Drawing by Margaretha Hakko

It is never too late

I am a 72 year old woman from Finland. The love for art has played a big role in my long life.

At an early age the greatest luck was if you could get some kind of paper to draw on. When I was a child, after the war in my country, there was a shortage of everything but I loved to draw – I drew on anything… Later in school the teachers saw some talent in me and encouraged me to draw and paint. I’m forever grateful for their support.

I frequented the library a lot and studied books about the great masters – da Vinci, Durer, Repin, etc. I couldn’t get enough of the amazing works.

In my youth I had a dream of being able to go to St. Petersburg and there attend the Repin Institute because I wanted to get serious and work really hard (which I knew they did there) to go forward with my drawing. I understood, already then, that a little talent isn’t enough – you really have to work to get somewhere. Life came “in between” but now I would have the time.

I still love to draw and I think that it is never too late to start learning new skills and get better at your tasks if you are determined to work for it. That’s what I intend to do if I am now given the chance from the voters.

In my opinion, the Drawing Academy is the closest to my early dream about the Repin-Institute.

maggiehakko.fi