I think that’s the key! It’s like anything, the more you do it the more comfortable it is until it just becomes second nature. It’s a work in progress, but I’m getting there, haha!

If you’re an artist at heart, and actually do your artwork regularly, then you’re an artist.

I’ve grown comfortable saying it. By degrees. I started to say I am a painter of pictures (works better in my language), and invariably people responded “oh, your an artist then”.

It is a bit like new shoes, they’re not comfortable the first weeks, but once they’ve molded themselves to your feet, you just wear them naturally, without thinking of them.

Your art school experience: It is basically them saying that if you play by the rules, they will give you the right to be ‘somebody’ in their eyes (and also the threat that you have to *continue* to play by the rules, or they’ll take it away). It aint their right to give or take, it is yours to claim!

Your other comment made me laugh, only because I recently had someone at work stop me in the hallway to ask, “you’re an artist, right?” She then followed with a request for me to some drawings of a certain male body part… long story short, her daughter was having a bachelor party and she needed name tags! That was probably the strangest request I’ve ever had!

Becoming comfortable with responding to the question “what do you do?” by saying, “I’m an artist,” is the hardest thing I’ve had to train myself for. I have *always* associated that question with “how do you pay your bills,” but lately I’ve reassigned it to mean “what makes you interesting?”

By forcing myself to say “artist,” instead of “architect” in response to the question, despite the discomfort it brings, is starting to work.

The other day I met someone whose first question was, “you’re an artist, right?”

I beamed and answered, “Yes. Yes I am.”

Aladine, I’m glad you stopped by! I think you might be right; I do set high standards for myself and I’ve always said I’m honest to a fault! I appreciate your honesty as well. I’d really love to merge the “art” and “making money” things, but I get what you’re saying about separating them. This is a great quote: “either your make money so you can paint what you want or you make money painting what someone else wants.” Your levels of artists sound interesting, too, I’d love to hear more!

Like many sincere developing artists, they look at the ones who came before them in our tradition and know in their core that they are missing something. You work hard — but your work just doesn’t “snap” together like you can see — but can’t put your finger on in a “Master” artwork.

Don’t be discourage. This is an awesome place to be. Here is how I brought peace into my studio.

It took many many many years to understand and then separate my Art from the way I make my money. In America capitalism in all it’s glory — as some faults. Let me be clear — I am hot blooded American Capitalist and Love it! — but before I knew the power that come from money — I knew the power that comes from Art. It took me years to train myself to NOT baptize Art in Capitalism. You don’t have to capitalize on your Art. At this time if I make money from my Art one day that’s cool but from me, Art History and for my daughter and her long line of family artists to come — it is vital that I do Art for Art sake and not for any other reason.

At the point I bring in another motivation — like paying my mortgage I dilute the Art. My father told me, Aladine make a choice — either your make money so you can paint what you want or you make money painting what someone else wants. That was the words of truth that gave me the clarity to be free.

I will not call myself an artist yet. Because in my Scale of Artist — I am write am a “SMART-ist” (level 4) “ARTist” is a level 5. The reason I’m not an “ARTist” in my book because I’m not consistently hitting my mark, my standard. I can hit it the mark — but not consisting. I look at a Norman Rockwell and say he could consistently “nail it”. When you can produce what you want and your system of hard work, deep thought and quality production appears to flow gracefully then I will feel I MERIT the crown of Artist. I need more work.

Now saying that — my peers call me an artist — but they have no clue what it talks to create a work of art. They think because I can make a picture they can’t then I must be an artist. Well, just because an aspiring writer can spell word you may never heard of doesn’t make him a novelist — at these to the likes of a Shakespeare.

All that to say this — I encourage Miranda to do Art for Art sakes and let others know you do Art simply because it is what you love to do. And let them know you use your day job to pay your bills. It works for me.