Artist to Artist

by Ruth Eshbaugh

John Bramblitt likes to talk with fellow artists. He was able to do that one Monday night in February when he spoke to about fifty members of the Plano Art Association at the Art Centre in downtown Plano, Texas. This soft-spoken young man filled the room with his presence. His desire for connection lent a sense of warmth to the meeting where John answered numerous questions about himself and his art. During the break the artists lined up to speak with John one on one. He seemed to enjoy each moment.

What struck me the most about this visually impaired visual artist was his sense of immediacy. His willingness to share about his life, his art and the process he goes through left an impression on me. I left Monday night questioning my own approach to art. As I listened to John share, I began to see that my approach to the subjects that I draw and paint are kept at a distance. The sense of touch is essential to John’s creative process. From the exploration of his subjects to the raised lines he draws his outlines with, to the texture of the paint; his art is all about touch. He encouraged us to expand our perception of art to encompass this sense in a greater measure.

As I listened to his story and how he began to lose his sight at the age of eleven, I expected to learn about overcoming obstacles. But I never really heard him speak of obstacles. Instead John revealed to us how he encountered the anger his blindness raised in him and embraced his art all in the same process. What came out of the process of discovery is what he would call amazing. You see John’s life is full of color and wonder and faith. He paints from memory things from the past and also objects he perceives with what he calls his ten eyes, the sense of touch.

You may wonder how a blind person paints? John asked that question as he searched store after store for the right kind of tools to make painting for him possible. John sees the world in vivid colors of emotional potency and he is able to translate that to a canvas with amazing results. In the discoveries that enabled him to paint, John has found his way. Each day as he paints he finds a peace and contentment in life few find.

John is an English major at UNT. He hopes to teach one day. I found a common bond with him in his love of creative writing and his portrait paintings that are eerily similar to mine. John sees art and writing as closely related. Painting, he says, enables him to write with color. Color for John has an emotion attached to it. As he studies his subject by touching their face, he sees what he feels and in his mind it is perceived in certain colors. John has no hesitation in painting the colors his mind sees.

The process he described in detail is on his website www.bramblitt.net. It begins as he renders an outline on an un-stretched canvas place on a board. He uses fabric paint; acrylic paint in a tube that leaves a raised surface which reads like Braille. Next he paints the canvas with gesso and then fills in the shape he has created with the colors that are in this mind.

John is very neat. He says he is very slow in his work and tries very hard to not smear the paint. It was impressive how neat he works. For me it is not a painting unless I have paint everywhere. John left us all without an excuse. He did admit to coloring his dog Ann, a Papillon, when he first began to paint. He would discover what he had done when his friends would inform him, “Did you know Ann is green or purple or whatever?”

Every artist understands that there is something in us that tells us we must create. There is a release and calmness that comes when we do. John is no different. After going blind, John continued his creative writing, but it wasn’t enough. He had to find artistic expression. He realized when he could see he never really appreciated his artistic abilities. It wasn’t until he discovered that deep underlying anger that he realized he had to find artistic expression. John says painting like he does four hours a day, sometimes six or maybe eight, just makes everything seem right to him. He says he is just a calmer, happier person when he paints.

Music also plays an important role in his work. John, a music lover has made musicians a subject of several of his paintings. He brought an amazing group portrait of one of his favorite bands Midlake with him on Monday night.

To view John’s art and find out more about this gifted artist, visit his website: www.bramblitt.net. While there, take the time to check out his In the Studio section which discusses his two new series - Perceptions (which we at Lifted can’t wait to see more of) and People (working on paintings of famous people like Tony Hawk).

And if you are an artist stop by his studio and talk to him. He will be delighted.