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CEDAR HILLS — Bert Eastmond, 76, reached into his drawer of art supplies, picked out a dark blue tile, and carefully carved it into a small rectangle. He then grouted it and placed it amid other blue tiles, completing the night sky above Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus in his mosaic depiction of the Nativity.
He ran his hands over the tiles, to make sure each was in place, and when they were, he held it up for his oldest son, Mark, to see.
“It looks perfect, Dad,” he said.
Mark then gently took the mosaic from his dad so that he could frame it for others to see.
Bert, however, would never have the chance to see his artwork — he is blind.
At the age of 16, Bert Eastmond, who was also born with a 70 percent hearing loss, was diagnosed with a degenerative eye condition, called retinitis pigmentosa, and was told that it would be a matter of years before his sight would be completely gone.
Devastated, but not defeated, Eastmond went on to serve a two-year LDS Church mission in England.
Upon returning from his mission, Eastmond earned a degree in computers from Brigham Young University, a degree he would use as means to provide for his family of five children.
I asked him how much he could see. He told me to cup my hands around my eyes, like I was looking through a straw. It is astounding to realize that he was practically blind when he painted it.
–Mark Eastmond, son
But it was his love for the arts that drove him, and he eventually earned a master's degree in fine arts from BYU, all while his eyesight deteriorated even more.
“Dad loved to paint,” said Mark Eastmond. “I remember a time while on a camping trip, in 1978, I watched as he painted a picture. He kept backing far away and then he would zero in on a spot on the canvas and then slowly move forward again to paint that little area he was looking at. I was about 10 years old at the time, and I asked him how much he could see. He told me to cup my hands around my eyes, like I was looking through a straw. It is astounding to realize that he was practically blind when he painted it.”
Years later, when Mark got married, he asked his father if he could paint a picture of Mount Timpanogos for him to hang in his home. By this time, Bert Eastmond’s eyesight was nearly gone, but he wanted to do this for his son.
Eastmond spent countless hours on this painting and eventually said he was unable to complete it.
It was a few years later, on a visit to his parents’ home, when Mark saw the painting his dad said he could not complete.
“What my dad had done was take some cardboard, cut the shape of the mountain and tape it on the canvas, as the silhouette of timp on it,” Mark said. “He then had my mom hand him the colors he needed. He painted the picture through memory and by feel, and it was beautiful.”
Mark recalled going on a walk with his dad and telling him that he felt bad that such a great artist would go blind.
His dad replied, “ I think it’s great that God would allow a blind man to be an artist first.”
The remainder of the walk, Bert Eastmond asked his son to tell him the color of the mountains and the shadows on the grass.
“The mountains are gray and the shadows are black,” Mark told him, to which his dad replied, “Look again.”
Mark carefully looked, and noticed that the mountains were in fact a purple color, and the shadows on the grass were a dark green.
“Pretty bad when the blind man can see more than you,” his dad joked.
Eastmond has often said that he doesn’t enjoy being blind, stating, "I don't want to be blind and hard of hearing, but I wouldn't trade what I have learned from the difficulties I have had to go through and how those trials have molded me."
About this, Mark said, “My dad has taught me that hardship in our lives is not a sign that Heavenly Father doesn't care about us or is cruel. In fact it is a great sign of his love that he allows the very hardships that can change us and help us develop the strength we need to gain real happiness and not just day-to-day cushiness and ease."
As a reminder of perseverance through trials, Mark has the painting his dad did years ago on the camping trip hanging in his office at the LDS Church Office Building. He says that each time he thinks that he can’t get through a particular trial, he looks at the picture and hears his dad say, “Mark, you can do it.”
Eastmond currently lives in Cedar Hills at The Charleston at Cedar Hills assisted living center, where his artwork is created and displayed.
Arianne is a mother to six young children. Her down time is spent running the mountain trails of the Wasatch Mountains and beyond. Contact her at ariannebrown1@gmail.com, follow her on Twitter @arimom6 or search her Facebook page, "A Mother's Write."
