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At 89, Valley Streamer painting with a little help from her son

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During one of Tom Avallone’s trips to Michaels in Westbury to buy paints for his 89-year-old mother, employees at the store saw the small painting he brought with him. They were impressed with his use of color, so much so that they asked if he would consider teaching an abstract painting class at the store.

Avallone explained that the piece wasn’t his but his mother’s, and she’s blind.

“Then we all got choked up,” he said.

Pauline Avallone never painted before she lost her sight to macular degeneration. Tom grew up in Valley Stream and returned 10 years ago after years in Aruba, where he was a restaurateur and tourism director. He moved into his mother’s home on Ormonde Boulevard to look after her, and started looking for ways to keep her active. He suggested painting last year, and she took it up.

“What I do is I put a paintbrush in her hand, I take a canvas, I put it in front of her, I ask her the colors she wants, she picks out the colors and we decide to do a montage of colors,” Tom said. “Every time we dip the brush into the paint, I spin [the canvas] 45 degrees and she paints and she brushes until she’s satisfied. Then she says enough is enough.”

As her son talked, Pauline sat quietly with a pleasant look on her face. When she spoke, her diction and mannerisms had the air of a woman who was once the secretary to the president of NBC.

She explained her process: “Just dop, dop, dop, you know,” she said softly.

Pauline has produced more than 30 abstract paintings, mostly on 4-inch-by-4-inch canvasses. She has also decorated a collection of margarita glasses. Some of them match blouses that she owns. Tom’s two sisters often admire the glasses, and want them for their barbecues, he said.

With no formal training — or any real background in art — Pauline manages to create pieces that catch the eye.

“I visualize it,” she said.

For Tom, the activity means quality time with his mother. He reveres her, and she reciprocates.

“As soon as she wakes up every morning, she asks, ‘Where is my son?’” said Satti Nandkishun, one of Pauline’s home health aides.

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