Follow your calling
Chance encounter spurs artistic goals
ON A TRIP TO IRELAND seven years ago, my wife, Kim, and I were not expecting a stop at an art gallery to change our lives.
We both enjoy art museums and galleries, and I have been a closet artist for years. When the weather isn’t cooperating for a round of golf, you can find me at home working with oil and pastels.
As we walked through the gallery, Kim stopped and breathed in an oil painting showing the rain boots of a family of four lined up alongside a stone wall outside a door. I turned and saw tears in her eyes. Our daughters are both grown, but this painting evoked memories of them growing up.
The artist, Roisin O’Farrell, had made a career of painting when she lost her job 10 years earlier. She committed to “the daily painting movement,” creating something every day to improve her craft.
Kim’s many talents include musical theater and various art forms, but it wasn’t until that day that, as she put it, “a painting stole my words and changed my artistic path forever.”
She acted on the calling to take it seriously. Upon our return home, she took the plunge, painting every day, coached remotely by O’Farrell.
Kim would tell you that some of her early works weren’t that great. But she committed herself to doing it over and over and over again.
Author Malcolm Gladwell calls it the “10,000-hour Rule,” illustrating how mastery comes through persistent practice, early failures and gradual improvement.
Seemingly overnight, but after countless hours, Kim is now a celebrated artist in Kentucky, and the official artist of the 2025 Kentucky Derby Festival.
Her affection for Kentucky’s electric cooperatives extends to paintings of lineworkers, who share the example of countless hours of training and dedication to master their craft.
I am so proud of Kim and our lineworkers. The common thread is hard work, determination and applying God-given talents in a constructive way.
In art and in life, true mastery is built on dedication, resilience and the courage to follow one’s calling.
