ramblings through my head lately...the definition of an artist. what does it take to be considered an artist? an award? mad sales? inclusion in a museum? gallery representation? but i know plenty who have picked up a brush that i call "artist" and swoon over their work - yet they have none of the above. there have been artists of note that have pshawed awards bestowed upon them, refusing to acknowledge or accept them, saying that it mattered not one bit what a museum or voting body of people thought. i tend to agree. i make art as my form of communication. i hope that those who see it are touched in some way - that a meaning or conversation of any sort begins between the art and the viewer. but i don't think that it makes me a more worthy artist because i sell work. i love that i can afford to then go buy more art supplies, but it doesn't change the brushstrokes on the canvas...i am not a better artist, or a worse artist, because my work is or isn't recognized by people in suits who go to A-list cocktail parties. and i guess that is what's been on my mind lately. don't denigrate yourself or your work because it's not hanging on an expensive wall. don't deny yourself the title of "artist" because you don't sell your work. if you feel that you are an artist - you are. only you know. and no one can take that from you. i had to practice saying it before i believed it - i'm saving you time here! it's way to hot to keep at this post, but a few tidbits...my new haircut and haircolor is fantastic...done at a salon called Miracle, of course. so now i can go about life and not have to think about it. time to go stand in from of the AC vent....be cool, y'all.