Art Chowder September | October 2016, Issue 5 | Page 14

Is there anything you wish you’d done differently in your own career as an artist? No. I love my artistic life and am doing exactly what I want to do. I am most fortunate to have been able to live my dream, become a successful artist, watercolorist. Do you have any advice for emerging talents? Anything achieved in life that is good, good for us, good for the world, requires hard work. I tell my students that if you truly want to be a great artist you must be willing to spend thousands of hours working towards your goals. Malcolm Gladwell states in his book, Outliers “ that 10,000 hours are needed to achieve a professional status in most talent based activities and professions.” I generally agree with that. Secondly, for one to work for thousands of hours towards one’s goals, one needs passions, a vision, a dream. If there is no passion, one will fail to spend the time required to fulfill ones dreams. If there is a gift that we receive when we are born, it would be our passion to pursue something that is good and great for the betterment of our world. What do you enjoying doing besides art? Playing golf, visiting friends and family, watching a good movie. 14 ART CHOWDER MAGAZINE What is your favorite piece of your own artwork to date? To ask an artist which is your favorite painting is to ask a mother, which is your favorite child. Unanswerable. I love all of my paintings equally, for different reasons. I truly have never had a favorite painting. The painting I think about the most is usually the last painting I did. I am often thinking, is there something I could still do to make it better? There is a painting that I painted about a year ago, which I think about quite often, it’s called “The Coming of Wisdom”. It is of a 12 or 14 year-old girl, a large portrait done in Egg Tempera. The face is looking at you; someone says she looks sad, others determined, other reflective. I like the responses that I’ve gotten from that painting. I feel good about having achieved what I desired with that painting...but...the painting is certainly not one of my favorites, just one that achieved my desires.... and, also a relatively recent painting, which is why I thought of it.