I often use “out of focus” and reflected light in my artworks, possibly due to years of work involving focusing blurred patterns of interest under the microscope to study nuclear detail. This effect is also captured in photography and is called the Bokeh affect, although a professional photographer will have a great depth of knowledge both in theory and practice regarding light, you can get different results using distance as well. Bokeh is the blurring of the background, the softening of shapes and intermingling of colour, the soft circular highlights of different shades and sharpening or focus of the object to be studied. The word Bokeh originates from the Japanese word “boke”.
Originally artists created this effect using different media- watercolours in the background and another media elsewhere can help create these affects, layering paint or smudging of thicker Medias with cloth or fingers can be used but I now use airbrush to create my Bokeh background as well as the above methods depending on what I am aiming to produce. It can be created in the foreground too giving a more realistic 3D effect. Consider composition, transitions and light too.
Another trick for artists with poor eyesight is to view the background or distant objects without glasses or contact lenses to see only the blurred shapes and patterns you want to capture, much like seeing the view from a speeding car you see only a glance of what is there and to add your lenses when you start to paint the foreground or detail- for artists that don’t need optometrists to see clearly you can squint, borrow a pair of prescription glasses to create blur or use camera lenses and switch off the auto focus for the eyes are constantly focusing for you in real life and you are aiming just to capture a fraction of what you actually see. Beware though this may cause headaches so do this quickly.
In the video creating “Otter anxiety” I have filmed a simple way to do this, the trick is to use contrasting techniques in finishing the artwork and even using purer colours and different shades can help as well as adding shadows first and highlights last. You also don’t physically touch the canvas at this stage and distance between brush and canvas is also important. You want to try and create different textures and feeling. Use thin and thick brushes as well to experiment and join the different techniques together at the edges.
Thus what starts off as a fun creativity can turn more serious as the artwork progresses, movement that is more open and involves the whole arm and body moving can be fine-tuned to just hand-wrist technique. It is best to start with loose movement and add the final small touches later. Thus it is not an experimentation if practised often and done deliberately but allows for freedom of expression and accuracy of portrayal, something that I have always liked to combine- the science behind the art of creating artwork applies just as much in reality as the world of art behind the science in medicine, although explaining this is easier done in practice than in a copy write paragraphs so please have a look at my Otter Anxiety video on You Tube to understand more about Bokeh for this saying applies here:
"I read and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand" (My favourite old Chinese saying)
I hope this helps you understand a little of my art, it is an introduction and sharing of knowledge it is only a small part of the whole picture, for to understand and explain my art I had to learn to understand myself first. Your art will reflect your physical attributes- eyes, left handed or right handed, personality, your life experiences- what you are aiming to achieve, your training and education leading to your understanding of complex eye-mind-body-hand reactions.
Finally yes, I have been poor sighted my whole life, this has not changed my ability to succeed in areas of expertise I chose to explore and learn, it has however given me additional advantages in work that I do. Creating Art is multi sensory and a multi skilled process.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPG5aFlXymY