A few of my friends in Taiwan are artist. As much as I'd like to say that's because they are the free spirited and open minded which makes them great to hang out with and talk to (which is true), I know it's mostly because they have a lot of free time, which is great for somebody like me who has an unconventional schedule. Having these friends is great. It has allowed me to learn much more about art and get to be a tiny part of the art scene in Taiwan.
More and more there seems to be a new group of artists, the retired artist. These are people who had jobs for many years, retired, and now are artists. I remember one specific student who was always talking about when she retires she will take some painting classes. She said she was a good artist as a little girl, but then she got a job and a family, and didn't have the time for it. Eventually she did retire and she has gone on to become a semi-popular artist.
This seems to be a fairly common story. On the one hand I think it's great that people are finally able to follow their dreams. On the other hand, it's a bit heart breaking that to have the life they are told they must have, they have to give up on their passions.
The photo above is of one of the many groups of seniors which will set up around town to do water color paintings. This particular one is of the Taipei Guest House, which I posted about back in April. These women are actually quite terrifying. While I didn't get a good picture of their art, trust me when I say it's absolutely incredible. The problem is, it's watercolor, which as I remember from kindergarten, is not really useful for painting anything. So the fact that they can paint such highly detailed pictures, must mean they made some horrible deal with the devil.
