I was reading an article in Artist's magazine and in it, the writer encouraged artists to talk to buyers about why they paint. I think that this question applies to everyone. You might not be passionate about your work, but other things that you choose to do inspire passion in you.

I paint for a number of reasons. The first is that I love the process. Mixing colours and finding combinations that complement and create tension is exciting. I also love just working with colours. Their varities and value combinations give me a lot of pleasure.

The final result is quite important, I love to see a painting completed that I think works. If a painting is unsuccessful, I have still enjoyed the process, although I'm disappointed with the product. It usually takes me a little time to get over the disappointment and start another, or sometimes I'll get stuck part way through and not know how to continue.

So I quit came home and took a job as a reporter/photographer. It's not just a job anymore. It's something I love doing everyday. I get to meet interesting people.... etc etc.

Thankfully it is working out with my daughter (19) who was considering an education in business. She started her first course and decided that she hated it. She is still trying to find what she loves in respect to career, and I think she'll hit on it. She is such a creative person, I'm hoping that she'll work with the arts in some forum.

I'm glad beverly left that soul-destroying job. Problem is, there are real cases that must be investigated, but often it is just a case of dire poverty and screwing up.

I just can't fit into straight jobs, so I have to find something where I don't have to look and act too conventional. Cela dit, freelancing is very, very difficult ... especially when clients don't pay.

I've sold and exhibited paintings, but have not really tried to earn my living exclusively in that way, at least not of late. I keep on doing it as it is a need and an urge, but I'm a bit too old to be able to count just on that.

quote:

---

reelancing is very, very difficult ... especially when clients don't pay.

---

I take it that dude hasn't paid yet. I'm still waiting as well. Problem is you always have a plan for the money, hey. I wanted to go to Lethbridge or SOMEWHERE for part of the week-end. Oh well.

Good luck Lagatta.

quote:

---

Originally posted by kukuchai:
Yes, I've lived in Klein the Swine's Alberta for 8 years and I feel VERY "passionate" about leaving. If you are poor in Alberta you have to be VERY "creative" just to survive.

---

quote:

---

I remember as a younger woman I once described my "dream job": it was to write captions for pictures, captions that would succinctly capture the image's message.

---

Lagatta, your jobs have always fascinated me. I sometimes find myself in the middle of doing some job or other and find I'm thinking about you and your work. I wonder who you're meeting and where you're going next.

quote:

---

If by "creative" you mean "willing to work hard", I agree with you.

---

If by "willing to work hard" you mean "work overtime hours barely above minimum wage, pay outrageous health care premiums, and listen to your asshole boss bitch about high taxes before he leaves to play golf in the afternoon in his SUV, and live in a shitty apartment where the landlord can raise rent at will and blame property tax increases, and hope to christ you don't get laid off because there social services have been cut to the bone", then I agree with you.

quote:

---

BTW, why are right wingers so fixated on the "Hard Work= Success and Wealth" when they know it isn't true? I know they are self-serving and hypocritical, but do they do it out of a sense of irony, or just to be assholes?

---

I agree with you about living in AB sucks when you're poor...been there ...done that. What social services? The apathy in AB is staggering, and unfortunately it has spread to ON and BC.

I tried walking away from film once, but I didn't stay away for long. I've worked day jobs -- the longest, most lucrative and sincerely soul-sucking was as a claims adjudicator for WCB -- but always had some screenplay in mind.

Maybe there's a compulsion to tell stories there. Maybe I'm just arrogant enough to think that what I have to say is worth hearing. Or that it's an inner pursuit of learning how it all works, or finding a way to work through the kinks in my soul/brain/heart/whatever. Maybe it's all of the above, and then some. Whatever it is, I keep on doing it...

[ 18 September 2004: Message edited by: Zoot ]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Jingles:

BTW, why are right wingers so fixated on the "Hard Work= Success and Wealth" when they know it isn't true? I know they are self-serving and hypocritical, but do they do it out of a sense of irony, or just to be assholes?

---

Most of the ones I know grew up in nice, middle class neighborhoods or better. They had all the advantages while studying in high school, quiet home life, their own private studies or the entire downstairs rec rooms for study. Parents paid the shot for university at a time when paying for four or five years of university wasn't the equivalent of a mortgage without the house to show for it. It's amazing what a little head start can do for one.

And some others just had family connections. Sure it's a meritocracy, for the rest of us that is.

[ 17 September 2004: Message edited by: Fidel ]

I used to do what I used to do because it paid well, but I realized I was miserable. Well funded, but miserable.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Gir Draxon:

If by "creative" you mean "willing to work hard", I agree with you.

---

quote:

---

I've sold and exhibited paintings, but have not really tried to earn my living exclusively in that way, at least not of late. I keep on doing it as it is a need and an urge, but I'm a bit too old to be able to count just on that.

---

[ 17 September 2004: Message edited by: Mr. Magoo ]

[ 17 September 2004: Message edited by: Mr. Magoo ]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Mr. Magoo:

I hear ya! I've been washing and combing my own hair for years now, and waiting for the government to pay me a barber's salary for it. So far, nothing!... blah blah blah, I'm a self-centred dickhead....

---

[ 17 September 2004: Message edited by: Andy Social ]

quote:

---

Originally posted by skdadl:
Would you be happy with them -- given that we're talking about your mother or your father...

---

[ 17 September 2004: Message edited by: Mr. Magoo ]

[ 17 September 2004: Message edited by: Fidel ]

quote:

---

but in this instance, you're not being fair to the poster.

---

quote:

---

You could be one the the people who describe the pictures in National Geographic Magazine. When you said this, it made me think that you would enjoy some sort of publishing job. Maybe even to write the text for children's books or cartoons. How about radio?

---

[ 17 September 2004: Message edited by: Fidel ]

I've come back, though, to acknowledge that I appreciated some of what you wrote, but to pick up on one expression you used. Near as I can recall, you acknowledged my "special interest" in, or concern over, however you put it, long-term care. Now, that was a gesture between virtual friends, for which thanks.

But that anyone should consider what I'm doing a result of a "special interest" just floors me, and seems to me evidence of a serious problem. All I'm doing is carrying on with my marriage. Many others here are caring for their parents, or trying to, as our parents (in most cases) cared for us.

Maybe not everybody is at the same stage at the same time, but in what way is remaining committed to the people you love a "special interest"? Is there anyone here who expects not to be facing the greater and greater demands that love makes of us as time passes?