New Glasses

Selfie

I haven’t had an eye test in a long time. It’s been vanity that's kept me away, reading glasses being much easier to hide than everyday wear. But turning is the way of the Tao, good sense triumphs in the end, and when things get too blurry off I go to see the eye doctor. Come to find out that I need a much stronger prescription and I’ll be wearing the darned things all the time now. Skip ahead one week and they arrive, all shiny and new. Take your time getting used to them, they tell me. How much time? I ask. Might be several weeks, I’m told. Can’t I draw? What about writing? Take your time breaking them in, repeats the caring receptionist. It’s all for the best.

So here I am today, looking at my-half done illustration (the rabbit and starship, did I mention?) as well as notes for a new fiction scene I’d plan to write. And I thought…why not try?

I decided to do a practice pen & ink piece to see how the new magnification was going to be for close-work. It turns out to be a great help…my linework’s been suffering lately due to blurriness. But my eyes got tried pretty quickly and are now exhausted.

Illustration by William Heath Robinson

All the same, my freehand copy of this W. Heath Robinson drawing looks pretty good. It gives me high hopes for finishing my WIP illustration when my eyes adjust further to their new vision aid.

After Robinson, Sara Light-Waller, 2015

Oh and the writing? That went well too.