A BLIND artist who lives in Warwick Bridge has opened up about what art and painting means to him.
72-year old Geoff MacDonald is originally from Salford but two years ago relocated to Warwick Bridge, Carlisle with his wife Roma.
Geoff, along with his two siblings, suffer from a rare genetic disease, Pseudoxanthoma elasticum (PXE), which has caused his eye-sight to slowly deteriorate. He is now registered blind 'with about 10 per cent blurred peripheral vision'.
He said: "Probably the best description is looking through very thick, dirty, scratched up plastic."
Using the aid of a magnification device, Geoff goes about everyday life with a steadfast spirit and finds happiness in his art and in Cumbria's stunning scenery.
He said: "For me, joy is looking through a pair of binoculars, because a big pair with big lenses gets more vision in."
Whilst on a holiday in 1998 Geoff noticed that his vision had become distorted, the beginning of the condition which would force him to retire from his job as a planning director at Asda.
18 months later, Geoff had trained himself to paint and was using his new outlet to convey his thoughts.
He said: "I thought, right. I have to do something. So I took up painting, as you do," he chuckled.
"A lot of people say, I can't draw a straight line or I would love to paint and I say: have you tried?"
Despite his condition, Geoff is a devoted artist and dedicates all of his time to his craft, however, unlike many artists, his sight loss prevents him from enjoying his finished work.
This is where Geoff finds satisfaction is sharing in art, as he wants others to enjoy the work that he cannot, which started with his work featuring in a friend's coffee shop.
He said: "It wasn't for me the fact that they were being sold, I won the day he asked me to put them on the wall because that is me fighting back with the eyes, someone thought they were good enough.
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"It means that what is in my brain came out on the canvas.
"It's a bit like a car analogy, the headlamps don't work but the engine is still running."
Since his move to Carlisle, Geoff has indulged in the county's rural beauty and has found a new style and satisfaction painting the charming views in the Lake District, like this stunning painting of Cat Bells.
Not only is his painting an outlet, Geoff also sees his work as a way to inspire others with sight loss.
He said: "There must be thousands of people who are either professional or amateur artists painting the Lake District and some of them are extremely good so there is no way there is competition from me and others with sightloss problems.
"But if they can do something they are pleased with or other people are pleased with, they've won, they've beat the problem."
Geoff's wife Roma, has supported him since the discovery of his condition and expressed her delight that Geoff can use painting to help him cope with his sight loss.
She said: "He does it just to survive, because he was and still is a very driven person.
"It's mass production, because he needs to do something and he gives away most of his work.
"I admire him as an individual as he never ever moans about health - he moans about everything else - but he just says 'what is the point'!"
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