How I met an established painter Yesterday we went to see an exhibition. My wife is a painter, so the whole family is interested in arts, including our 7 year old son who doesn’t really like to stay at home alone. We spent half an hour convincing him that going with us is the best option he had. I was said that the painter is old and established. But he didn’t do contemporary art, he did real art. In this case, when you say, that a painter is established, you assume, that his exhibition would take place in a couple of rooms in a small and dusty gallery, though state owned and situated in the center of the city. And you assume also that luckily he would have a few visitors besides us. The painter was there though it wasn’t an opening. My wife’s mother is a painter also, they knew each other. He recognised my wife and welcomed us. The art was really great, «like from the old masters», as my wife put it. She wondered what technics he used to make some works. «You should ask him», I proposed, but she felt that it was inappropriate. Later I overheard his conversation with a couple of women: he was talking about some interesting effect he made using a piece of sandpaper. I was stunned. This guy is so established that he calmly gives away his secrets, I thought. I was going to break the news to my wife, when I realised that he was talking about how he made his frames.