Birthday and Thoughts on Being an Older Artist

 I am now 69 and I have to be honest, I really do forget how old I am at times, well I just don’t think about it.  Of course today I have to think about it hah! Or if I catch myself in the mirror in an unflattering angle. I don’t know that I feel that much different as an older artist as I did when I was younger. I still wake up excited about what I am going to create, and I am still interested in exploring and pushing the boundaries of what I can do. Okay, I physically cannot stretch large canvases anymore, but it’s just as well since I have no where to store them and I am not the least bit interested in trying to flog them or exhibit them. Yes, that has definitely changed.

 I like to create bits of art to leave for others to find, currently tiny sleeping mice. That’s the kid in me and I get a chuckle thinking about someone finding one in an odd place. I usually leave them in

SOZO Chandler, Arizona

coffee shops because that’s where I go the most, being a serious coffee shop bum on a daily basis. 

The Emporium Yellow Springs, Ohio

To you future “old people” if you are even reading this don’t buy into the ageist notion you stop being creative,  or stop growing artistically, or stop being curious or inquisitive  or can’t produce work with an edge. True artists, those souls who just HAVE to create, NEVER retire.