THE FIRST SHOWING

I was a teenager when my paintings first appeared in an art gallery. I had placed well in the Scholastic Art Awards program in the 1970s. It was an exciting time. My uncle, a country boy  who didn’t like traveling, especially to the big city of Charleston, SC, came to see a painting of his barn hanging in the city’s museum. That was a special thing for me to witness and I’ll never forget it. I felt so honored. But can I tell you something? When my mom would tape my little kid drawings on the refrigerator, the feelings that swept over me were equally intense. I think without that I might have given up on art.