"The Ghost of Innocence" Painting

My artistic journey is an interesting and inspiring story of a rediscovered passion and natural talent. My view on Art is different to many others because I have diplopia - double vision - following a motorcycle accident some time ago. The diplopia is managed with a black-out contact lens on my left eye which then gives me Monocular vision - vision from a single eye. I enjoyed Art and Art History at school in the 80's and 90's but a complicated home life and a reluctance to follow rules meant I dropped out of education before getting any meaningful qualifications. About the year 2020, I took some time out from my day job building software for computers to care for my brother following a disabling accident. In order to look after my own mental health, I booked myself on some local life drawing classes. The charcoal studies I brought home from the classes were apparently rather good and a distant memory of my passion for art was brought to the forefront. Alongside charcoal and pencil drawings, I rediscovered painting in Gouache and acrylics. Before long I invested in oil paints and began teaching myself traditional painting techniques. I have a young family and we all enjoy expressing ourselves in many art forms.