One thing I have discovered as I get older is that my skills, which were ego-boastingly valued when I was younger, are now no longer in need.
I have become surplus to requirements.
My wonderful daughter once pointed out, in an ever-so-gentle way, as is her nature, that my skill-set is not current. And this has had an unexpected consequence. I had to reinvent myself and It has pushed me to pursue things I love doing. The things that are featured on this website.
And as the New York savant art critic. Jerry Saltz says over-and-again, the working life of an artist in non-linear. By which I suspect he means that if you choose to be an artist, you will end up doing more than one thing to make a living. And that is what I do.
I paint, I draw, I photograph people and record their stories, and I make things.
This is the new normal for people who have a burning desire to fill every unforgiving minute. I look at my friends from school and university, people my own age, and I am filled with awe and inspiration by how extraordinary they have become. Powerhouses of knowledge, wisdom, compassion. and love.
Just as an aside, in my former life, I got an economics degree from a Top-100 university. I became knowledgeable about digital marketing. I invented and designed a couple of things that became commercially successful. I photographed and interviewed 40 WWII veterans in 10 countries (click here to see more). I raised two kids, now adults, as a single father after my wife died from cancer when our kids were very young.
