Laser Eye Surgery

On Monday this week I had laser eye surgery at Optical Express in Birmingham. The background to it was that I have always had good vision but as I have got older I have got more and more dependent on reading glasses.

Since starting my business which involves using a computer in between talking to customers, looking up prices operating other machinery etc I found myself looking for glasses more and more which was eating up a lot of time no matter how many I bought.

Before Christmas I was offered a free laser consultation in Chester and I jumped at the chance to find out if it could help me. The conclusion was that maybe it could. By operating on the weaker eye so it could focus at reading distance they would leave the dominant right eye to see the distance. They called it monovision but not everyone gets on with it. The way to find out was to try me with a contact lens in the left eye to see how I got on. The price quoted of £3000 plus put me off somewhat but I went home knowing a lot more about the process.

On to 2011 and I decided to go to Optical Express in Shrewsbury for a contact lens consultation which led to 4 months of contact lens frustration. It was great when it was in but you only learn about the dexterity of your hands when trying to get the contact lens in or out.

4 months of contact lens struggle knowing my left eye loved having it in and an offer comes from Optical Express and I book the laser consultation that let to surgery on Monday. Its Sunday evening now and I have had a day out and about, no eye drops and no sun glasses – writing this without reading glasses.

Monday began with a train ride to Brum to find Optical Express. I had a pick up arranged for 1.30pm 3 hours after my appointment time as suggested by the literature I was given. Once there I was called within minutes and spent no more than 5 minutes waiting between the pre tests, surgeon consultation and surgery. Everything was explained very well at all steps and the surgeon was slightly argumentative about my reasons for surgery but my mind was set, deposit paid and he agreed to go ahead.

The surgery took about 12 – 13 minutes. They applied anaesthetic drops to my eye, applied a suction ring to stop the eye moving and cut a flap of the protecting front tissue of my eye. The flap was lifted and as they wheeled me across to the laser said the worst part was over. The laser was applied and then the surgeon pushed back the flap and smoothed it back to its original position. This is what I felt most but certainly felt no pain.

I was given 3 different eye drop solutions to applied 4 times a day for a week and ghastly protective goggles to wear at night. I was told not to touch the eye and wash hands before applying drops and wear sun glasses when needed. The complete procedure was over by noon, an hour and a half before my lift from Shrewsbury could arrive. This was a mistake because the worse part is as the anaesthetic wears off and the eye starts streaming as well as the nose as my immune system began fighting against infection. Luckily there were lots of tissues available, a coffee machine and concerned staff around.

I eventually got home 3 hours after the op and went straight to bed and slept for 2 hours, waking to half watch Wimbledon and get used to applying eye drops. I took arnicha tablets regularly and paracetamol for a slight pain. The next day brightness didn’t bother me and wore sunglasses to protect the eye from dust blown by the wind.

The day 1 post op check up went well and the eye has healed well with slight aching days 4 and 5 which paracetamol cured and now on day 7 nobody can tell which eye was operated on. I have worked every day only doing a half day on Tuesday.

My eyes and mind are getting used to the new focussing options. I am reading my book and using computers without finding my glasses first.

Next appointment on Friday.

 

Mid July all ready!

Its now 3 months since I took the market stall and its been non stop. I never realised when I took over the stall how much it would develop over such a short period and how new skills would have to be developed as each new opportunity presented itself. I have now tamed the Digitor Dragon so it now does what its told. Hard task mastering from reproducing paintings has honed its colour accuracy and it is printing photographs beautifully.

This week has seen a new proofing job perfecting a print of a painting. Also the reproduction of an historical Scottish dwelling drawing and work coming in as a result of seeing prints presented at the Shrewsbury Open Studios as artist wanting similar treatment for their images. The Floated frame finish to mounted prints with a gloss laminate applied is stunningly effective.

Plain wood mouldings have been dyed green to suit two paintings bought at the Shropshire Art Society exhibition, a black moulding used to frame a 1970′s music poster, all after I cut my teeth on dying wood, cutting window mounts, cutting glass, making frames and delivering the work to the most hardest of task masers – my daughter – for her post degree show exhibition with her fellow students in London.

This week I took the delivery of new moulding and mount board stock in anticipation to new orders coming in. Also I am looking at canvas framing solutions and matching canvas stretcher bars. I now have chevrons of lots of canvas framing options for artists to look at together with the canvas printing options that are available. I will be creating more samples to give artists ideas about new ways they can enhance their products as well as offering traditional treatments and solutions.

Next week i will be perfecting the aptly dubbed frame style ‘St Ives’ for a painting by the namer as she tried to describe the contemporary look of the frame. Come to the market and say hello and see what there is to offer. There is lots happening at the Shrewsbury Market at the moment.

Sunlight skips from field to field….

Today my painting ‘Sunlight skips….’ was delivered to Oswestry school for the Peter Edwards award show. It has left the Digitor Creative Studio looking very bare but it is the sign of all the change that is happening. Over the two months I have had the stalls 50-51 gallery level, Shrewsbury Market it has become clear that the service part of what i am offering is more important than the retail side. The Services I offer bring people to the stall and today saw more people than ever ordering prints and making new enquiries.

This was on a day of complete upheaval with a studio rearrangement taking place to accommodate the arrival of a laminating and print mounting machine and associated products and the imminent installation of picture framing equipment that will compliment the print facilities that have been in place since the start of last month.

It became clear that identifiable services that people could identify with needed to be on offer for the business to take off. Not everyone understands the concept of digital mentoring but everyone knows what picture framing is – so clear hooks to base the marketing strategy on must be a good thing.

Next week I will be calling the sign painter back in to add specific services to the Digitor Creative Studio sign. Picture framing, canvas prints, posters, dry mounting, etc. I am cramming a lot in to what is a small space but I love the space for the light and sociability of the market.

Other services I am offering are card making, photograph editing and print onto photo papers, canvas or fine art papers. I will be able to dry mount prints and will stock a popular range of mouldings for bespoke framing services.

Come to Shrewsbury Market for your fruit and veg and then pop up to the gallery level 2 and visit Digitor Creative Studio between Icing Tip and Rabbit Records and see what’s on offer.

Picture Framing at Digitor Creative Studio

This week is all change at Digitor Creative Studio as I prepare for Picture framing equipment to move in. The aim is to provide a complete picture business, producing quality prints for photographers and artists and have the ability to frame them on site. I will be able to dry mount photographs and prints and enhance and protect the print surface by applying subtle laminates.

Over the coming weeks I expect to develop a range of product samples to provide presentation ideas and provide a cost sensitive but quality service.

Print prices are now published on the Digitor website on the new Digitor Creative Studio page.

www.digitor.net

Settling in in my Digitor Creative Studio

Its a beautiful studio space located on the Gallery level of Shrewsbury Market Hall. There I completed the painting made for the Peter Edwards Award entitled “Sunlight skips from field to field towards Mynydd Lledrod”.

Here is how it came together……

Other work I have been doing is experimenting with wax carving. A jewelery company asked me to trial making wax carved charms. This is the initial outcome which has been well received by the company.

The Market……

That was taken at the beginning – it now has a Dragon installed

The Digitor Dragon a try beast – visit me 50-51 Gallery Level, Market Hall, Claremont St, Shrewsbury – I am there Mon – Sat 10 – 5pm.

Walking, painting and some photos to lighten the blog.

Rach took me on a walk this week, not unusual in itself, but dragging me out of what was becoming an obsessional digital world. Rosie and Dinks, friends visiting from Somerset, came with us and we headed for the Lawley (one of those special South Shropshire hills).

I couldn’t quite fully detach myself from technology and I needed something to do. Walking doesn’t quite do it for me, good for me yes but its an A to B thing, and recreational walking is so A to A! Throw a camera in and the purpose factor returns!

Rach, Rosie and Dinks head for the peaks.

Rosie and Dinks walk up the hill.

Shropshire landscape.

Rach and Rosie discuss the view.

Dinks does paragliding and will want to photograph him with his new orange wings when we visit Somerset. This paraglider wetted my appetite.

Another Shropshire landscape.

The other thing that dragged me from obsessional behaviour was my painting for the Oswestry School Peter Edwards exhibition. Having now had three sessions in the frozen studio I have made a start. It’s a painting inspired by a north Shropshire Welsh borders landscape near Oswestry. What fascinates me is how the sunlight lit different fields as it fleetingly broke through the clouds.

I am determined not to be bogged down with detail, to keep a rhythm across the canvas surface and to be bold with colour choice. The beauty of acrylic is how you can quickly over paint and take risks. I want to keep a dynamism of mark making that is present in the smaller sketches.

Result of 1st session.

Result of 2nd session.

Result of 3rd session.

Projects Projects Projects

I remember that once I was berated for suggesting a course of action which I refered to as a project. Hard to believe anyone can object to such words but as I juggle projects I still find it the perfect description for the numberous courses of actions my life currently involves. Central to this is my ongoing batle with Virgin Media to give me a broadband service I can use. Being vitually internet less has made my digital life very difficult – as I am trying to launch my DIGITOR.NET services being web less has been very frustrating.

Time though to build a cat house (cats getting older and doing naughty things now banished to exterior accomodation) and start my painting for the Oswestry School art competition. Internet work became second fiddle – then came the latest failed attempt to get the broadband working, I cracked – went next door and asked if I could piggyback their wireless – now I can indulge myself and write this, open email attachments, and get on with some of the work I have promised people over the last couple of weeks.

The cat house project is finished but everything else is a work in progression. Ellesmere Sculpture Initiate dvd freshly printed and ready for delivery but lots more to do for the Telford celebrating cultures dvd. Latest Wren Miller pictures added to her Meetings in the Middle of Somewhere blog – lots more to come. Pictures are due on this blog too – I am saving them for the day Virgin Media give me the speed I need.

January is over

Today I received my second job application rejection. The last one disapointing because it was from a project I could have given a lot to. I finished my hand over period at Qube in January, have a large blank canvas waiting for me and warmer weather in the studio shed and had buz cards and flyers printed for my new  Digital Mentoring business Digitor. I have had three happy customers – lots of interest but waiting for phonecalls. The Digitor website is up and running www.digitor.net and is being developed daily.

Another project is developing which I reffer to as my eco build which has got some folk guessing. I have learnt a lot about permenant and electro magnets and now, as I saw this morning, parts are being manufactured. Building blocks are beginning to come together and February may see some facinating developments.

A Long Period of Reflection Comes to an End

The fire is lit, thinking about returning to work at Qube tomorrow. The last 3 months have been a whirlwind with the culmination of two major projects, Pathways and Recycle & Mend to Trend, Fashion Show, both incredibly successful. The week after the fashion show went up, because of worries of continued funding, notice of my hours being cut by 1/3, put under threat of redundancy and offered voluntary redundancy and told to take all time off in lieu before the end of December. All this in what was supposed to be a support and supervision meeting.

This is not the first time I have found management overbearing and after my weeks of reflection mistaken and shortsighted. Everything fitted into a box with no room to breath. Why is it, when cuts are made, its made to the hard pressed, low paid worker and not the better paid management? I couldn’t do the arts job properly in 3 days – no chance in two and I am not going to try.

Tomorrow I will deliver my letter accepting voluntary redundancy. The money on offer will help me reestablish my self employed business – offers and opportunities are emerging already and I am feeling the same excitement that the projects I developed at Qube gave me.

Happy New Year to you.

A Title? I am Sure it will Emerge

I am at a point – a time space that exists just after finishing work before going on holiday. It is a point of reflection, a thought of blog posts that were never made, guilty that time has not being there, brain energy depleted – a hangover from the blog piece describing my brain being dragged from one space to another.

I notice no video or pictures in that blog which is not like me and I have nothing prepared this time. My flickr stream has remained static – things have got to change. I hastled another artist to blog about what she was doing – advise post pictures etc. But here I am – wordy – the opposite of arty but I am sticking with it as this place I can sound off if I want. The beauty of a blog. (I’ve heard that before!)

I’ve done a lot of writing in the last couple of weeks. Got a great crowd together for the making of the Oz Recycle & Mend – to Trend fashion show (that reminds me I have got an image!). Got a Shropshire art grant. Ran an artists exhibition blog (lied above as she emailed me stuff and I blogged and twittered it). A service I can run for all technophobic artists wanting to join the web revolution! Printed more Pathways books. Produced second version of the Telford Celebrating Cultures DVD and agreed finishing plan. Actually stayed awake long enough to remember to go to a VAN meeting and saw the amazing achievement of Gallery Live come alive. Time for light picture (hard sell) relief!

Then there was social media blogging website community bla bla – asked to talk about my blogging experience at the Shirehall council chamber in front of 100 council staff with the rest of the Shift Time team. Then invited to a community blogging / website meeting at Castlefields Cyber Cafe. During the presentation I text twittered things like social networking flavour of our time! Do we really need people from London Stoke and Brum showing us how to start a wordpress blog. Surely there is enough skills in Shrop to help start community blogs. Maybe its harder than I think but my experience is its not and talkaboutlocal.org said its not hard too. Time will tell. You can have your say at the ning social networking site that was set up.