Women have been given the greatest gift of creativity there \ris¡ªthe capacity of creating and having a child. Even if a \rwoman has never had children, just the biological \rpossibility, is life defining.

The theory has often been that artists create their best work \rwhen they are young and after that "peak" in their career, \rtheir art becomes stale and predictable. The assumption is \rthat an artist¡¯s work is the most important early in their lives. \rI would beg to differ, especially when it comes to women.

I have a theory that women come into their own as artists \rlater in life, after the possibility of having children has \rpassed and while the potential of having children is \rbeginning to diminish.

Because of the biological ability to have children, women \runderstand intuitively that creativity is a life long process, not \ra destination. The tremendous urge to create is still there \rafter the capacity to have children is gone.

The passion and drive to create is combined with the \rwisdom learned from life¡¯s inevitable lessons. Women \rfrequently find that their "artistic voices" become more \rconfident and self-assured later in life. That is why women \roften come into their own artistically in their 40¡¯s, 50¡¯s, 60¡¯s \rand on up; Georgia O¡¯Keeffe, Louise Nevelson and \rGrandma Moses are three examples.

This is not to say that younger women do not create great \rart, they most certainly do. For younger women creatively \ryour best years are still ahead¡ªvery good news and \rdefinitely something to look forward to.

Women who have created during their earlier years have an \radvantage for two reasons:

1. A woman who has been creating continuously doesn¡¯t \rhave to play catch-up in regards to the technicalities of \rmaking art. She has already spent years learning her craft.

2. "Artistic creativity" is like a muscle. If you haven¡¯t used it, \rthe muscle atrophies, and it takes longer to get " in creative \rshape".

If you are a young woman and struggling with how to \rbalance work, family, friends and the multitude of things that \rmake up life, don¡¯t give up your ability to create art. You will \rbe way ahead of the game when you get older and it is my \rvery firm conviction that the best years for creating art are \rstill ahead!

Mary Baker ? 2005

Mary Baker is a contemporary realist painter, whose studio \ris in Newburyport, Massachusetts. This New England city, \rnorth of Boston, has been the inspiration for the artist¡¯s \rrealistic oil paintings. Mary Baker is a professional artist and \rhas shown in New York art galleries. Mary¡¯s art work has \rpassion, depth and beauty, capturing moments in time that \rmany people pass by.

Mary hopes that if you have a vocation in the arts that you will \rshare your artistic gifts and artistic voice and be delighted \rthat your art brings much needed beauty, depth, wisdom \rand integrity to the world.

You can visit Mary¡¯s website, Mary Baker Art and see her \rbeautiful paintings at http://www.marybakerart.com, as well \ras read her many comments on art, artists and creativity.