Mechtild's

I'm so glad you enjoyed the post, poem and paintings, Paulie. Yes, lots of artists seem to live less than optimal lives, but maybe they are not that far off the average. Some artists live to be very old; I was just ten minutes ago listening to a lovely recording of a Chopin piano piece on the radio, which turned out to be played by a pianist when he was 98 (!!!). Others die young, most die in their middle years. That may have been representative of the era. I don't think people expected to live nearly as long as they do now in Western countries, although there have always been exceptional people who have lived long, relatively healthy lives. What do you think; is it just because we remember the tragic stories, the early deaths? Often times artists die and we don't even hear about it (unless they are super famous), because they have long since dropped out of public life and have been living quietly for years.