MANDAN, N.D. (KFYR) – When you reach retirement and wrap up a decades-long career, it can feel like there’s not much else to do anymore.
For Cindi Lostritto, retirement was the beginning of an exciting new journey as a professional artist.
Cindi has loved art all her life.
Two years into university, she told advisors she wanted to be an art teacher, but they said it was too late for her to do that.
Instead, she became an early-education teacher.
Cindi spends quite a bit of time at Art Workshop in Mandan. However, that wasn‘t always her life.
Even while working as a teacher, Cindi found ways to incorporate her love for nature and art into her lessons. She and her students would paint murals and study owls – she’s an avid bird-watcher as well.
She also plays the cello, gardens and reads.
However, even though she’d always been interested in learning how to paint, she kept telling herself she’d learn after she retired.
A paint night with fellow teachers confirmed that for her.
“When I had a canvas and a paintbrush in my hand, I knew I needed to be a painter,” Cindi said.
When she retired nearly four years ago, she finally pursued that dream. She taught herself how to paint by watching videos and by trial and error.
At 69 years old, she participated in her first art show at the Bismarck Art Gallery. One of her paintings there sold.
“’I‘m an artist!’ is what my thought was. It’s like, ‘Wow, someone wants to buy what I paint?’” Cindi said.
She said she’s still learning, though; she and the other artists at the Workshop will teach each other different techniques.
And, she hasn’t completely given up teaching – she tutors her granddaughter in art regularly.
You might assume Cindi regrets waiting so long to learn how to paint, but she said she’s happy she didn’t start her career in the art world.
“I think this is much more fun to be able to be free to paint as much as I want as long as I want and whatever I want, and I think that’s a gift, that it came when it did,” Cindi said.
She also doesn’t limit herself to any specific style; she’s painted landscapes, cityscapes and abstract pieces, and she encourages others to not limit themselves, either.
“People say, ‘Oh, I don’t know, I don’t have talent,’ ‘I draw stick figures,’ or, yes, ‘I’m too old,’ and you’re not ever too old to learn something new,” Cindi said.
She said no matter what your age is, you have value.
You can see Cindi’s artwork for yourself at Brick Oven Bakery during the month of November.
She donates 10 percent of her sales to different organizations and charities.
Art Workshop runs the non-profit North Dakota Art Project as well; that program provides artists with supplies and encourages veterans, limited-income individuals, college students and more to pick up a brush.
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