At Wellesley, I discovered that every library book I had checked out had been checked out by Richard Yarde, who had previously taught there. A friend of mine had taken classes with him and spoke highly of him. The next year I moved to South Hadley, Massachusetts, and learned that Richard had a temporary studio nearby in the Springfield Art Museum. I called him, set up a meeting, and requested that he accept me as his student, and after some resistance, he agreed.

I studied with Richard for six months. My assignment was to paint self-portraits in gouache (opaque watercolor) with red and yellow, white and black. Every other week I would present my creations for Richard’s review.Painting with a restricted color palette helped me to recognize how much could be achieved with limited means and to identify value (the lightness or darkness of a color) more accurately.

We also examinedhis work and the work of other artists who he valued and who he thought would be instructive to me. He often assigned an artist for me to study until our next meeting. What I remember from our sessions was the care Richard took in looking at the work I brought to him and the intensity of our discussions about art and artists.

Everything Richard taught me was importantto my creative development, but essential was his making me feel respected and appreciated as an artist. Richard taught me to trust my instincts and ideas. Over the years, this trust in myself has strengthened, and many times it has helped me to workthrough circumstances where I felt belittled and unacknowledged. Richard’s respect and admiration taught me to admire myself—an invaluable lesson.