No Place to Run

No Place to Run
oil on bedsheet, 16 x 20"
1987 self-portrait

     By late 1987 I had run out of ways to stay in school and learn to paint. I finished my art teaching degree and there were loans to be repaid. My professor was encouraging me to keep taking classes and suggested I talk to the school office about some grant money and that he would recommend me. But I asked and found out it was only for people who did not have a degree yet, and I had two. I knew I'd have to give up my studio at the factory and all the camaraderie of painting with the other students. I did this painting that afternoon and think it shows my disappointment. But thirty years have passed and I'm still trying to paint, so I guess it could be worse.