"...but a man possessed of passion is not a bankrupt in life." --Joseph Conrad
It was one of those unexpected moments--everyone has had at least one, if not several--when your life changes in an instant and nothing is the same ever again. My college art history assignment led me to a local art museum to view some actual examples of the objects studied in class only on slides or in a textbook.
My eye was immediately caught by a landscape painting done about one hundred years earlier by an American artist. Nothing else in the museum (and there were many wonderful works on display) struck me as did that landscape. Before that day I had just considered landscape as just one of the genre artists paint along with portraits and still lifes.
Of course I had to go back many times to study it and spend as much time in front of the canvas as I could. Soon it hit me that this was something I had to do at some point, and I decided to to major in art. Before that time I really didn't have a major. I have a BA in Art History from California State University Northridge.
After college I went into the business world to earn a living but I never gave up the desire to pursue landscape painting. Working on weekends and holidays over many years, and many frustrations, I made slow but steady progress and visited museums for techniques and inspirations. Here my art history classes served me well. I have been fortunate to have shown my work in many venues, gratified to have my art admired and purchased.
Retired from many years behind a desk, I can now focus my full attention on painting. I do recognize that I may never master all of the technical aspects, but, perhaps that is how it should be. It is the journey, not the destination.
"I always feel like a traveler, going somewhere, toward some destination. If I sense that this destination does not in fact exist, that seems to me quite reasonable and very likely true." -----Vincent Van Gogh
