John Bramblitt went completely blind when he was still in college.

He had suffered from epilepsy since he was a child, and in a rare twist of fate, his seizures led to a total loss of sight. This meant no longer being able to do two of the things he enjoyed doing the most: drawing and creative writing. As a result, he sank into a state of deep depression.  “I felt like I had no potential; that basically I was a zero,” were his words. ¹ For a while he even considered suicide.

Today, Bramblitt is an award-winning artist whose work has been sold in over one hundred and twenty countries. Although his medium is painting, Bramblitt had never picked up a paintbrush until after he lost his vision. On top of that, his paintings are both realistic and incredibly detailed; during his earliest shows, viewers were shocked to find out that he was blind.

Bramblitt’s turnaround is remarkable to be sure, but you might wonder:

How was he able to become a much better (much more successful) artist after losing his sight? Was he just extremely talented to begin with? Or was luck involved?

In other words, is this just a feel-good story about a person with a so-called disability, or is there a helpful lesson in here for all of us?

Bramblitt himself would probably agree that his blindness was the catalyst for him becoming a better artist. While the blindness itself isn’t what made him a great painter, it motivated him to do things he would never have done otherwise. It was doing these new and different things that led him to become a great painter.

Here are 3 lessons we can learn from Bramblitt, whether or not we’re blind:

1. Failure Is Necessary

Right around the time he hit rock bottom after losing his sight, Bramblitt noticed that images came into his mind and followed him everywhere, even into his dreams. He felt like he would go crazy unless he found a way to draw them somehow.

He tried several different techniques before discovering a type of fabric paint. The raised surface of the paint allowed him to feel the image while he worked on it. “It wasn’t until I lost my sight that I became brave enough to fail,” he said later in an interview. “Even if the paintings didn’t look good, I didn’t have to see them.” ²

Bramblitt’s first completed drawing after he lost his sight was of a Buddha statue and it was the proudest he’d ever been of any artwork that he’d ever made. It didn’t matter that it was awkward and misshapen, he knew that with enough effort he could get his artworks to look the way he wanted them to. He understood it would be a process and he wasn’t afraid to make clumsy attempts to get there.

When he was still sighted, Bramblitt was a talented drawer who enjoyed showing off his sketches to admiring friends. But that was all; he wasn’t pushing himself outside his comfort zone. When he lost his sight, he had a choice: leave his comfort zone or be forever haunted by the images in his head that he couldn’t put on paper. He chose the former.

Most of us aren’t motivated enough on our own to be willing to fail and be awkward. As a result, we also won’t grow.

2. Constraints Can Make Us More Creative

After experimenting with fabric paint-edged drawings, Bramblitt decided to try something he’d never done before: painting.

Using a system of braille along with feeling the textural difference in dyes, he was able to tell colors apart. Because he couldn’t see color the way sighted people did, he used it in new and dramatic ways to show the inner qualities of the subjects he painted, instead of using the color “realistically” like many other visual artists do. ³

The constraint of blindness led Bramblitt to become more creative. It helped him create a distinct and different approach to art:

“Until I lost my eyesight I never had a clear perception of what art truly was, and I certainly had no clear understanding of myself. Whenever I first started painting I never thought it could equal the accuracy and complexity that my drawing had when I was sighted; I felt that it would always be an inferior way of creating art when compared to what could be accomplished with eyesight. I only continued because I wasn’t doing the art for others to look at; I wasn’t as interested in the finished piece as much as I just needed to create again. What I discovered was a whole new world of perception that in many ways equaled eyesight, but in some ways actually exceeded it.” ¹

We often associate creativity with not having limits. This is true to a point. But without any limitations put on us in the first place, even our own, we’re less likely to think outside the box. With no constraints, it’s easy to default to what we’re used to doing.

Bramblitt was being “creative” when he started painting with color in new and radical ways, sure. But he took this approach in the first place because of the constraint of blindness. 

3. Art Helps Us Make Sense of Life

Numerous studies show a connection between art and well-being. ⁴People suffering from trauma, dementia, or any other condition that makes it hard to express how they feel in words sometimes turn to art as an outlet. Creativity can literally save our sanity.

John Bramblitt turned to painting as a way to find meaning and not lose his mind. He might not have ventured into painting in the first place if he hadn’t already been suffering. But this raises an important question:

Do we always need to be pushed to the brink of despair or loneliness to create something new and bold, or to find deeper meaning in life?

I think the answer is more complicated than simply “no, of course not.” Our sufferings and pains do give depth to the things we create. They often make our art more intentional. You don’t have to look at many examples from the lives of the most famous artists and creatives to know that suffering and adversity are a common theme.

But tragedy, disability, and other extreme life events aren’t required for us to become more creative and sensitive. We don’t have to wait till we’re at our wits’ end to channel our creativity. We can start now to look at the world around us in new and different ways; to try a new medium, a new idea, or a new approach.

Instead of taking life for granted, we can make sense of it now while our lives are still relatively “normal.” If we do, we’ll be that much more adaptive when (not if) the unexpected in life strikes.

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Read Next: Why We Can’t Predict What Will Make Us Happy →

1. Bramblitt. (n.d.). FAQ’s. Retrieved February 15, 2024, from https://bramblitt.com/pages/faq
2. Barrow, K. (2009, February 17). In Blindness, a Bold New Artistic Vision. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/17/health/17voic.html
3. You can check out his art here on his website.
4. Stuckey, H. L., & Nobel, J. (2010). The Connection Between Art, Healing, and Public Health: A Review of Current Literature. American Journal of Public Health, 100(2), 254–263. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2008.156497