WAGblog

"Slime molds" bowl with fake apple

This is one of my newest art projects. The bowl is papier mâché which has been gilded inside with composition gold leaf and painted outside then polyurethaned inside and out for durability. The pictures are really of slime molds, but in false colors.

I've been having a blast making various things out of papier mâché recently. Along with the tortoise and the Decorated Betsy, which you all have seen pictures of, I have made bowls and a bust and am making a "monster" and a lamp and jewelry -- all out of paper and glue and wall paper paste, and/or some variation thereof. I should be writing more but art keeps taking precedence, partly because it is so hard to see to read or write, even if partly beause I so enjoy it. I'd enjoy writing too, if I could see better, but my vision is so wonky -- double and more, that my eyes tire out easily even when they are able to see for a while.

Speaking of which, my friend and optometrist, L, solved the vision problem finally. Not even my ophthalmologist managed to do what she did, though he didn't even bother to look for a solution, just threw up his hands and tossed me out of the office as a complainer...But she took me seriously, didn't treat me as just a "mental patient" and lo and behold found the problem in no time: one eye goes outward while the other goes in the other direction downward. With the expected result: double vision and lack of depth perception.

I had no idea that I was lacking that last. I knew I had to brake the car carefully when approaching another car from behind...but I didn't understand my caution, only that things looked different and I had to be careful. I hadn't been able to define what the problem was until she stated it. Ah, so that is what it is! I see now, I see!

L said the only thing for it was prism glasses and she fitted me for some. We will go to choose some at her office in a week, when I have a ride out there (i saw her at a local office she was temporarily working at, not her own, several miles further away).
I can't wait to see if they really do help, and if reading and writing seem less of a burden once I can see better. It will be a blessing if so, and I am hopeful.

I would write more now, but I need 1) to get a cup of coffee to wake up (though it is evening, I will be taking my Xyrem in a few hours and it will not keep me up past a half hour after that, no matter what I do now) 2) to rest my eyes and take a break.

Tomorrow we have our speech at the CT MHA. I will write then to let you know how it went. And to tell you more about what I've learned about Clifford Beers, author of the very interesting 100 year old "A Mind that Found itself." Truly a classic of mental illness literature and well worth reading, even if he was bipolar not schizophrenic. I highly recommended it, though I would warn you about the archaic-sounding style...Remember it is 100 years ago when he was writing, and they spoke differently back then, had a different style of writing.

TTFN

Posted by pamwagg at May 5, 2008 08:08 PM | TrackBack