God Spoke to Me Last Week and I Listened

Today was my first day of school. School, glorious school. I love it so much, it's a tremendous disappointment when the day ends. It seems as if the day is only an hour long.

And what a wonderful feeling: everyone I know seemed genuinely happy to see me again. Like they noticed my absence.

My heart sings when I am painting. I believe it is what I am meant to do.

Last week, while tiling my mother's kitchen, I told my brother-in-law that I had spent the first years of my career (27 years, to be exact) using my brain. I have decided that I will spend the next years of my career using my hands. We both agreed that thinking is highly over-rated. (Thing is, I suspect that thinking pays better.)

If you read my Top 11 list, you will see that most are related to my hands, few are cerebral pursuits.

I had an inspiring conversation with one of the masters, Juan Carlos Martinez, today. He said there are three ways to make a living as an artist: (i) be rich; (ii) marry rich; (iii) be lucky, and if you're lucky, numbers (i) and (ii) fall into place, too. I wonder where that leaves me.

On the other hand, master Fernando Freitas gave this important advice: "Talent is not a "gift from God," it is earned through practice." I wonder if Tiger Woods agrees.

What an honor it has been: twice I've told people that I'm going to school this week and both times people have asked inf I'm teaching! What a compliment, thank you!

(I'll post today's painting tomorrow -- forgot the camera and my cell phone was dead!)