I always encourage others to get a solid foundation, regardless of what they are pursuing in life, especially since I did not have the opportunity to have classical training at the start of my career as an artist...  In fact, here's a funny story about my early years not having a foundation in drawing and painting...  This painting titled "Romantic and Realist" is an example of my original French Expressionist Style.  This painting is in a private collection. Now I only have the postcard, but selling this painting was very helpful to me during my early career as a painter.  My arts career has been quite a journey, I started as a self taught artist without any arts training in drawing and painting.  Back then, I didn't know how important having a foundation was.  I was just creating art without any rules, not because I didn't want to, but because I was just expressing myself and showing my love for Paris with paint!  Later I was taught to never use black, and ordered to stop making bold black lines!  I learned that lesson in art school where I was constantly scolded for creating art with bold lines! I didn't know I was breaking all the rules of drawing and painting. Yet that was everyone loved about my unique "childlike" style of art!  It was very confusing to me...  

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