[Brenda Ellis]

I just had to revive this thread.

Joyce, I hear ya. I turned 41 last December (that's so much smoother than saying I'll turn 42 this December), and I am making up for lost time, too. The clock is ticking. But that's not a bad thing. Those years I spent not painting weren't wasted. All that experience of life gets brought to painting through me. I find I'm more motivated to do this now than I was motivated to do anything at 20 or 25. I'm finding that my desire to achieve something far outweighs any limits on energy. And I find that motivation is my inspiration, not the other way around. I started painting at noon on Saturday and thought I'd paint for a little bit and then mosey over to the library. It was 9:30 before I looked at the clock and realized I'd been painting all that time. I had missed lunch and dinner and not even cared. Is this the Painter's Diet?

I have half an education in theatre (got a job before I finished school) and no education in art and if education in art is anything like education in theatre, then I still would have had to spend 5 or 10 years unlearning and relearning in the real world everything I thought I'd learned in academia.



I used to live in San Francisco, Geary, and I miss the good art museums. And it is so VERY nice to hear that I am not the only one who gets up inches away from paintings to see what is really going on! I've always done this in galleries and museums, and then I get embarrassed because I'm the only one doing it and I think I must look like some sort of rube. On the other hand, I don't know how anyone could look at a painting and NOTwant to get close to see what's really going on. But I won't worry about that anymore since I know I'm in good company.

Well, this thread is over a year old, and Joyce, you've probably got a whole different view on things now. And I don't even know if Geary is still around here. But what you said, Joyce, resonated with me and I wanted to respond.