M.E. Price 1952 - Present I realized my passion for drawing and painting at a very early age. I remember discussionsbetween my parents and a teacher or two about my creativity and how I appeared more focusedon drawing rather than paying attention in class! It was my grandfather, however, who seemed early on to spark my aptitude for the arts when hegifted me a drawing book. I was about five years old at the time and that book fell apart in lateryears from overuse as I did every lesson, sketch, figure drawing and composition multiple times.From that gift onward, I always had a tablet and a pencil with which to peruse my flights ofimagination.I was born in 1952 at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. My father was in the Air Forceand we moved every two and a half to three years to wherever Uncle Sam sent us. I have nocomplaints, as I got to live abroad in the Azores, Greece, and the United Kingdom, with manyside trips to multiple other countries besides many states within the union. Travel andexperiences outside of the country led me to the realization of my personal ethos and foster adeep love for art and history.A bevy of museums and the landscape of every place we visited, the green of the Mediterranean,the lushness of the Alps, the glistening rivers that meandered through hill, dale, and mountainvalley influenced me. These were all places that I wanted to talk about, vocally or visually.I received my bachelor’s degree from the University of Denver and, later, a master’s degree fromthe University of Colorado at Denver. A choice had to be made between either embarking upon acareer as an artist or eating. I chose to eat and the life of an educator, thinking that I had uniqueexperiences to share. In 1985 I met my wife to be. We got married two years later. We are stilltogether with two grown children, one in Colorado and the other in Texas. I was fortunate to findJulia, as she is also an artist. She was a practitioner of the ceramic arts, specializing in raku. Juliahad her own studio space, and I had mine, which developed from pastels to acrylics to encausticbefore I focused on painting in oil. We spent many a late-night discussing art and how it affectedus. It is a thing that keeps us moving and growing together.After 30 years of having taught grades 6–12, then teaching two years of college, I retired fromeducation. Throughout those years, I had continued to make and to sell my art. I had a difficulttime parting with what I made, but I never stopped creating when retirement placed me square inthe center of being an everyday painter. It was then that I began traveling to take part in artshows around the nation and earning several awards along the way.After many decades in Colorado, we both retired and moved to the Sonoran Desert north ofTucson. The energy and vibrance of the desert drew us. It is teeming with life and color at themost unexpected times and in unsuspecting places. I continue to be inspired by life around meand contemporary artists I respect and admire.It would be remiss of me to not thank many friends, family members and clients for theirsupport and encouragement over the years. Their belief in me keeps prodding me onward.