A Question for us all-

Over at Singlestone Studios blog, Shelley asked the question- "What keeps you going?" I thought it was an interesting question about motivation. What keeps you going? Is it the next idea? The latest new product or material you can't wait to try? Is it your goals? For me it's all of the above. But more than anything it's the desire to be whole. There were dark years where I didn't have the energy or motivation to create. Although my mother nagged me to death about it- I just couldn't do it. She saw what I knew too- I was an artist and to be an artist- not creating art- it's miserable. I felt drained and unhappy all the time.

If you look at it one way- it's that darkness that now propels me. I don't want to go there again and so I do the opposite of everything I did then. If I have an idea now I don't stop to see if it'll go anywhere. I think about it, but don't obsess completely. I follow it and find out. Sometimes it's a dead end but more often then not it's a path that continues on. I play a lot more. I don't worry about making "serious" art any more. I create from a joy within myself instead of a horror toward myself. I'm self encouraging instead of condemning.

Lately I've heard people make a few comments about my work I thought was interesting. A couple of people referred to how joy-filled it can be. Another mentioned it was "uncensored". I'm not sure what I think of that. I honestly don't think too hard about what my work portrays to others. I make it because making it makes me happy. I also have a deep sense of being grateful. I am now able to be the person I was created by God to be. It makes me just really really glad to be doing what I do. But I'm curious- what makes you go on? What keeps you busy and creating? It might be something worth thinking about!