People say to me all the time” It must be so fun to be an artist. You get to do what you love all day long.” I cannot tell you how many time I have heard that very phrase, I guess it all depends what fun is.
If fun means being tortured till you find what the painting wants and then feeling euphoric for about 10 minutes till you start the next painting and start all over, then yes it is fun. If fun means being terrified that you will have no new ideas and the fountain is truly dried up and you are never going to be able to get that next show done- then yes, it is fun.
The payoff is when you get a new one done and it is gorgeous and it is way way better than you know how to paint and it sings to you in your deepest heart. So I would liken being an artist to giving birth over and over and over again. It never gets easier just because you have 500 paintings done. There is no easy path. This painting Red Bird took me three weeks to finish. It consumed me night and day for three weeks but it is so beautiful now that it is done and it radiates like beacon of life. Can you feel what it took to birth this painting when you look at it. She cost me everything but she was worth it.
