David Van Sice:  

I always wanted to be an artist as I grew up. My family and friends thought that was a bad idea. Not that they thought I was incapable as an artist, in fact they would compliment me on the art I made. As it turns out, they were naive about art in general and the opportunities in the artist's market, and so was I. Therefore, unfortunately, their praise was perhaps questionable, maybe even empty. I ended up working at almost anything else but art most of the time, until I earned my BA in art education. I wasn't naive about art after that, and I knew I did not know enough about the freelance market to succeed there, so I taught art. That was an acceptable substitute to being a recognized fine artist. I would later learn that very few people gain recognition as fine artists and, unfortunately, teaching does not pay well and there was little or no job security or future as an art teacher at that time. I lasted six years before I retired from teaching to try a career as a freelance artist once more, and for the security of my family (That sounds like a contradiction of purposes). I will later look back and see this as one more poor decision. How I relax has changed over the years, but my favorite form of relaxation has long been to duel in solitude and silence, to get far away and "cool my heels" in the mountains, the woods, or the desert, alone, in the quite, serene outdoors, often praying and reading my Bible. I was generally invisible in high school, and reasonably so, I was quite immature and out of place at the time. I had a part-time job throughout the last two and a half years in high school, and hoped to start working full-time at that job soon after graduating. However I was laid-off within days of graduation, only to start a new full-time job within another couple of days. It was one of those high risk jobs foolhardy young m...Expand for more