I have always been fascinated with color and the emotional effect

color has on people’s moods and attitudes. The foundation of my

fascination comes from the fact that I am profoundly color blind and

have a rare form of color blindness (called deuteranopia.)

Deuteranopia is a color vision deficiency moderately affecting the red-

green hue discrimination in 1% of all males. It is a hereditary and sex-

linked form of dichromatism in which there are only two cone pigments

present. I have a particular form of deutranopia called dichromacy in

which one of the three basic color mechanisms is absent or not

functioning. Dichromacy occurs when one of the cone pigments is

missing and color is reduced to two dimensions. While I can see color,

they are very different than what a person with normal color vision

sees.

Throughout my life people have asked me to describe what it is like to

be color blind. I have no logical answer. Color invokes emotions and

memory is often linked to color. It is this aspect that drives that

nature of my artwork and approach. I like using bold and intense

colors (as I am able to see these much better than subtle shades)

although I am often told that my art often embodies strong color field

depth and shading. As I do not see a conventional color

representation of an item, I tend to paint in the abstract about a

memory or feeling I have about the subject of the art.

I work with Acrylic paints as I find them more challenging to work with

when blending colors. I predominately start with primary and

secondary colors and blend directly on the canvas to reach a broader

color spectrum.