ART classes at the Donald Simpson Centre have contributed to the success of severely vision-impaired painter Mary Patterson of Cleveland. One of her oil paintings is being featured in a Vision Australia 2009 large print calendar.

Mary, 64, said she started painting classes at the Cleveland centre to stop her from "twiddling her thumbs".

She has been classed as "legally blind" since 1997 after being diagnosed with diabetic retinopathy, only being able to see vague forms and using a magnifying glass to paint.

"I don't class myself as an artist. I just dabble around. I just like to do it when I feel I want to paint something. I do it how I see it on my magnifying glass," Mary said.

Her selected oil painting 'Kakadu' was inspired by a photograph of a scene in the Top End, where Mary goes fishing for barramundi every second year.

"Because I can't see well, I take photos and paint from these. I run the magnifying glass around the picture and I imagine this and jump onto the paper and paint as I sort of see it. I don't do too much detail in my paintings. They're fairly plain," she said.

"Painting gives me hours of pleasure. They are a joy to do, so I like to think someone else can get a few moments of pleasure from them," Mary said.

Her painting is among 11 other works by artists who are blind or who have low vision in the 2009 calendar.

The calendar and an array of other calendars, diaries and Christmas cards are available from Vision Australia centres or from the website at www.visionaustralia.org.

All proceeds go towards supporting thousands of children and adults who are blind or have low vision.