Yearning to Create!

I have been fairly down in the dumps over the last week or two. I have loads of ideas and plenty of desire when it comes to my art, but sometimes the end result just does not match the idea in my head. Believe it or not, when I make a piece of art that falls short of my expectations, I THROW IT AWAY! My mother was appalled that I would dare do such a thing, "All art must be kept, even the ones you don't like" she says. For her sake I have started keeping my catastrophes. Maybe someday when they become "new" to me again, I might be able to salvage them. Currently they live in the Dead Zone, until I can get up the courage to take another look at them.

Over the past couple of days however, my Artistic Journey has taken a turn for the better, and I am happy to share with you my most recent endeavors. First, I should tell you that I am in love with books. All kinds, softcover, hardcover, big, small, notebooks, journals. Basically I am drawn to anything that is bound together and whose primary ingredient is paper. So it is not unusual that after starting a project with the intention of making some small matchbooks, I ended up making some Mini Notebooks, and I instantly fell in love with this project. I spent all of today cutting out cardstock templates that I designed, and scanning artwork that I drew up yesterday for the covers, and I even went so far as to make a collage item for some cover art today and it turned out pretty good, If I do say so myself. I am usually not a collage person, so it takes me a while to put together compositions in collage, and I am never really certain how they are going to turn out.

As a result of all this creative energy, I was able to list my first finished notebook on my Etsy Store today, and I am anxious to see how it is received. I would love to be able to make art each and every day and make enough money selling my art to pay living expenses and feed my need to make more art. I know the majority opinion is that once you take something you love, and turn it into a job, it ceases to be enjoyable and just becomes work. Well I am hoping that this isn't true. I can't say for certain that it isn't, because I am not currently making a living with my art, and paying the bills does not require that I sell something today or tomorrow. Right now , Art is a yearning that makes me get up every morning and brush my teeth and wash my face. I look forward to getting my coffee and sitting in front of my laptop with all my art supplies and my art board and scanner filling up the dining room table. I log into all of my art sites, my blog, my Etsy, and keep a Google page at the ready if I need to research anything while I am working. I stay up until all hours of the night and well into the early morning when inspiration strikes, refusing to close my eyes until the piece is completed. I even go to bed thinking of all the things I want to create the next day. This is how I know that spending time on my art is the right thing for me, right now.