As a fine artist on the other side of seventy-five, I have dedicated my life to creating beautiful works of art - transformative works that have uplifting or calming effects. I have painted thousands and thousands of oil paintings from 1973 onward that sold really well. However, not being business savvy and being quite naïve about how the system operated, all the income taxes and sales tax between 1973 and 1990 were paid in my then mentor/business partner's name. Although we were together during that time, we were never legally married. Then he died, leaving me without any claim to the social security benefits that I would have earned by the age of sixty-five. Consequently, my monthly Social Security check at this time is tiny and doesn't even cover the most basic needs of food and shelter.

Then in 2022 I fell for a scam by rallying to sell thousands of dollars worth of my paintings and sculpture ostensibly to help an old friend. In fact, over a two month period I had unwittingly sent all the proceeds from those sales to a scammer impersonating that friend. Three years on and the police have not caught the perpetrator nor recovered the monies. It was officially categorized as "Grand Theft", yet all the money that went to the scammer had to be declared as income on my federal tax returns of that year, resulting in an overwhelming income tax bill which I am paying off in installments while the IRS has put a lien on my property. Unfortunately, the total amount owed is increasing rather than decreasing due to accruing interest. While I still bear the financial and emotional scars of being mercilessly scammed, the good news is that the original paintings and sculptures I sold without recompense to me are now being enjoyed by private collectors.

Many hard life lessons around love and money learned! I have since been trying to sell my few remaining paintings and prints as I continue to work daily on my sculptures. One major sale would nullify all these problems.

I realize there are people having a rough time all over the world on many levels. The worst thing is the stress of not having enough to simply get through each month. Stress that is adversely affecting my health and well-being. I just hope you can contribute something towards this artist's life and I am so sorry to have to ask for help, yet remain ever grateful.

“The Arts task is to save the soul of mankind and anything less is a dithering while Rome burns.” ~ Terence McKenna