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I started the hobby a year and a half ago and since then, my short range eyesight has deteriorated markedly, to the point I just was prescribed reading glasses. Now, I am also in my early 40's and understand these things happen at my age but I am wondering if painting could be contributing and, if so, are there things I can do to mitigate eye strain. Thanks

I use a lighted magnifier. I am too in my *ehem early 40s and I asked my eye doctor about this and he told me it was totally normal

Sometimes it helps to relax the eyes by looking at far off distance subjects for a while. Spacing that between periods of looking at close up things like books, models, computer screens etc...

That said its fairly normal around that age to start noticing a drop in close distance vision; those who read/do models/computing tend to notice and be more pro-active at dealing with it than people who might only more occasionally read or do such activities

My brother deals with a similar issue. In his case as well, a lighted magnifying glass works well interspersed with simply taking more breaks as coats of paint dry.

I've been painting since my twenties and am now "past" my early forties. I received my first set of glasses at 42ish. Painting minis had nothing to do with it, as was explained, at that age your lens gets firmer and therefore harder for the muscles around the eyes to focus. In any case I was also told to alternate close up with looking away for short periods. I think you're normal.
Also, hope you share with us!

a well-lit work station. Don't try to paint using crappy energy-saving light bulbs.
Ideally you want daylight bulbs which give give you 5000 lux at the working plane. Good lighting in an office should be around 500.

I am not an optometrist and have 20/14 vision.

Eye strain has been a problem for me with miniatures. I use a magnifier for details and it starts to hurt after a while.

The biggest thing I did to reduce eye strain was to adjust the bulbs I use for lighting. My painting area has a number of recessed fixtures above, I put 5000k led bulbs in to flood the area with 'daylight.'

https://www.lumens.com/how-tos-and-advice/kelvin-color-temperature.html

The ones I use are dimmable so I can turn them down when I don't need them. Huge difference in how I feel after painting and the results on each miniature, if anything it's made me a faster painter.

Note if you get a magnifier spend good money and get a good one - I've got a cheap one that i got more for its light than the magnifier and - eh - the magnifier hinders more than it would help. So spend decent money on a good up market one.

I'm 49, have been wearing glasses since I was 5 or 6.

My vision hit a plateau for about 25 years (wasn't getting better, but it wasn't dong the age-related deterioration that it should have) because of my hobby time. I only recently (a few months back) got prescribed multifocals - I was on single-vision lenses for 40+ years. According to the optometrist, I should have been on them about 10 years earlier according to usual stats.

Your vision is related to how well you take care of the little muscles that hold the lens (they move the lens to focus). Shifting your vision from close to far and back is essentially a workout for them, and will help to keep your vision at the same level.

 Overread wrote:
Sometimes it helps to relax the eyes by looking at far off distance subjects for a while. Spacing that between periods of looking at close up things like books, models, computer screens etc...

Yep, this is the trick. I spend a lot of time in front of a monitor and I've been painting miniatures for 30 years - still no glasses.

I think a good lightning is essential. Also a good pair of strong daylight bulbs will go a long way
plus I use these magnifying glasses which helps a ton.

https://www.amazon.com/Microblading-Adjustable-Extensions-Replaceable-Interchangeable/dp/B074J39F28

I use differing pairs of the magnifying glasses in 1.25, 1.5 and 2. Depending on what I am having to focus on, they make painting much easier. My optometrist said anything you do that helps you see better is OK for your eyes - strain is the worst thing you can do, so if the glasses at Walmart help you see better, then go for it.

poachninja wrote:
I started the hobby a year and a half ago and since then, my short range eyesight has deteriorated markedly, to the point I just was prescribed reading glasses. Now, I am also in my early 40's and understand these things happen at my age but I am wondering if painting could be contributing and, if so, are there things I can do to mitigate eye strain. Thanks

poachninja,

It is not the painting that has caused your eyesight to deteriorate. It is just age. Best advice is use your reading glasses and get a pair with a stronger magnification to use just for painting, helps reduce the strain you might be feeling.

Hope that helps,

CB

Just wanted to chime in with the importance of taking frequent breaks.

It not only helps your eyes, it also helps your back, neck and arm/hand muscles which can also suffer from periods of long use. Try to keep your posture good as well.

 Guildenstern wrote:
Try to keep your posture good as well.

On that subject - almost everyone has their chair too high / desk too low so as soon as your eyes are struggling you end up leaning forward to bring your eyes closer to your hands which is terrible for your back.

The challenge is - a swivel chair (like almost everyone uses) is just too tall for a standard height desk. Even with the shortest gas lift (they can be swapped out on almost all chairs and they're cheap - if your chair doesn't have the shortest one then I do recommend changing it) they are still too tall. So, you either need to raise your work surface or get a lower chair. I ended up making a chair that was several inches lower than a swivel chair with the shortest gas lift.