l am a self-taught artist and a retired inner city school teacher. I divide my time between Chicago and Upper Michigan.   Not until several years ago did I begin painting watercolors while observing work done by artists who I thought had a special take on how they did portraits or used color.     As a starting point for my pursuit to paint with determination and flair a few of the artist work I have become very familiar with are Alice Neel, Paul Cezanne, Claude Monet, Marlene Dumas, and Henri Matisse.