Why am I An Artist?3

My first visit to Costa Rica in 1994, thanks to the art sales, was in its way life changing.  Not only was I able to get out of the country for the first time in three years, and not only did I have much needed respite from the people I was then living with (and vice-versa) but I was opened to a plethora of new possibilities and potentialities.  Six years later I began in earnest to learn Spanish and have since done very well with the language, have travelled extensively in Mexico, Costa Rica and Colombia, have made a whole whack of awesome new Latin American friends thanks to language exchange and have learned tremendously about the cultures, history and absolute awesomeness of Latin America and the people who live there.

When I returned from my two week trip I got right back to work on painting, determined to see my work in a good gallery within a couple of years.  This never happened for me.  I met road block after road block though I did have success selling my work independently thanks to shows in coffee shops and in restaurants.  I also had a lot to learn about technique, discipline, colour and composition and I have to admit that I still have a lot to learn.

I don't know if my art will ever become anything special in my lifetime and I really no longer care about this.  My real desire is to do my best and keep learning, developing and improving as an artist.  As to why am I an artist, well, how the hell should I know?  As I have mentioned already, Gentle Reader, the need, the drive to create is in itself an essential human appetite.  The mediums of paint, pencil and ink appear to work the best for me and for my limited abilities as a developing artist.  Following each drawing or painting I always have to do another one, to somehow improve, grow, learn and develop.  I never want to lose this momentum.

Making art is an intensely and essentially spiritual practice that somehow joins and transforms spirit and matter and in a way makes visible the invisible.  It is said that God made us to be co-creators with him and I fervently believe this.

I still haven't answered the question, maybe I never will.  Or maybe the answer as to why I am an artist is to be seen in the body of art that I am creating and co-creating.  I hope that I never finish.