These are some of the paintings my mother did before she got married. I wish she had taken her talent seriously and continued painting.
Vincent Van Gogh on Talent: "the art trade brings with it certain prejudices ... particularly ideas that painting is a gift -— well yes, a gift, but not as they make it appear; one must reach out and take it (and that taking is a difficult thing), not wait until it manifests itself of its own accord. ... one learns by doing. One becomes a painter by painting. If one wants to become a painter, if one has passion, if one feels what you feel, then one can do it, but this can go hand in hand with difficulty, worries, disappointments, times of melancholy, of powerlessness and all that."
Letter by Van Gogh to his brother Theo, 16 October 1883.
