Becoming an Artist in Your 40s
We walked around the Red Raven art gallery after the ceremony during which Lucy received her scholarship award for clay, and we took in all the beautiful art work. Our smaller kids were scarfing down cupcakes and drinking iced tea, so we knew our time was short before total chaos descended. Lucy drifted from one painting to the next, as if she was in some other world. This is the gallery that will hold her second-ever art exhibit, mostly three-dimensional work, in August. (She currently has work displayed for sale at The Speckled Hen in Strasburg.)
Maile and I were drawn to some beautiful paintings of Italy, and we stood there talking to the gallery manager.
“Those were painted by Fred,” she said. “He’s one of the owners here. Oh, wait! Fred! There you are. Come here for a minute.”
An older man with white hair came over and we started asking him questions about his work—what were the wooden panels he painted on? Where did he find the various materials he used in his paintings? Where did he get his ideas?
Turns out Fred organizes tours of Tuscany, has for years now, and that’s where he gets much of his inspiration. But the most remarkable part of Fred’s journey is that painting didn’t become a major part of his life until he was in his 40s.