by Diana Erbio
Photography by Barton Wilder Custom Images

Lisa Fittipaldi paints seven days a week in her studio at The Beauregard House, a bed and breakfast inn that she and her husband, Al Fittipaldi, own and run in a historic district of San Antonio.

If Fittipaldi is not traveling abroad or in the United States demonstrating her painting technique or speaking to audiences about her art, she is painting in her studio eight to ten hours a day. This dedicated, self-taught artist has her brush on several projects each day. "I would be bored if I worked on one painting at a time," Fittipaldi explains. "On my drawing board today are a flamenco dancer, an American farm scene, a street scene in the rain, and a man on a bench in Scotland. I know a man on a bench doesn't sound too exciting but it is. I was recently in Scotland, the Orkney Islands, and I loved the place."

Her trip also included a stay in Chelsea, England, where she sold all six of her paintings that were on display. The demand for Fittipaldi's paintings is high. Her paintings are highly collectible because each one is different. In this age of repetitiveness and mass marketing, her work is unique. Those who buy Fittipaldi's paintings know that they will not have the same painting as someone else.

The paintings are unique not only in subject matter. There is a dreamlike quality to the paintings. The edges of color seem to melt into place. Her paintings are of flowers, animals, people and landscapes. I feel as if I am seated at a table next to the people in Fittipaldi's painting titled O'Hara's. Her December in Paris allows the viewer to approach a flower shop from a street in what feels like the real Paris. There is something familiar about the scenes Fittipaldi captures.

Following the Chelsea exhibit, Fittipaldi's paintings were on display in Luxembourg in late October, but she did not travel to that country to speak or demonstrate her technique. "I have to make muffins, fluff beds, talk to guests," she said, referring to her responsibilities at the Beauregard House, "and paint."

"I used to keep two or three paintings on display in the dining room of the B&B, but they all sold. You have to watch what you wish for," she says. But, trying to keep up with the demand for her paintings is a problem for which she is thankful.

If all this does not sound daunting, there is one more thing-Lisa Fittipaldi is blind.

Imagine a morning in which your own familiar face does not look back at you from the bathroom mirror as you wash sleep away. Imagine relying on a new navigation system that takes you through the day and the rest of your life. A navigation system that utilizes at the forefront senses that were once designated as backup. Senses you were never keenly aware of, but are now consciously attuned to. Senses linked to the mind as never before. Sounds are magnified in intensity and meaning, voices tell more than they ever did. Textures and even the air you breathe seem different.

Your world is changed. The actual colors of the world that surround you no longer color your mind, but the mind is still colored with vivid, brilliant images locked safely in the mind's vault. This is the world Lisa Fittipaldi entered when she lost her vision in 1993. Today, she projects her mind's eye images to the outside world by transferring them to canvas with paint.

Fittipaldi cannot see color, print, dimension or shape. "I cannot see a person if they are a foot away," says Fittipaldi who is legally blind, having lost more than seventy percent of her vision as a result of vasculitis, a genetic disorder that inflames blood vessels, blocking circulation to tissues and organs.

One day while driving to work at an Austin hospital where she was a financial analyst, everything went dark for a moment. Fittipaldi's vision returned that time, but it happened again and within six months her twenty-twenty vision was gone and she was legally blind.

At the initial stage of blindness, Fittipaldi was utterly depressed and would not get out of bed. "People who lose their vision feel their lives are over," she said, explaining her feelings at the time.

In 1995, husband Al, anxious about his wife's depression, took action. Painting was literally thrust upon Lisa when he tossed a set of children's water colors onto the bed one day and challenged her to do something-he didn't care what, just something.

Fittipaldi took on the challenge presented by her husband and painted four colored glass jars. The painting was amazingly good, especially for someone who had not painted before going blind, and that was the beginning of a new journey.

Today, trying to find her way in a sighted world, Fittipaldi views her blindness as an imposition. "The whole concept of being blind does not get easier the longer you are blind, but your attitude toward it changes. The most difficult thing about being blind in a sighted world is that people don't expect you to participate in the world."

That attitude only fuels Fittipaldi, who relishes independence. She uses a cane to get around, and does not always travel with a companion. Fittipaldi travels locally by trolley but has also traveled alone to speaking engagements in Kansas, Georgia, Toronto, and Mexico City. She admits to having been lost many times, but says she doesn't care and that getting lost won't stop her.

While working on her multitude of projects, Fittipaldi likes to listen to talking books. "It may seem strange, but I really like to listen to a good mystery." A talking book is not the only mystery in Fittipaldi's studio.

When asked how she does it, Fittipaldi says, "I paint with a paintbrush." Following a small laugh she further explains the process by which she transfers the visualized images from her mind's eye to canvas. Sometimes she draws directly on the canvas and then paints, but confesses that she isn't very good at drawing and often paints directly onto the canvas.

Fittipaldi keeps her paints in alphabetical order so she knows where to find them, and loads her own palette, marking the end that holds blue paint with a clothespin.

When Fittipaldi began painting she used a grid of staples to determine which quadrant she was painting in. Recently she began painting on canvas without the staples. "My internal perception is getting better, and because I've never seen the painting I don't really care. Visually, if they come out, they come out."

Fittipaldi paints to teach herself. "Right now I am trying to learn how to do eyes. I don't really remember what they look like." Although husband Al is not allowed in her studio, he helps indirectly by visiting art museums with his wife. He tells Lisa what he sees, and then the couple discusses the art. "By studying the old masters I gain a lot of insight. I was really taken with the descriptions of the art in the National Portrait Gallery in London," says Fittipaldi, who respects the high level of skill reflected in the paintings of the masters.

Fittipaldi continuously tries to perfect her own skills. She has moved from water colors to oil paints. Fittipaldi has tried using Braille to read but found it impractical, so Al reads books to her about art. "Where do you see Braille?" she asks. "Do you see Braille on a cereal box?"

Fittipaldi has found practical help in the form of computer technology. She can surf the World Wide Web for information about painting and any other topic she is curious about, and she can connect via e-mail or by using special software such as Window-Eyes and Jaws, which read to her from the computer screen. These programs have editing functions, and can read a variety of scanned materials, but they do not include speech recognition so you must be able to type.

Hoping to bring this technology to others who face the challenges she lives with daily, Fittipaldi reaches out through her Mind's Eye Foundation. She started this nonprofit organization almost four years ago to educate the public about the needs of millions of individuals with hearing or vision impairments. The Foundation provides technology to children ages six to sixteen, allowing them to be mainstreamed into the educational environment. Portions of the proceeds from the sale of Fittipaldi's paintings go to the Foundation.

Fittipaldi says, "My reason for painting is to make people aware of what blind people can do. I paint for the kids." Public schools are required to supply the equipment needed for vision-impaired children to function in an educational environment, but Fittipaldi points to the problem of getting the equipment to the kids quickly. Often children lose valuable time and are set back academically because they first must be evaluated to determine if they qualify for equipment. Then there is the issue of training them to use the equipment, which can be delayed because trainers are sometimes difficult to find.

The Mind's Eye Foundation strives to speed the process for kids in need. Providing laptops, scanners, software, and training in a timely fashion is of utmost importance to the Foundation. An additional benefit for the children is this equipment follows them through school, whereas equipment provided by public schools does not always do so. Equipment from the foundation stays with the children even if they change schools. The children can use the equipment for homework; they can take it on vacation. The equipment is there for them when they need it.

Fittipaldi is a strong believer in destiny, but she does not sit back and wait for things to happen. The door to Lisa Fittipaldi's vision closed, but the door to her visions and her Mind's Eye Foundation are wide open.

Diana Erbio paints pictures with words. You may e-mail Diana via editor@goodlifemag.com.

Fittipaldi's Cottage Industry

Lisa Fittipaldi sold her first painting in 1996 at a fair called Main Street Fort Worth. Press packets with samples of Lisa's work were sent to art galleries. The Florence Art Gallery in Dallas took notice and Lisa had her first show there in 1998. Although Fittipaldi sold all fourteen of her works and netted more than $20,000, she never thought she would have the opportunity to really break into the art world without a big publisher or gallery behind her, so she decided to open a bed and breakfast inn.

In November 1999 Fittipaldi and husband Al Fittipaldi purchased The Beauregard House, built by the Oppenheimer family in 1908. Located in the King William District of San Antonio, the Beauregard House is one block from the Riverwalk and within walking distance of the Alamo. A full gourmet breakfast is served each morning in the elegant formal dining room, where Fittipaldi's art sometimes hangs. Beautifully appointed guest rooms-The Faulkner Room, The Hemingway Suite, The Whitman Suite, The Melville Room, and The London Hideaway-offer comfort and Old World charm. (For more information, visit the web page at www.beauregardhouse.com.)

Fittipaldi always has her Mind's Eye Foundation in mind and sells products at the B&B like Ernest Rewards, which is a dog-biscuit mix product donated to the Foundation by Ernest Rewards. The entire proceeds from the sales go to the foundation.

The Mind's Eye Foundation accepts donations of money and computers. Call 512-869-8351 or visit its web site at www.mindseyefoundation.org. Purchasing Lisa Fittipaldi's signed limited-edition prints or originals benefit both the foundation and the buyer. The benefit is twofold because the buyer will have a Fittipaldi mind's eye vision to view and will also have contributed to the development of other minds' eyes. Who know what visions will form in the young minds that the foundation will help?

Gallery SoCo at 1714 S. Congress Avenue in Austin sells and displays Fittipaldi's work. View or purchase her work at www.gallerysoco.com, or call 512-442-5144 for more information.

Fittipaldi's paintings are also on exhibit at museums and galleries in cities, foreign and domestic. Currently her touring exhibit, Blind Ambition, is on display at the Sternberg Museum of Natural History at Fort Hays State University in Hays, Kansas, and will be there until December 31.

The Delta Gamma Foundation of Dallas has selected the Mind's Eye Foundation for a benefit in February 2003. Lisa Fittipaldi will be making a guest appearance at the fund-raiser and all proceeds will go to the Mind's Eye Foundation. Go to www.dallasdg.org/newsandevents.html for more information about the event.

To view Fittipaldi's paintings on-line or to find out her tour schedule, visit her web site at www.lisafittipaldi.com.

-Diana Erbio