Keith Salmon

Keith studied Fine Art at Shrewsbury and Falmouth Schools of Art between 1979 and 1983, before setting up a studio in Newcastle upon Tyne. In 1989 he was diagnosed as having diabetic retinopathy. His eye-sight began to deteriorate very quickly and within a few years he had to stop exhibiting his sculptural work and instead to try find new ways of painting; using the sight he had left. In 2001 and 2003, Keith completed a mountain skills course for the visually impaired at Aviemore. This has fuelled his passion for walking around the Scottish Highlands, which has now become the main subject matter of his artwork. Although now registered as being blind, it has provided Keith with more determination to continue painting. As a result his work has an abstract and atmospheric quality. He has tried to explore his new and changing view of the world by recording not what he sees but rather how he sees his surroundings. The paintings have become thicker, and more distorted and broken. Th... [more]