Skip to main content

Is it worth it?

The other day while filing my taxes I had to sift through expenses and calculate how much was spent and what category the expenses fell into, such as office equipment or supply.  As I'm painstakingly doing this and rechecking myself, my tax preparer asked the question, "Is it worth it?"

If you take into consideration the paint, canvas and other supplies I have collected over the years to satisfy my need to create, I have spent a fair amount of money.  Although I have sold some paintings, I rarely make enough in profits to call it square.  I have a job as an online English teacher and I work part-time for our local community college to support myself and my family.  I do my art and my writing on the side. So, why do I continue, is it worth it?  My answer to this question will always be yes. I play around with other types of creative avenues such as writing and recently photography, but I have always come back to painting, particularly oil painting.  Art is more than just slapping paint on a canvas, it is a process that allows me to pour myself into every aspect of it.  When I am angry, my paintings are choppy and rough, the images that emerge, reflect my emotional turmoil at the time.  If I am deeply saddened by the world or life, I can feed my tears to the cerulean abyss and mix in just enough titanium to give the image hope for a better day.  On the contrary, when I am happy or at peace, I can spend days or weeks fidgeting over a canvas trying to get every little detail just the way I imagined it.  Either way, my art reflects me because I give a part of myself to each piece, my heartache, hopes, tears and fears.  So, my art will always be worth it, even if I don’t succeed in selling every piece.  I may never become a famous artist, but I have a creative mind and a creative mind needs an outlet to be whole.  This is what my art means to me and why it will always be worth it. 

What about you? Is it worth it? 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

All of these are oil painting on canvas with the exception of the last two.  The last two are oil painting on wooden pallet.  I will be posting my paintings here as I produce them but they can also be found on my Facebook in the album titled paintings which are accessible to the public.  These particular paintings will be displayed in an art show for local artist on November 10 th and 11 th , 2012.
Post a Comment
Read more

Truest Natural Beauty

I picked up a Nikon D3500 a couple of months ago so I could begin exploring the world of photography. While I still have so much to learn, I am enjoying that I can capture the beauty of the world around me with a click.   Growing up my family would go camping every year.  I, along with my cousins would explore the mountains that surrounded our campsite. We would lay on the forest floor and look up through the web of leaves. Follow the sound of squawking birds and hoof prints in the mud.  We also had the opportunity to witness many animals when we would play in the cool water of nearby streams. It was a very free and uninhibited feeling to explore and be at peace with nature. I remember once on a hike I caught sight of sunlight reflecting off a small stream behind some brush.  I followed the light and found the most beautiful clearing. The way the light reflected off of the wet rocks and water, it seemed almost dreamlike and magical. At that time I...
Post a Comment
Read more
As I mentioned earlier, I also write.  So, on that note my current work in progress (WIP) is a story titled “Bibbly.”  The history of Bibbly: I originally wrote this as a short story for a creative writing class many years ago.  I have played with the idea of turning it into a novel but I had other projects going on at the time.  Bibbly is one of the many stories that have been collecting dust on the metaphoric shelf.  However, with National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWrimo) literally just days away I have decided to work on a rough outline and finish telling Bibbly’s story with more twist and turns along the way. Brief Overview: Bibbly lives in a network of tunnels deep beneath the surface of the Earth.  As a female member of her tribe she is not allowed to venture to the forest above. On the eve of an ancient ritual that will name the next leader of her tribe, Bibbly makes a grave mistake that results in the capture of her father and puts all of h...
Post a Comment
Read more