My name is Maria Karki, I am a life long artist, and have been a professional painter, digital artist, and textile designer since 1976. For more than five decades, my life’s work has been painting and since the digital age, 2008, capturing color and translating my paintings into custom fabric prints for contemporary home goods. Art is my lifelong profession.

At 77 years old, my dedication to creating has not changed, but my physical tools must.

Over the last four years, I have navigated a Parkinson’s diagnosis alongside severe, complex vision loss. After a failed cataract right eye surgery, in 2022, my eye was partially blind. In 2026, I had another surgery to insert a lens that restored most of my vision, which is still healing and stinging. After successful cataract surgery, on the left eye, is now challenged by advancing macular degeneration, leaving me with more vision problems to be resolved.

Like legendary creators Georgia O’Keeffe and Edgar Degas, I am determined to actively adapt my working methods so I can continue my creative life and produce professional-grade art.

Because my body and hands now shake from Parkinson's, my current laptop cursor and heavy Canon digital camera are no longer usable. My outdated digital design equipment causes extreme eye strain. To counter this, I am modernizing my workflow, with larger non-glare screens, larger print, and specific, advanced assistive technology, that bypasses my physical limitations.

REVISED GOAL:

Your support will fund a targeted, highly efficient digital upgrade:

* Refurbished 2024 iPad Pro with Nano-Texture Screen ($1,448): The specialized matte, anti-glare nano screen is vital for my macular degeneration. It offers a glare-free canvas where I can see and manipulate paintings into textile patterns without blinding reflections.

* Apple Pencil ($129): Swapping an unmanageable mouse cursor for a physical pencil gives my unsteady hands the tactile control needed to edit designs directly in Photoshop. On a larger display, such as:

* Refurbished High-Resolution Large Studio Monitor ($1,949): A massive, bright display allows me to zoom deeply into fabric patterns, eliminating the need to squint or suffer from severe eye strain. Nano screen. No glare.

SUBSTITUTE: iPHONE 17 Pro Max- I discovered the camera has a 48 megapixel lens! which takes high resolution photos of my art and fabric designs. July 25, I was able to buy the iPHONE PRO MAX with donations, $$ trade in value from older iPhones and some cash from me. The camera is great, highly detailed. I am THRILLED! AND THANK YOU!

For now, I postpone buying this SONY camera, reducing the GOFUNDME total to $1500.

REMOVED FROM Goal setting* Sony Alpha a7R V Camera ($3,400): A lightweight, professional body with an advanced internal stabilization system. This allows me to capture steady, razor-sharp 61-megapixel photos of my watercolors or raw canvas paintings even with shaky hands, creating print-ready files for art galleries, high res prints, web sites, and textile manufacturing.

* Shipping, Protective Cases, Essential Studio Adapters (~$500º: Safely securing and linking this adaptive loop together.

Total Studio Adaptive Goal: $5100 (Includes GoFundMe transaction fees and reward shipping reserves).

This campaign is not about fighting an illness—it is about investing in a professional pivot. By equipping my art making process with the newest high-utility digital tools, I can keep creating, designing, manufacturing, and sharing my art with the world independently.

Thank you for honoring a half-century of creativity, craftsmanship and helping me build the framework for my next imaginative chapter. Every donation, share, and word of encouragement keeps my art career alive.

UPDATE: REVISED GOAL TO $5100.

PS: I will start looking for ways to support an exhibit of artists with parkinson's and low vision.

❓ Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

* Can I donate if I live outside the US? Yes. GoFundMe accepts major credit and debit cards from around the world and automatically handles currency conversion.

* Are these donations tax-deductible? No. Because this fundraiser goes directly to an individual artist to purchase equipment rather than a registered 501(c)(3) charity,