Ross and Art

My daughter is very fashionable. She has a good sense of color and wears everything she buys, sometimes for years, varying outfits and accessories and always looking current. She has exhibited this fashion sense since the age of two. A friend and I used to bring our young daughters to Ross to go shopping and the girls would take off with their own cart and try on things in the dressing room, often laughing hysterically at the outfits they had created. I found out a few years ago that they were shopping for the ugliest outfits they could find. My mother was trained as a seamstress in London where she created ball gowns for the wealthy. I was the beneficiary of her skills and good taste, always wearing clothes that were beautiful and well-made. Trying to maintain this level of fashion without the sewing, I resorted to finding great bargains at Ross: Calvin Klein (above photo), Tahari, Anne Klein, Ann Taylor.  Some of my college math students used to come to class to see what I was going to wear that day and I considered my shopping expeditions an important component of my teaching strategies. 

A few years ago I joined the North Redwoods Book Arts Guild where I learned to create art books—learning to make ever more interesting structures . However, structures can only get you so far and I began to explore content which led to my taking art classes in color, design, and drawing. I don't remember ever taking an art class in school and to say I was frustrated would be an understatement. I have a friend who is a college art professor and extremely talented painter. I was telling him about my first art class and how I was beginning to think the "art gene" was missing for me. Well over 6 feet tall he looked down at me, gently smiled and said, "Nonsense. You get dressed every morning, don't you?" Unbelievably, this was a turning point for me and I have ROSS to THANK!