While  sitting at The Robert Macklin Gallery on behalf of The Salon Prize winners an elderly lady came in. Very hunched over, white hair long and scraggly going in a thousand directions. Short, her legs were long, but her body was short. She kinda hopped and in less than a second she was standing in front of me. One eye bright, open wide and glaring at me. The other not so good. Her dress was kinda childish. Pink rain boots, yellow fall coat, and bag, actually many bags. But nothing in them. She was my first visiter of the day so I was ready for anything. (I must admit I did make a judgement-but my years of experience in the art world has taught me otherwise and to ignore whatever shallow judgments I make). She said the first word- and I was glad. "What's this?"- kinda low grunt like. "It's The Salon Prize- an art contest". She looked at me, not at the walls. But me. So I looked at the walls and pointed out the winners--explaining the various prizes. (By now I had gone back to my original sin-and figured that she knew nothing of art--and was just in the gallery "to use the bathroom"-which was fine with me). She set her things down, and started to rustle through them. "My daughter paints, well actually she's quite good! I should bring some of her stuff in to you, you would like them, but she's very far away--you know!". I listened and watched-like a hawk with no where to land. she pondered the artworks on the walls--her back was too hunched to really view the whole painting on the wall--but she managed to swivel her eye around most of the colours on the lower parts of the painting. 
"You know I used to paint!" she stammered. 
(As an artist/gallery person/lost soul--I have heard this lots! And until her next statement it used to be the worst thing that I could ever hear from someone's voice--USED to paint!!!)
"BUT I HAD A BAD MARRIAGE AND IT TOOK ALL MY TALENT AWAY"- at that moment I could see a huge fist, like a dark cloud named "marriage" grasping her talent and TAKING it away.
"I studied with Andre Bieler you know" she sputtered out.
My eye's now wide open...like a child who has seen the boogey-man.
"What was he like?" (Knowing that he is a very famous art teacher at Queen's University (who helped create the fine art department) whom knew William Brymner. "He was strict, and very intelligent, but he would move fast" she said pointing her finger at me. She said that she hadn't been in an art gallery in years and that now she was glad she had come. It took her a while to gather her bit's and pieces---eye glasses here, one bag here, adjust her left shoe, 10 mins to find her keys..."Thank you!" and she disappeared abruptly.