[Chris Saper]

At the moment (and for some number of years) I have continued memberships in organizations and groups whose meetings I just can never seem to make, whose programs aren't relevant to portrait painting, or whose competitions tend toward non-representational emphasis. I spend almost $200 a year for these, and believe me, the information I can learn on the Forum is worth ten times the value of any of these other memberships.

I also look at the number of books I end up buying, and only a very few are those I would read a second time.

I would happily drop one or two memberships, or one or two art books, in favor of the Forum fee, regardless of whether it's read-only or posting participation.