Meet the blind artist raising funds for the RNIB with his paintings

Being registered blind hasn’t stopped 84 year-old Harry Boddington from creating a series of celebrated artworks which are raising much needed funds for charity.

The former electrical engineer has produced a range of designs that are being reproduced onto t-shirts which you can buy, with the proceeds going to the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB).

Harry, who lives in Shirley, Solihull, began around 70 years ago, but has found it especially comforting in the last four years since he lost Eileen, his beloved wife of six decades.

He now lives in independent living accommodation and his painting keeps him active.

Harry said: “I can’t see any details of faces or anything like that, so these faces are all codge ups. I do dab here and there - but it turns out alright.

“I draw whatever comes to my mind, although I do especially love painting faces. I have received support from RNIB and wanted to give something back and thought that my paintings would be a good way of doing this. I hope to raise as much as I can.”

Harry has four sons and completes around one piece of artwork a week.

He also takes commissions and some of his previous work includes pictures of dogs, horses, and a desert scene.

Harry’s son Chris helped him to set up the website.

“I thought dad’s paintings were really cool and I thought it was a real shame that no one had really seen them - a lot of them were packed away in boxes.

“So we had an idea of putting them on T-shirts and then that kind of idea developed and we set up a website called teesbyharry.com.

“Then we thought, well, why don’t we just set up a charity, because we’re not really interested in money. So we selected the RNIB which helps people who are really good to Dad and to others like him.

“Life can be tough and you’ve got to have a reason for getting out of bed - and that was the driver for me, doing this with my dad.”

Chris said: “Dad recently moved into a new apartment and loves where he lives. He’s very independent and since losing mum his painting has really given him a new lease of life. Dad loves to make people happy, and his catchphrase is ‘Keep on smiling’ so we hope his t-shirts will help people to do just that.”

RNIB Head of Community Giving (Acting) Elma Droste said: “So what Harry has done is a real positive thing. It just shows that sight loss shouldn’t stop anyone from doing the things that they enjoy and the things that they love. We find Harry inspirational. His artwork is quite unique.”

“We are delighted that Harry has chosen to fundraise for us in such a creative way. The money raised from Harry’s t-shirts will help support over two million people in the UK living with sight loss.”

Check out www.teesbyharry.com to see the full range of Harry’s paintings which are also available to order through Facebook at Tees by Harry and Instagram @tees_by_harry