for a couple of nights after our trip to the Omassim Guest house for a yoga retreat.

We are staying in an Airbnb at the back of the Sao Jorge Castle, on Calçada do Menino Deus 6–16. The Airbnb is in an old apartment block. It’s small with one bedroom but could sleep 4 at a push.

It’s quirkily decorated with charming second hand furniture and fittings

Around the apartment building there are lots of narrow streets with pretty architectural details

I particularly like the different ways the doors and windows can open to let in fresh air

There must have been a fiesta recently because lots of houses still have brightly coloured plastic decorations up

The apartment block has a hand of Fatima door knocker. These are a feature of the region and are a Muslim influence which implies that all who enter the house with one of these attached are protected by Fatima – Mohammed’s daughter. There are several different designs

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Jon took us on a walk today to find a coffee shop that had been recommended online. It was a good 30 mom walk from the apartment so we left early in the morning to avoid the heat of the day – it’s 34 degree at the moment ( 4pm) toooo hot for me to be walking around after the cool week in Omassim.

The trek took us past lots of beautiful tiles( see my earlier post), graffiti

Of which there is an abundance

And lots of different pavement mosaics – which are very attractive – if a bit slippery in places

The coffee shop was on Ruas das Flores and did an 8/10 pour over and had a original Blade Runner poster in the loo ( the things I do)

The coffee shop was on the number 28 tram line back to the apartment. These are 1930’s trams, the journey stopped an started as the extremely calm driver avoided pedestrians, parked cars and other obstacles.

Nice internal wooden features and a fab shiny metal wheel. There is an interesting website for the tram

http://lisbonlisboaportugal.com/lisbon-transport/lisbon-tram-28.html

We got off the tram at a very pretty viewing point of the estuary with a church, terrace and more tiles …..

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I do love all the blue and white details.

last night we ate out at a restaurant recommended in trip advisor. The food was fab we had a carrot salad – speciality of the restaurant which was crunchy and peppery with tomatoes and a great sauce, sardines with peppers which should have been on a bruschetta type toast but I am gluten free so they left the toast separate ( which was nice of them). The dinner was finished off with roast pork belly – which was a melt in the mouth version and comes highly recommended. I was in a bit of a strop about eating hot food in 30 or so degrees. However the plates were all to share and were smallish portions – Jon did not leave hungry and we didn’t have sweet or coffee

Funky table light – interesting fact Sean Connery was filmed at that location in 1991 for the Russia House. The restaurant’s name was ‘Needle in a haystack’ or Agulha No Palheiro.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g189158-d8757206-Reviews-Agulha_No_Palheiro-Lisbon_Lisbon_District_Central_Portugal.html

Lisbon Tiles

I have been enjoying the different designs of tiles on the buildings through out Lisbon. There are lots of blogs and websites with historical information. So I am just going to include a selection of the images that I have collected

https://www.timetravelturtle.com/azulejos-tile-museum-lisbon-portugal/

https://thetravelbunny.com/azulejo-tile-style-in-porto/

The next few grids show details of story panels that you can find in churches

Distressed tiles and graffiti

New moon meditation attempts 2

I am still struggling with my illustrations- I have managed to do one I like

But the rest just seem to go blobby and horrid

Layer 2

It has been fun playing and kept me from getting bored cos the weather is so bloomin chilly and grey in Portugal.

New Moon Meditation illustration ( attempts)

We are staying at the Omassim Guest house in Portugal again. It’s a surf and yoga retreat on the Atlantic coast near Ericeira. We visited last year too. The day is divided into food, yoga / surfing. In the evening there is a Yin yoga session and a meditation – which I have been doing to the best of my ability with a twanged ligament in my right knee.

Omassim has lots of fab Buddha statues …..

Last night was a new moon and the yoga/ med teacher Bella did a fab meditation which ended with us all lying in a circle, thinking about light coming down from the moon into the top of our heads and lighting up our bodies.

The weather has been a bit miserable this year and I haven’t felt like making art. After the meditation I had a picture in my head of what I could do in response to the session. I only have limited art supplies so it will be a challenge.

My first go is too dark and I didn’t leave enough lightness around the moon. I also over sprayed the image with water .

I wanted to use a moon that was similar to one I remembered as a child. I found something on Pinterest

I liked the way this one showed a bit of the dark side too.

Above is my first layer. The figures look as if they are robots from a Sci-fi movie attached to a central flower/ moon – the circles on the bodies are supposed chakras with lines of energy swirling around.

I used this image as research http://michellespalding.com/following-your-souls-calling/body-filled-with-lifht-depositphotos_9140952_original/

I made three figures, a male, a thin female and a chunky female one to represent the mixed shapes of those present. I made little stencils so that I don’t have to draw them from scratch every-time. ( I might have to do a few more copies before I get it right)

In my rough – it looks a bit like a dissolving mummy (😂😂😂) but I quite like the effect

I sprayed the first layer with water, because it’s what I am into at the moment. Hopefully it won’t all disappear . It’s got to dry over night, so we shall see. I like the way the water disrupts the lines and adds interest – the figures are still a bit robot like and don’t really fit in with the cartoon moon…….

Sometimes things just go wrong ……

I decided to go over the design in turquoise rather than black. When I started to draw the mandala design again it didn’t really show up. So I got my child’s brush pen out

Not really liking it so I sprayed it and then ran it under a tap ……

I took a print- before I washed it and smudged the moon

I quite like the print

Loosing all the details on the 2nd attempt in the process ……

I think the paper is too over worked by the pen ………

I like the effects but will need to work on these two back home with acrylic paint 😂😂😂

What have I learnt?

Fountain pens seem to damage the surface of the paper ( trying out fountain pens in an attempt to be more environmentally friendly )

Turquoise over turquoise fountain pen is not going to work if there is too much detail in the first layer

Cartoon moons and robot figures are a bit dogey

Child’s brush pens are fine if you just stick to brush pens – the colour doesn’t really go with Lamy ink

Brush pens make fab prints if you spray them

Pencil lines with cheap Argos pencil are hard to rub out

Should have brought water soluble pencil crayon

I like making mess and taking risks with my art in guest house rooms because there is – a danger that you get blue ink everywhere (😂😂😂) luckily everything is water soluble

Digital daily inspiration

I am loving working in a digital way. I thought it wasn’t as intuitive and expressive as working with paper – but I found I working on darker/ shade collages seemed to bring out a different side of me – these seem to connect with other people if one goes by comments and likes

Trapdoor

‘Truth’ surprised me – it felt like I was drawn to the woman’s eyes – something about being seen and needing to be accountable

Above we had to write our own fairy tale – I liked the idea of a girl walking through and enchanted forest with a group of charmed animals to keep her safe

‘Conflict ‘ was a bit weird – the rabbit and the chicken were part of the same ‘cutout’ offered by Freemix – I liked the repetition of the face and the evil look on face of the chicken

Zebra – the interlaced stripes and over lays felt like fields of bones

This was ‘darkness’ I liked layering the buildings and adding the figures – the female has a different head in Freemix – I like that you can chop bits off images and add them in layers to other bits really easily. I am a away for a bit and can’t access my own photos – this seems to make quite a difference to the final outcome in-terms of making collages with some originality. The above images are a mixture from Shelley Klammer and the second week of ICAD 2018

Daisy Yellow’s icad

Every June and July Daisy Yellow/ Tammy Garcia / gypsy999 posts 61 prompts for you to follow. The suggestion is that you make small index card pieces. This year I am enjoying the digital collages so much I am continuing with those.

The first week of prompts are all about fairgrounds:

Roller coaster

Fireworks

Tilt-a-whirl

Ferris Wheel

Queue/ line

Carousel

Haunted house

I am having great fun blending using image blender, using found images (some from the internet ) and adding cutouts using the Freemix App.