September Notes - 2025

STUDIO NOTES
Written By Leslie Parke

HISTORY SPOTLIGHT: CATARACTS

Monet before cataracts and after cataracts.

I have had one of my cataracts removed. I have one eye that represents vision without cataracts and the other with. Besides the excessive glare of headlights, which initially prompted me to visit the doctor for treatment, I have also noticed that my vision is becoming increasingly yellow. But there was no way for me to know for sure, because there was no way for me to see without the yellow. I thought that the deterioration of my site would be completely obvious to me. But it wasn’t. It crept up over time. I was quite willing to blame global warming for the browned lawns and yellow sky.

Now I can compare my corrected eye with the one that still has a cataract. WOW. Whites are whiter, blues clearer, no pervasive yellowing.

I am in another kind of limbo now. I have continued to wear my glasses to protect my corrected eye, but the prescription lens distorts the vision of the corrected eye. My eyesight is yellow on one side, blue on the other. And when I wear my glasses, one eye is in focus and the other is not. My brain is working overtime to give me a compromised vision I can work with.

Of course, this condition sent me to the history books to find other artists who have dealt with vision issues, some that originate in the eye and others that originate in the brain.

AT THE MOVIES: MOVIES ABOUT ARTIST’S VISION

BLOG
WHEN ARTISTS’ VISION BECOMES CINEMA
WHEN ARTISTS’ VISION BECOMES CINEMA

In my last post, I wrote about artists whose eyesight shaped their work—Monet, Degas, O’Keeffe, Chuck Close, and others. Their paintings bear the trace of cataracts, macular degeneration, blindness, or simply a different way of seeing. But sometimes words and canvases aren’t enough—we want to see these struggles brought to life. Luckily, filmmakers have been fascinated with the same question: what happens when an artist’s vision changes?

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BLOG POSTS RELATED TO THE ARTIST’S VISION AND THE ROLE THE BRAIN PLAYS IN SEEING

 
BLOG
WHEN THE BRAIN SEES
WHEN THE BRAIN SEES

Most people think that seeing happens in the eyes. Light enters, the eye focuses, and the image appears. Simple. But the real story of vision is stranger than that. Our eyes collect information, yes—but the brain does the heavy lifting. It edits, organizes, fills in gaps, and sometimes invents. And every so often, the system glitches in ways that can be terrifying, beautiful, or both.

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WHEN ARTISTS CAN’T SEE CLEARLY
WHEN ARTISTS CAN’T SEE CLEARLY

I’ve been thinking about eyesight lately, for obvious reasons. Cataract surgery is on my horizon, and as a painter, the prospect of altered vision feels both frightening and strangely fascinating. Artists have always made work with the bodies and eyes they have—sometimes diminished, sometimes distorted—and the art often bears witness to those changes.

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EXHIBITIONS THIS FALL

ASA - LANDSCAPE FOR LANDSAKE
OCTOBER 11 - OCTOBER 12, 2025

(Click on the image for more details)

Leslie Parke
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August Notes - 2025