Dawn Parkinson explains
how she does it

by Graham Tutthill

Two years of painstaking work has resulted in another stunning
Christmas card by Dover artist Dawn Parkinson - even though she is
virtually blind.

Dawn was born with no vision in her right eye and poor sight in
her left, which has deteriorated further, meaning she can only see
an area about the size of a 10 pence piece.

But this has not stopped her enjoying and developing her
artistic talent, and for several years she has produced paintings
which have been turned into Christmas cards and sold for
charity.

This year's painting is a fireside scene which she took from the
Fox Inn at Temple Ewell near Dover.

"I started it in 2007, and worked on it at The Fox and then at
home," she said.

Dawn painted the whole canvas black first, and overlaid white to
outline the bricks around the fireplace. She used a "T" square to
draw lines down one way and then the other, painting each brick
individually, using a monocular and magnifying glass to see the
detail.

"I can see high contrast colours, and paint light next to dark,
using the grid system which I have drawn," she said.

She painted around hair-rollers to make the plates on the
mantelpiece.

"I couldn't decide what to put on the floor in front of the
fire, and I knew The Fox used to have a tortoiseshell cat, so I
painted a cat there, with a mouse hole just next to the fireplace
That's what gave me the idea to call the painting 'Twas the Night
Before Christmas."

The cards are being sold for the Kent Association for the Blind
at £3.50 for 10 cards. They are on sale at the White Cliffs Gallery
in Cannon Street, Dover, where the original painting is also on
display.

"I am hoping to raise as much money as possible for KAD,
particularly in the current times of the credit crunch."

She will be at the gallery on the afternoon of Saturday November
28 to sign the cards for customers.

Dawn, whose previous cards and paintings have been bought by
people throughout the world, has recently been busy painting at the
Kent's Got Talent event in Maidstone.