Age & Art...

An excerpt from an MMCA Marketplace interview with PA artist Linda Benton McCloskey--when asked what made her decide to become an artist and how old was she when she knew:

"Actually, it wasn’t until I was in my late fifties …. Years ago when I was a young high school student, loving my art class, I mentioned to my art teacher that I was thinking about art as a career. Her response to me as that she felt that I didn’t have a talent in the art field and that it would better to pursue something different. And, I believed her... never painting, just admiring those who could... one of my co-workers suggested that I take a beginners watercolor class held in the evening. My first thought was 'Are you kidding? I haven’t picked up a brush for over 40 years.' But, what did I have to lose? I took that first class and the first night my teacher asked me to paint a landscape. Afterward - looking back on that 1st painting - it was awful - my first reaction was 'my art teacher was right - I don’t have talent.' But I was encouraged to continue to try… the rest is history."