DAPHNE — Wendy Wilson hasn’t known Ricky Trione long. But he has already made a difference in her life.

“I had been looking for his work on the Internet and couldn’t really find any, so I e-mailed him. He was so sweet and responded immediately,” Wilson said, adding that she’d come from Mobile for this event.

“We’ve been e-mailing each other and today is the first time we’re getting to actually meet. He is just so amazing,” she said.

Wilson wasn’t alone in her admiration.

About 130 people attended Sunday’s opening of a joint exhibit featuring the artwork of Trione and his late uncle, Ronald “Ronnie” Trione.

By the time the reception had officially started, it was standing room only at Daphne’s Old Methodist Church Museum.

Several audience members spoke from the heart during the event, taking time to tell Trione how he has inspired them.

Carol Nelson, who recalled when Trione was born, called him “an inspiration,” especially since he’d continue to do art since becoming blind in 2000.

“I don’t know words to describe you Ricky, I really don’t,” Nelson said, as others nodded their heads in agreement. “Just keep up the good work. And continue being an inspiration to others.”

For his part, Trione thanked God — as well as his family and friends — for making his transition into blindess easier to accept.

“It is really amazing how God can work in your life, even when you think things have been turned upside down,” he said with a smile.

He had special praise for his late uncle, Ronald “Ronnie” Trione — a fellow artist who’d also had to overcome adversity to paint.

Ronald Trione was 17 when he broke his neck in the summer of 1957, during a dive gone wrong off the old Daphne May Day Pier.

Being paralyzed from the neck down didn’t stop Ronald Trione from painting — even though he had to hold the paintbrush in his mouth.

Even as a youngster, Trione was amazed by his uncle and took his example to heart, he said.

“So much of my art and love for it is intertwined with my Uncle Ronnie. He is much of the inspiration for the artistic journey I’ve been going through,” Trione said.

“I am just so thankful and so blessed that I had the opportunity to sit with my uncle, to watch him and to see how he overcame adversity,” he said.

“I know from my life — and from his — that it is amazing the people that God puts around you,” Trione said. “I am also thankful there are better plans than mine.”

Patty Trione Gipson, who organized this joint art show, said she is proud of both her nephew and late brother.

“There are so many ways that Rick is just like Ronnie; they are both amazing and filled with God’s love,” Gipson said.

“Having this shared art exhibit come together is an answered prayer for me,” she said.

The Trione art exhibit will continue through June.

Museum hours are Friday through Sunday, 1 to 4 p.m.