My 6th grade teacher and mother decided I should get private art lessons, after something clicked in my brain and I was able to draw as well as an adult. They found Mrs Grinch (seriously) as my teacher for about the next 3 years. I would go to her house a couple of blocks away and watch her paint, while I consumed bowls of cheap licorice candy. The taste of licorice still reminds me of the smell of turpentine and linseed oil. From Mrs Grinch, a very sweet old lady, who looked like Mrs Claus, I learned very traditional and realistic watercolor, oil, and...more