Most of my life. I remember a Japanese exchange student when I was in the Seventh grade in a rural school on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State showing me how to use color crayons to make rich beautiful art. That got me started on a path of using what was available to create art. I tried to support myself with fine art but a wife and a couple of kids who expected a dry place to sleep and food every day and I was a "Graphic Artist" for Boeing for twenty-five years. At the age of fifty-five I was able to take an early retirement and have spent the last eleven years back at fine art. So I guess the answer is I have been thinking of myself as an artist for fifty-two years this fall.