Linda McCluskey

When every fairytale comes true...

Growing up a little girl in Chelmsford, Massachusetts, I believed in fairy tales. The future was full of of them and I believed. Then, like with so many of us, life got in the way and I lost sight of my dreams and lost my belief.

At 20, I went off to major in English at the University of Maine at Orono. There, I encountered oil paint and fell in love and quickly changed my major to Fine Arts. I fell completely in love with the smell, the texture, and the discoveries in the paint.

Somewhere along the way, it became necessary to leave school to support my children and family with a "real" job.. Slowly, my brushes and paints and dreams faded out of the house and into the basement. I was left with old photographs of my paintings and carried them everywhere as a reminder of who I'd once been before being Mom, wife and employee.

At 40, something happened and I woke up. Maybe it was just the birthday but I began to question myself: How could I think of myself as a painter when all there was to show were 15-year-old ragged photos? Why did I let my true love get put on a shelf for so long? So I started painting again and even came to France on a painting workshop. Well, to make a long story short, I quit my "real" job and went back to the University of Massachusetts where the smell of linseed oil and turpentine intoxicated me once more. Painting was like putting on an old well-worn, well-loved t-shirt that I'd forgotten all about. My life was perfect.

After the first year back in university, my life fell apart with the unexpected death of my partner of 6 years. I was lost without him and didn't know what to do or where to go. My life was over... or so I thought. One night, a voice in my head said 'If something as strange as his death can happen, why isn't everything else possible? Follow your dreams, not what's expected of you.' My kids were grown. Everything I'd had was gone. A wise friend told me to not look for the highway but instead, just follow the little paths that life offers up. Why not? So I packed up and moved to Paris and within a week had a show. It was a group show and not a big one but I was showing (and selling!) paintings in Paris!

Now I'm still living and painting in Paris and Seborga, Italy, a dream I never believed possible. So you see, fairytales do come true.