Why Paint?

Why do artists paint? What makes us work?

I paint because I must. I'm driven to paint and express myself and when a day goes by that I cannot pick up a brush, I'm pretty frustrated. I feel a meditative calm come over me during the painting process. Truthfully, I enjoy the solitude, too.

How lucky I am to be able to work out my emotions through this very expressive medium.

Here's another tip for some of you artistes out there: are you expressing the very essence of yourself when you paint? Many of us work from photographs and I'd like to ask you: are you a photo copier? Or are you a painter? When you've painted about 60-70% of a piece, put the photograph AWAY. Start evaluating your work as a painting and not as a replica of a photograph. Many times, I hear students say, "but, my painting doesn't look like the photograph." I want to say "good!" The photos we use to paint by are merely references. Once we put those photos away, and put the painting up and stand back and OBSERVE, that's when good painting begins.

It's just my opinion....