It took me a long time to reach the decision to retire, actually, from the Art Ensemble.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I had wanted to be a sculptor throughout life, but to do so, I had to stop painting.
I never wanted to retire. I wanted to kind of shift my work pattern so I could stay fresh and invigorated, and use the experience that I had gained in 30 years, but in a slightly different direction.
When I was younger, I thought about retiring.
I've decided to pick my moment to retire very carefully - in about 200 years time.
I felt I really wanted to back off from music completely and just work within the visual arts in some way. I started painting quite passionately at that time.
My desire to be an artist really came out of being broke and unemployed and incapable of holding a job down. That's what it was driven by for sure.
I love art and I think I was destined to end up in some aspect of the arts.
I tried to make a distinct point that I wasn't retiring - that I was moving on.
I'm still working on my career, still trying to learn from other artistes and develop my skills and my style.
For me retiring wasn't hard once I knew that that was the decision I was going to make.