Facts on Me and Whistler

I was tagged yesterday by Wendy Prior. Apparently, the way you play tag in cyberspace is to mention your tagger, reveal seven things about yourself, then mention the seven people you will tag. Despite this, Wendy is a great artist and nice person, so I'll play along.

Although, I confess that I don't have seven people to tag that haven't been tagged, so I'll give you something else, more on that later.

Here's seven secrets about me:

1. I won my first art contest in 1984, at the age of ten. You can see my second place entry above - it was for the local post office's 50 year anniversary. Sadly, I was naively unconcerned about lightfastness :-). As well, those lines were meant to indicate rugged rock edges - no one ever understands that! So, I'm a misunderstood genius. :-)
   
2. I have won other awards...in junior high "The Bionic Woman" award and in high school "Most Likely To Be An American Gladiator." Both are references to tv shows where people commit great acts of athletic skill (sorta). So, I was a jock and everyone knew it. In fact, I was fast enough on the track to once run against Marion Jones in a relay race. I shook her hand before the race, I didn't see her after that because she was showering by the time that my team got the baton to me!
3. I have a supernatural ability to remember numbers...if I DON'T try. For instance, I can remember a phone number that I have dialed in the last 24 hours. But, it only works if I don't try. If I mean to remember it, then I can't do it. So, my memory suffers from stage fright.
   
4. I don't have a dominant "side". I write with my right hand. I kick better with my left foot. I bowl better with my left hand (which, honestly, doesn't mean much.) Sadly, this means that I can't tell right from left. Even when I do the thumb and index finger trick, the "L" on my left instinctively looks backwards to me. Getting married helped this though, my husband told me "Look at your ring. Remember that I will never leave you. That's your left." So, I'm lost without my husband.
   
5. On a spring evening in 1994, I walked into a room of people talking. I saw a man talking and answering people's questions. In five minutes I thought, "If I ever get married, it will be to that sort of man." Two years later I married him. So, I generally know what I want.
   
6. I read Martin Gilbert's History of the Twentieth Century, all 3 volumes, and was absolutely riveted the whole time - like most people read novels. So, I'm a nerd.
7. Rose is my middle name, not my first name. So, I'm tricky :-)
   

Since I don't have bloggers to tag, I'll tell you seven facts about Whistler that his fans probably won't tell you. (You find all these in Walker's biography of Whistler.)

1. He was born James Abbott Whistler. He later added the McNeill because his mother was from a well-known Southern family called McNeill. He wanted to be aristocratic.
2. He abandoned his only son, Charles Hanson. His mistress, Jo, took care of Charles, until he unloaded Charles on others.
3. He later abandoned another woman, Maud, with whom he had a 14 year relationship and at least one, maybe two daughters. She had called herself "Mrs. Whistler" for many years.
4. He committed perjury. He lied in court, saying that he was born in Russia. He was born in Lowell, Massachusetts.
5. When he grew tired of paying agents their share, he formed his own company to sell his work. It failed - no one came to his gallery.
6. OK, OK, a few nice things to end with. Whistler was the "interior decorator" for several shows and exhibitions. He was entirely successful in that.
   
7. Once someone came to his studio and after wandering around, asked how much for all of it. He said, "Five million!" They couldn't believe it. He said, "My posthumous price!" They would have had a steal.