Matisse will always be one of my heros because he showed me that there was nothing wrong with painting like a child. During a visit to the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) in Boston, my mind was on Matisse, but I stumbled on a beautiful work by Corot (photo on right).  Corot's painting of a young woman took my breath away! I must have been standing there looking at this painting for an hour. As my eyes indulged in the painting, I wondered how would I have painted this if I were Matisse? Would I have painted Corot's subject a different way? 

Back in my studio I was determined to be true myself and re-created this painting in my own "childlike" style with bold black lines and my original flat style. While taking both Corot and Matisse as inspiration, my painting of "Child with Pink Shawl" shown above goes back to the bold style of my early pastels. As you can see, my little girl is younger and much more "childlike" than Corot's.