When did you know you wanted to be an artist?

I can remember being about 4 years old sitting on my father’s stool admiring a still life he was painting. He had instructed me as he left the room not to touch it, but the apple looked so lifelike I could not resist. When he returned and saw what I had done he just grinned, fixed the apple, and laughingly asked, “Couldn’t resist, could you?” From that point on I was determined to follow in my father’s footsteps and become a great artist just like him. Even though he never became a famous artist, he will always be my greatest inspiration. I truly believe much of his teachings has resonated with me over the years. In many cases during my years of education in the arts I have had professors try to confine me into a box. They would tell me that I would have to develop a “style” to be recognized. I was told that no “true” artist goes from one style to another. Then I was challenged to mention an artist, any artist that jumps from style to style. I left my professors silent when I mentioned The Color Purple, ET, Poltergeist, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and Animaniacs –all different styles, all developed by the same artist Steven Spielberg.