The DEATH OF THE MUSE IN TWO TIME Painting

I was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico in the year of 1973. I am the youngest of eight brothers and sisters. I grew up in a neighborhood of Ponce known as El Tuque. Since childhood I was always attracted to art. I never received a direct instruction on how to work the art. I was learning everything on my own. Over the years, I was attracted to the idea of ​​becoming a Visual Arts teacher. Beginning my senior year of high school, I was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis which led me to miss that school year. I could not walk, my hair fell out and the psoriasis bled at the slightest contact. As I recovered from my illness, my interest in art increased. I was able to finish my fourth year of high school and I began to study at the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico in Ponce, the Bachelor Degree in Secondary Education with a concentration in Visual Arts in 1992. During my university years, I worked as an assistant restorer at the Art Museum of Ponce where I learned how to restore sculptures and mural paintings. Also, I had the opportunity to work as a picture guard.Through this work I was able to appreciate and value the great Puerto Rican painters and their works such as José Campeche, Francisco Oller and Río Rey. Also, I had the opportunity to meet and appreciate works by international artists such as Frederic Leighton (and his famous work Fleming June), Edward Burne-Jones (and his work The Last Sleep of Arthur in Avalon), among other renowned artists. Also, I remember one of my Art's professors, Mr. Julio Michelli, who said, "You paint with poetry". Those words are recorder in my mind and my heart. Before finishing college, I got married and had my first daughter, which contributed to making me more like a human being. My wife has always been my support in all aspects of my life. I achieved my Bachelor in 1997. I started working as a teacher in 1998 in three public schools in Ponce. My second daughter was born in 2005. After twenty years working as a teacher of Visual Arts, for health reasons for my condition of psoriatic arthritis, and now also arthritis Degenerative, the doctors advised me to retire from teaching for disability in this year 2018. It was a blow, but at the same time it has been a blessing because it has given me the opportunity to continue growing as an artist. I am still active because I am giving private classes of drawing and painting in the garage of my house.