A SCOTTISH landscape artist has been left partially sighted after a freak DIY accident.

Stuart Herd, whose landscape and seascape scenes are popular with art collectors, has vowed to keep painting after accidentally stabbing himself in the eye with a screwdriver.

The 40-year-old has had two operations on his left eye and experts are unsure if his sight will ever be fully restored.

Mr Herd said: “I am feeling positive and I am going to get back painting, even if the long-term prognosis is bad.”

Mr Herd, who exhibits his work at the Tighnabruaich Gallery in Argyll, was building a wardrobe when the screwdriver slipped and went into his eye on July 29.

The impact ripped the lens and lens bag out of his left eye.

He said: “It felt like I had been punched in the eye but I wasn‘t sure if it was my eye or my cheek. I put my hand up to my eye, thinking there would be blood. There was no blood, but the lens was in my hand.”

The artist, who is married with a six-year-old son, underwent an emergency operation.

However, he suffered a setback days later when his retina became detached and had to undergo further surgery at Gartnavel Hospital in Glasgow.

Mr Herd must now allow the next 10 days for his injury to heal.