Art & the Growth of the Self

Each piece of art is an exploration in self-development. You are not the same person when you started the project as you are after you've finished. During the creation of something, you are faced with problems, obstacles, challenges which you must overcome. There is self-doubt, anxiety, stress, pressure, and many other emotional factors which weigh on your psyche. There are many distractions which tempt you away from focusing your attention on your art. You travel deep into the waters of inspiration to bring forth new ideas and approaches. You work tirelessly at all hours of the day and night, 7 days a week, laboring with hands, mind and heart. You sacrifice time, money, quality of life, security, and even health, to work toward your goals. You chase the wildly ambitious, highly unlikely pipe-dream of trying to make a living drawing pictures.

When you finally complete a new work of art, you are a new person, and the piece has become a part of you. It knows your story, it carries your message within its form, your feelings in its colors. You have given life to an idea, manifested a vision into reality, created something you can share with others in the hopes of inspiring them to express their own unique identities. But also, you have grown as a person. You have faced a challenge and succeeded despite the odds. You are humbled. You share authentic interactions and conversations with other humans. You brighten up the world just a little bit more than it was before you came along. And hopefully, if you're lucky, you have inspired another human being to create something new of their own. This is the ultimate reward of making art: to encourage others to discover the rewarding, therapeutic practice of creation.

We are all artists, creating our own realities through our choices, thoughts, beliefs, words, actions, and observations. "Even the business man picks out a tie in the morning". I encourage every human being on this planet to find some creative outlet of self expression, no matter what it is. The reward is in the process, to explore a craft, to dig deep and find out what it is that you truly what to say, to find meaning where words do no justice, to share a feeling through visual imagery. Through this practice of self examination, you will learn things that benefit the creation of your ultimate masterpiece: your life!