[Karin Wells]

Good for you Debra! Sounds like some BIG and wonderful changes are coming up in your life soon.

Until recently, most of my time and energy was spent as a single mom trying to keep my "kids in cookies" (so to speak) and serious "art" wasn't a possibility until 1995. At this time I had an opportunity to focus my time and attention elsewhere...and I began to follow my passionate life-long dream to paint...and never looked back.

Because my path in life abruptly shifted I lost some "friends" along the way. And it hurt. Looking back, I realize that my "real" friends were those who wished me well and cared enough about me to be emotionally supportive (even if they could not understand what I was doing and why).

As far as anybody taking me "seriously", probably nobody did (even my family) until I got good enough to get their attention. It's kind of sad, but I really think that we women artists (most especially older women - "housewife and mommy" types) are not taken seriously.

With women artists in general, I think that our relationships - children and family - tend to be our main focus. Only after these things are taken care of, we can begin to plan other things for ourselves...

Good luck Debra - I guarantee that you're going to meet some wonderful people in this profession and I trust that it will more than make up for your losses! Please stay in touch...