‘Seeing double has never stopped me'

A debilitating health issue led to Loren discovering an artistic new passion

- Jacqui Lang

Waking up after life-saving surgery to remove a huge, malignant tumour from her brain stem, Loren Patafta found she could suddenly see two of everything.

She assumed her dizzying double vision was the result of the lingering anaesthetic and would soon wear off. But no such luck, and over the past three decades the Melbourne wife and mother reluctantly came to accept the visual disorder as a migraine-inducing fact of life. But over the years Loren has not only learned to cope with her bizarre condition but she’s acquired an incredible talent for photo-realistic art.

“I guess it’s a little bit amazing, although I’ve never looked at it that way,” smiles the outgoing 50-year-old. “Because I’ve had double vision for so long, I can see two of everything, yet somehow my brain has learned to concentrate on only one image.”

Loren discovered her talent for drawing minutely detailed coloured pencil portraits six years ago when she started helping her son with his penmanship. Colouring-in books led to freehand sketches, but her passion was really ignited after husband Tony, 51, bought her an online tutorial with pencil artist Karen Hull for her birthday.