When my father was running an English language school in Vietnam, he would often branch out to help students who needed a bit more than traditional education opportunities provided. In 1997 we visited a school for the blind in central Ho Chi Minh City. I pulled out my sketchbook and started drawing the faces crowded around me, emphasizing the other senses that were bolstered because of a lack of vision. Light hands danced around my face like butterflies as fingers fluttered and finally settled down next to my own hand to follow the lines that defined their features. The sketches turned into oil paintings, represented here.

Each painting is conte, pastel and oil on canvas. 20″ x 20″