Ironically, one year after I picked up the paintbrush as a self-taught artist, I suddenly found myself having a Paris exhibition next to Notre Dame along the Seine in Saint Germain on Quai de la Tournelle.  I had my exhibition posters plastered all over Paris.  Once, while I was in a Paris Cafe's having a cup of coffee then seeing my exhibition poster on glass of the cafe' windows, I realized what the paintbrush had done for me.  I suddenly got a strong surge of emotion that was so strong that I couldn't hold back my emotions.  My emotions bursted out of me and I just cried like a baby because I was just shocked at how the power of art had transformed my life! After all the excitement of having a show in Paris, I remember asking myself:  

"Okay I've done it!  I've had an exhibition in Paris.  I made this dream come true, now what?  How am I going to use this experience for good?"  

So, after my Paris exhibition I returned to the states and used my experience to community work in the arts, eventually becoming an arts executive.  Consequently my leadership role in the arts, lead to my skills in drawing and painting becoming very "rusty" over the years.  So now that I'm in my old age, moving to Firenze and becoming a student again was a humbling experience and it required that I "dig deep" and use all my focus, determination and "inner strength"!