Passion

I was sleeping tonight until my best friend called me around 1:00 to pick him up from the train station after returning from NYC. I drove him home then I stopped in a local bar because I usually cannot go back to sleep. The barmaid was sweet and very pretty and asked me what I did and I told her I was an artist. She told me she was going to a good/ expensive art school and loves art and is an artist. She said she was going to the beach tomorrow and luckily was not working. I asked her if she was bringing her sketchbook--(she laughed and said no.) With all due respect (she was sweet as pie and just as pretty) if you call yourself an artist and decide to play the game of art, there are no days off. You draw and draw and draw and draw until your knuckles bleed. Art is a the most brutal of fields and only 1% (if that) of fine artists make a living off of art. If you want it bad enough it should be before anything else including love. You should draw on napkins and draw on walls and draw on sand. If you do not have rich parents you pay the price of a vietnam veteran. (unless you become a commercial hack.) In the end it comes down to passion. If you do not have a passion for art you have nothing. If I had a choice to be a great artist or to be in love I would choose art in a heartbeat.