It's difficult to think of myself as retired. As I'm fond of telling people, it's not like I really worked to start with. Nevertheless, I put down my brushes for a while after the death of my wife so that I could attend to all sorts of things that were much more important.
That break has been cathartic, to say the least. I've spent a lot of time with my daughter. My shoulder no longer hurts and since I painted non-stop for nearly 22 years without a real break, I've finally had some space to think about my art and what it means to me. I've got lots of great plans for the future.
I will return to painting in a year or two, in the meantime I'll continue to write about it (and other interesting things) here in my blog.
Simon Bland, Kansas City 2025