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The Lucky Ones like me.

You know who you are. You see things others don’t see. You love your work. You are passionate and unique. Maybe you’re a little quirky, a bit odd, perhaps just a little different than other people, sort of a rare bird. That’s okay …you are an artist.

You like money, but that’s not what motivates you. Expressing yourself through your art is what fulfills you. You love color and light, contrasts and form, composition and balance. As a kid maybe you didn't quite fit in. You also probably remember vividly your first box of crayons or lump of clay, a clean white sheet of paper, a sharp pencil, snowy white canvas, fresh tubes of paint or a brand new brush!

 Sometimes they don’t understand us but they really need us, even if they don’t realize it. Non-artists need us to show them how to see what we see, how to appreciate, and love our world. We care about beauty, we work - but our work is more like play. Our joy peeks out from our work and sometimes touches others. Have you ever seen something so beautiful that it brought tears to your eyes? Of course you have, you’re an artist.

Now get back to work and remember, I love you just as you are so don’t ever change.

I'm not sure if we are obsessed or possessed by our muse. Don't many artists exhibit signs of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder?

Muse ~ (definition) a woman, or a force personified as a woman, who is the source of inspiration for a creative artist.

Now look, I know we're all as unique as snowflakes, but I sometimes wonder if there isn't a common thread of OCD running through this profession? I know I see the signs in myself and I've noticed these traits in many other artists.

We become obsessed with a subject, model, color, technique, or a place. Maybe what is referred to as our muse is really just our obsession. Some artists are able to harness their obsession and it allows them to produce powerful works that only a laser-like intensity could explain. Others flit from one brief obsession to another like hummingbirds, too distracted by the next shiny new thing to stick with anything long enough to master it.

I think that artists have found the perfect outlet for creative release of their obsessions. Like someone once said, "Everyone is crazy except you and me ...and I'm starting to wonder about you". The crazy artist cliche is still around, but it is art that tends to keep me somewhat sane and allows me to cope with life's ups and downs.

And as someone else much more knowledgeable said, "The painter's obsession with his subject is all that he needs to drive him to work". ~ Lucian Freud