A story about Anna Mary Robertson

Anna was a young farm girl who loved to paint. He dream was to become a world famous painter. Alas, her parents told her that she would starve as a painter and she should forget her stupid dream. She was told that her role in life was to marry a good husband, look after the farm and raise children.

Being the obedient girl that she was, Anna put aside her dreams and started a family in her teens. She had 10 children by her 20s, had grandchildren in her 40s and was a great grandmother in her 60s. By the age of 75, after her husband died and her children had grown up, she became too old to work on the farm. So, she decided to fulfill her childhood dream of becoming a painter. She went to the town's art store and bought brushes, paints and canvases and started painting in front of her barn. She self studied and painted 'Primitive American Landscape' and sold her first painting at age 77. She became affectionately known as Grandma Moses.

By age 79, her paintings were showcased in the Museum of  Modern Art (New York). During the 1950s, her exhibitions were so popular that they broke attendance records all over the world. The National Association of House Dress Manufacturers honored her as their 1951Woman of the Year. At age 88, Mademoiselle magazine named Grandma Moses a "Young Woman of the Year". Philadelphia's Moore College of Art awarded her its first honorary doctorate degree.

In the last 10 years of her life, her paintings were selling for $100,000 each. She had painted 3,600 pieces in the last 20 years. She made more money in a year than in an entire lifetime working on the farm!

In November 2006, her work Sugaring Off (1943), became her highest selling work at US $1.2 million. It is estimated that If she had starting painting in her teens, she would have become one of the richest women in America!

So never give up your dreams!