Primary Motivation

What is my primary motivation as an artist? Currently, I can see that if I could create financial security and stability as an artist, many of my distractions could be eliminated and more focus could be put on creating art. For example, I love creating a beautiful home and a beautiful yard and even enjoy teaching children art, but I could be the designer of my yard and home and hire others to do a lot of the labor, saving me lots of time.

If financial stability is a primary goal in present time, it is because it will let me focus more completely on artistic excellence. Creating art is simply an urge that has never gone away. I felt it as a child and it has continued to be important to me into adulthood. At one point, I put it aside and took a totally different kind of position. For 5 years, I did no art and focused on creating my position in the organization where I worked and although I did well and earned a good income, not doing art was actually painful to me. So it is a necessity that I earn a good income with my art, and not just a want.

Finally, recognition as an artist would be a real bonus, though I don't really crave it. A cadre of collectors who focused on and supported my my work is a new concept for me, but I really like it.

I think that Henry Moore puts it best for me when he says, “There's no retirement for an artist, it's your way of living so there's no end to it.” For me, experiencing life through art is all. Viewing, creating, thinking about, researching, appreciating beauty, aesthetics, art, that is simply how I live and how I want to live.