Painting: Is It Fun Yet?

Crow ~ Oil on Board ~ detail

I was down to the wire working on my thesis show in grad school when I went into the campus bookstore to buy a tube of paint. The cheerful clerk at the cash register ask me if I was painting. I said I was and she exclaimed "Oh, how fun!" This shocked me and I think I mumbled something like, "Uh, its way beyond fun at this this point".

I am an artist. I have my MFA degree framed and hanging on my wall just in case I forget. And I do forget because sometimes I feel like I am a clerk, a house cleaner, a dog sitter, a dishwasher or one of the many other things I have had do to pay the bills. Is being an artist fun? If I were not an artist on my days off from my day jobs I'd actually have real days off. As an artist, what would otherwise be days off are windows of opportunity to pursue my "true calling". Sometimes these opportunities are wasted doing the things most people do on their days off like getting the dishes done or doing the laundry or having a social life. If I do these things I don't get much painting done. And of course, I spend a crazy amount of time blogging and reading blogs.

If I'm blogging less right now it is because I'm painting more. If I could just give up the notion that I am an artist I might actually enjoy my days off. But somehow, I just can't totally give it up. Painting is often not valued as real work because it is suppose to be fun. Whose crazy idea that was I don't know. It can be very gratifying when it is going well. It can be hell when it isn't.

Paints