Gnomes' New Clothes*

I have always thought of myself as a right brain type person, so when Barrioboy asked me to say more about why I painted, I thought perhaps I ought to see if what I have always thought was true. In the short, and very generalized lists that appeared in many articles, I found that virtually every characteristic applies to me---impulsive, spontaneous, emotional, intuitive, reads fiction, creative and artistic.

I hasten to add that in my case, I never put "painting" under the artistic heading. In fact, I always thought that being able to paint was genetic--either you have it or you don't. John's sister, Sharon, a very good artist disabused me of that idea on one of her summer visits., insisting that anyone can learn to draw. To prove the point, she volunteered to teach us to draw, and we instituted a delightful tradition of drawing lessons. Sadly, she was stricken with ovarian cancer and died, and our lessons came to an untimely end.

When I was traveling in India, there were so many opportunities for pictures, but I was reluctant to use a camera in a place where so many people had so little privacy and so many others clearly didn't wish to be photographed. Everywhere I went in India I wished I could draw.

I have always enjoyed making things, and considered myself to be "crafty"rather than artistic. I have a good memory for color, love art and good design and, most recently, have rediscovered a love of hand sewing. What I am best at is copying things rather than coming up with original ideas.

My neighbor, Anne, a painter from South Africa, taught art in London for several years, and offered to teach me to paint, so I have taken her up on it. I don't think I'm very good at it, but I am still excited at the possibilities. I love painting with Ann and find that the things I like best are inevitably the things I have done with her. I love the paints and the brushes and the paper and the idea of one day getting better. As with writing, I have a hard time getting started, but once I have written the first sentence or put the first paint on the paper, I love being so absorbed in what I'm doing that I forget everything else.

I suspect that if, and when, I can begin to make art out of my own head, without copying anything, I will consider myself "an artist".

* As an antidote to finishing my painting of two red barns, in which the only thing I really liked was the palm tree, I gave our garden gnomes a new coat of paint….