Finding the Artist Inside

Hello!

I'm wondering... How much time do you spend creating? Crocheting or knitting, painting or doodling, woodworking or sculpting - whatever your medium of choice is, how much time do you spend with it?

I spend several hours each day doing different artistic activities. Recently,two things have been crossing my mind. One is, can I finally call myself an artist, and the other is wondering how other creative people spend their time.

I don't know why, but I often wonder if am I really an artist., Why do I struggle with this? Why, when I apply this title (label?) to myself do I feel like an impostor? I'm sure that I would easily use this term to describe me if I was someone else, so what's the big deal?

There probably is some deep hidden reason that has to do with my childhood and parents, but I'll leave that for another time. Instead, I am going to practice (positive) self actualization and say it out loud, "I am an artist!" There, that felt good! Why don't you try it? Feels good doesn't it?

Like all worthwhile things, it is going to take practice. Hopefully in time I will be able to refer to myself as an artist as easily as I call myself a wife and mother.

Art in any form is fulfilling.  Just like my struggle to call myself an artist, I have moments of hesitation when I call the activities that I partake in art.  Inside I know that what I'm doing is art, but the world around me is conditioned to call the things that I do crafts and hobbies. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but there is so much more to it. Turning thread into a beautiful piece of lace is art. The finished object is a piece of art. The same with the beautiful knit shawl, the matching beaded earrings and necklace and watercolor that I am painting today.  All of these are creative and artistic expressions of me (and you too!) And as my lovely friend Lisa Bogart recently said, "Creating fulfills something inside up."

All this comes around to time. How much time do you spend creating?