Because it's BETTER then the ball game, it lasts longer, it's there in the morning when so many other things aren't. Because I can't imagine a day without someone else's creative genius there to pull me through, the stain glass window I pass on the way to work every morning, the websites I stalk while I am here, the mail ladies nails with all their glitter and gold, the sound of the band practicing too late into the night ignoring all of our screams. Art is in me, somehow, so I get to see it everywhere I look. I don't stop, because I am constantly asked not to.

I am a photographer because for me.. It is a way or expressing myself.. a way of letting people see my emotions.. I would never sell my work.. I send it out in the world to my friends and others.

That is just me though.. I dont judge other people.

by the way.. I do watch ballgames too.. How bout them Tigers?

Your comment on the ball game is spot on for me; I'm an Englishman who doesn't understand the mysteries cricket, rugby or football, which quite an acheivement in itself. Thinking back to schooldays, my lack of sporting success, was just one of the things that helped me gravitate towards the individual, creative side of things, rather than becoming part of a team. The landscapes that I explored while running (supposedly running) the school cross country course are still at the root of what my art is all about.

Barbara and I were walking across a football pitch in the park last week and I said to her 'Thank goodness I don't have to run up and down this pitch every week'. Yards away from the pitch there are ducks, trees, medieval field patterns - a thousand things that I would like explore through just looking and drawing: I guess I'll never be able to explain the off-side rule in soccer, but there you are.

Because it is how I feel. I have difficulty just feeling without creating. Perhaps this makes me odd.

(hi by the way. this is my first time commenting but I've been reading your journal for a long time now.)

There's a quote from William Burroughs (of all people) that pretty much sums it up for me. In his novel, Junkie, he says that the addict never considers the why or how of addiction, it is everything, it's the reason you do anything.

For me art is like that. I've been doing it for years. Occasionally I get paid, or someone notices, or awards are won. It's all secondary, I'll do it reagrdless. It's just what I have to do. The drive to create is the only reason I get out of bed some days, other days it's like pulling fingernails, but I can't go without it.

Why? Because it nurtures my soul.

I wrote a ton about this, so I'll have to just give you the link:

http://www.livejournal.com/users/sweetmadnes/136090.html?mode=reply

thanks for the fodder.

This looks like a good followup to the discussion the everydaymatters list group had a while back on Guilt - people who (try to) make the artist feel guilty about spending time writing, crafting, creating. I wrote a weblog entry based on that discussion. I'm looking forward to reading all of the replies to this question. (And I'll have to think of my own answer)

I've posted by answer on my own site, too, since it's kind of lengthy: http://www.robotjohnny.com/archives/000324.html

It's the feeling it gives me. It's a pleasurable experience, like eating chocolate, only more satisfying because you can go back and look at it and get the feeling back again and again.

I think it's also like being in love, like a comforting presence in my life.

My answer, as posted to the list group:

Why _not_ do it?

I don't consider myself an artist. I don't draw; I don't paint. I never have. But I've always been crafty. I grew up making things.

My family is both artistic and crafty - my Dad is an architect, quite good at sketching and a whiz with a caligraphy pen. My Mom taught High School art and has been the Crafts supervisor for the Summer Park program for well over 40 years now. That means planning craft ideas and creating samples for three age levels times 8 weeks... we always had crafts projects around the house. I grew up amongst arts and crafts. It was simply a part of my life.

Although I have a great appreciation for personal art: drawing, sketching, painting.... that sort of art has never been my thing. But I used to do 1/12 scale miniatures, needlework (including designing my own), salt- and bread dough clay, little things made from felt, and many other small craft projects for many years. These days I don't do much craft work (with no intention of getting back to it, for personal reasons). But I've inherited a great interest in art, sketching, painting, and crafts of all kinds (as well as an appreciation for architecture :-)

I'm the writer in the family - more expository than "creative" writing, although I do write occasional light verse and have written a couple of short stories. These days my creativity finds expression in problem solving, computer programming, web site creation, weblog entries, journal entries, and the many list groups I've joined.

Why? Why do people climb mountains? Because it's there. Because it's how I was raised.

What was life like before? There was nothing before. This is how I grew up.

Instead of the ball game? Are you kidding? We rarely watch television (we watch an occasional movie). If I'm not "doing" something I'm reading.

Professional artist? No, unless you count the fact that I'm a professional programmer, web weaver, and tech writer and I consider all of those to be creative pursuits.

Reinforcement? Hubby is also a programmer and technical writer. Not as much into other kinds of writing or web work as I am. ut he's always supported what I do. And, of course, my parents live and breathe this stuff.

Because I would be a wiggly, niggly mess if I didn't. My friends & family wouldn't know what the hell to do with me. Think of Jeff Goldblum turning into The Fly. If I didn't write, paint, or play music, I'd be a horrid creature climbing the walls.

Because for me, and many others I am sure, it would be sinful to deny myself any longer.

It may sound a little negative and defeatist, but I 'do' creativity because I don't have a choice. Sometimes the dreams creativity scripts in my imagination can feel cruel and mocking and at those times I have tried to stop creating, forget it, pretend that it isn't a drive just like the drive to eat and make love, but it always nags and beckons me back. Of course I enjoy it - it causes beautiful things to happen in my life and the best times are those when I'm surfing big waves of synchronicity and keeping upright - but mainly I do it because I can't stop even when I want to.

hey! its my birthday today and i thought i'd scan over the thoughts of others, but your line of thought is so in line with my daily soulsearching i was delighted. i remember being 4 or 5 and declaring i would always be an artist, and feeling puzzled by the phrase "real artist" while in my honest earnest soul i felt every bit as expressive as van gaough right then.
somewhere in my early twenties i forgot that feeling, but couldn't seem to stop creating things, mostly for gifts, there always seemed to be someone to be creating for. my family and friend appreciated my creativity, but there seemed to be no practical purpose, and surely i wasn't nearly talented enough to be a real artist.
that felt repressive. as i remembered a few years ago, i'll always be an artist.
i don't have a degree, but i also don't have a living room- its been over run by art and creation and holds three desks and a large table in the center to be used by both myself and my husband.
i am a nanny by trade, but i'm begining to answer "i am an artist" when asked what i do.
this feels fabulous!! it just feels right. i try not to worry about what i should or should not create, and just follow my imagination. i try not to judge or make rules. i try, but that's really quite hard somtimes since i am trying to fit a bit of my art (mostly multimedia) into a -gulp- market, because i do need to pay bills and the such . i find this to be such a hard balance.
i found myself being squeezed into what i felt others would like to find, and kept judging my work, until i visited the open studio of another artist and was bowled over by the the honesty and self expression in his work. it wasn't at all what i would like to find as a consumer , but boy did it speak.
it was raw, unjudged, allowed to breathe, and telling me to be the same.
so, as i continue to battle the critics and rulemakers in my mind, i have brought forth the fantastic four year old. " i will always be an artist" just because. why do i do it? because i can't stop. just like love, somwhere deep down i know its right. and i feel so lucky that this is what i am to do, i would rather hate being a car salesman.

i do a lot of creating while watching the ballgame or anything really. if i'm knitting it's usually so i won't eat. if i'm cementing tiles onto the mosaic table that's been a work in progress for a while it's because i really want it out of my living room now. i don't take the act of "creating" very seriously. i don't think of myself as an artist although i really love what i create. for me it's playing. it's what i grew up doing for play, and i really love to play so i can't imagine not doing it. it just makes life more fun.

love your site!!!

01. why do i do it? i feel driven. i enjoy it. i want to express myself. i want to get better at it. that's my explanation, but i don't think it can be fully explained.
02. -i've always loved making things, crafts and even just food as well as drawing.
-i think it's an essential part of my life because i feel like it IS my life. apart from people, everything else is less important to me than drawing.
- my commitment is enforced by the fact that i love it, and also that it's what i want to do with my life, and if i can help it i don't want to end up in an office job remembering that "once i wanted to do art but it did not work out."
i think that inside, i was always like this, but inbetween i lost my sense of direction for a few years and that was the worst time of my life.
03. yes, i get reinforcement and acclaim from loved ones and strangers. and lots of good criticism, too. i am very very grateful for that.

If I don't draw, paint, write, sew, or knit, the ideas I come up with (and that never stop flowing) build up and build up until they're bugging me incessantly and I can't sleep properly or get much of anything else done due to the distraction of ideas gnawing away at my mind. I prefer doing to passively watching, anyhow (So I rarely watch tv), and when I'm done I've ended up with something to show, to share, to put up, to wear, or to give as a gift.

Unfortunately, I'm not terribly disciplined, but I improve my skills by the sheer amount of things I do. Stubbornly perservering despite the inability of my ego to move away from drawing a certain way, say, or the inability of my brain to grasp certain techniques, has resulted in breakthroughs and realizations that have caused me to improve. Since I'm doing all of this for me, I'm fine with this (although oftentimes find myself yearning for a class or two).

I've never gotten heaps of reinforcement. Smiles from parental figures that I was creating things, pointed overlooking of my doodling in class by teachers - as a child, it didn't seem like anyone minded if I created things, so I did, and occasionally managed to impress someone. As an adult, I get the occasional internet passer-by who expresses pleasure at what I've shared, happiness from my fiance when I've created something, and a kick in hte pants from other artist friends if I go too long without making something. But otherwise... it's all for me. Which is good, because otherwise I would have long since been eaten alive by ideas.

The answer to this question came naturally and immediately to me. Unlike most people I encounter, I create to destroy. I have no professional training as an "artist," nor do I consider the topic of "art" to be an interest or a pastime of mine. I do, however, make things, at times intricate and calculated, that I can annihilate and dismantle at my own will and leisure. This "exercise" affords great personal relaxation, as well a peaceful and harmonized temperament. Friends and family often question my time-management skills, which, in this case, can be the biggest downfall to my "work." Nonetheless, I deem my actions invaluable.

I am currently an animal keeper and technician at a local zoo. I have no distinct hobbies, but I love watching animals and I frequently vacation in Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
Thank you for this opportunity.

Lots of what people do all the time is creative in the same ways I am. I draw, paint, etc, but what I'm really doing is drawing things together- extracting from reality the things that make sense to me or are intriguing to me and with which I construct the fabric of my life story. Other people are out there making journeys, making money and making babies. I'm making pictures and stories, and I'm inviting others to share. There's something in that which makes me feel more connected to other people's creativity (ie to other's life stories). This field- that of making objects from the things that happen to me, physically and mentally, is where I feel I am at my most eloquent. I'm not massively driven or ambitious, and I have to be tough with myself when I'm not making- because I need to- partly because this is where I feel successful.

That said, I should affirm my success in this sorta thing a bit more heartily, since I've had the perennial problems associated with anyone who takes up their talents seriously but can't quite figure out how to make the world work with them. Thus I end up thinking "Why not jack it in and do something where you'll be appreciated?" every couple of weeks........ahh.....poor soul. But I keep doing it, and I keep making decisions that mean I keep doing it my way. Why?

I don't know.

Because it is the only activity that can devour hours of my time without me noticing, and still leave me refreshed when I stop.

Your question about why I create myself...well, that's it, isn't it!? I create myself. I think my answer would be that my chief need in this life is expression and through my relative gifts, talent, and abundant creativity I express my consciousness through those means.

One of my recent favorite quotes on this subject is that "Hands are the conduit of Being", it's my own paraphrasing of an unknown source that "Hands are the conduit of our beliefs" Also true and meaningful but relating more to a more surface idea of mental constructs, such as religious dogma in general. My switch to the word "Being" is meant as a broader deeper idea of each Soul's spark of the Divine Being expressed through what we create.

It's such a big question tied to all the core mysteries of life that any answer I try to come up with will reveal my worm status.

However, I've never been one to shy away from worm status so I would venture that we create in order to connect with others since we are each alone in this world. And, when we connect with someone else's art (or someone connects with ours) there is an 'aha' of I am not so alone.

Also, I think it is a means of trying to connect with the divine (whatever you concieve that to be) force. Bleh. See? This is why worms can't talk.

its fun in the fact that there are no rules/guidelines. simply, FUN. granted i love sports but there's always going to be rules there. you have absolute control over how that paint brush moves or what the camera sees or what winds up on your paper after you spend hours with it. no one's going to tell you you're wrong.

oh and p.s. say hi to jack T and patti for me =)

That's a great series of questions; ones that I have been asked before and sometimes ask myself. But the truth of why I draw constantly, paint when ever I can, think about art more than I think about much else is because I need to. Making art is my way of communicating to the world, my way of expressing myself, my respite from the mundane and the mediocre, and my joy. Even when art is a pain in the ass...when I can't get a result I think I want, when the sharp pencil I carry in my pocket stabs me in my thigh, the rewards of creating far outweigh the costs. Goofy but true, there is something magic about making for me...I just need to make art. Thanks for listening and for occassioning such an interesting list of comments...
take care,
Rachael

yes, Mr Picasso...the problem remains as said...

I thought of myself as an artist until junior high when someone, somewhere...[art class probably(!)] gave me the impression that if I couldn't draw a tree then I was mistaken...."nope, one is not an 'artist' if one cannot draw a proper tree"....YEOW! where'd that come from....???

All through high school I elected not to take art classes because I thought I wasn't good enough...until my senior year and I had a clump of open blocks in my schedule and a bunch of us thought ceramics might be fun....was it ever...I spent every bit of my free time in that lovely art room...ahhh.. it was as if I'd been holding my breath for 5 years...I painted and drew and made stuff every spare moment I could find...I still didn't think I was a legitimate artist until the sping art show when teachers form a local art school (Tyler/Temple U) came and commented to my art teacher on my work and wondered if I'd be coming to Tyler next year....very warm pat to my teenage ego...but..

Alas...father's financial and practical-mind influence figured into the equation and I grumbled along at college fudging my way through a few years of 'liberal arts'...

Later I tested the waters on my own at a commercial art school...too stuffy for me... and ended up 10+ years later teaching art(without a degree...don't tell!) to elementary school students in our district...

....but truthfully I wish I could wrangle every drop of my childhood image of myself as an artist back right now....seems so far away and dreamlike..am I too old? ..too tightly wound? focused on my family? my students?..or just facing the other way afraid to BREATH again?

wow/oops...I wrote a lot!...touched a nerve.. didn't mean to whine and I barely answered the question....oh well, whatever

~Fern

It's a combination of many things. There is a "need" to do my needlework/knit/beading/altered books/etc. I think if someone said "You can't" I would not be responsible for my actions.

It's my prozac. I can get a rush smelling a new box of crayons or looking at new needlework patterns. Starting a new "project" pumps the old juices.

I don't consider myself an artist, but i like creating and surrounding myself with pretty things because it makes me happy. I say do what makes you happy.

I know I need to be creative when I start getting that restless feeling...like if I don't channel that energy into a creative pursuit I could do something 'bad' (like yell at the kids, or have a glass of wine!!!) thanks for asking the right questions...

Because no one else sees the world the same way that I do - if I don't make my art then no one else will. Because if I don't create I get antsy. Because I need to do things with my hands. Because I'm driven. Because I'd rather be active than passive. Because nothing else gives me such a high. Because my brain tells me to - over and over and over again.

Anyway, I hate sports!

Wow, so many replies, and I can say ditto with most for myself. Just a few days ago I wrote "Why Make Art?" (linking to Anna L. Conti's blog) at http://www.marja-leena-rathje.info/archives/000061.html. Had some interesting comments to which I responded as to why I make art.

thanks for your great blog, Danny!

because if I don't, I'd wither away and die. and really, it's as simple as that -- and it's not the product, it's the *making* that's important.

I create
because hours pass as moments
because a butterfly brain is focused for a while
because to draw is to know objects intimately
because there is always hope of the miracle of competence
because a body of work is a chronicle

I draw because I guess it's the only good thing I can never get mad at...sure it can be disappointing at times but it never gets me down. It's definitely not like a ball game. Instead of eyes being glued to a tv screen, eyes are glued to an object, trying to render its meaning. To me, I want to become an artist even though my parents discourage me a bit. They want me to become a doctor or a lawyer or anything that brings home a lot of moola but if I ever went into those jobs, I know I seriously won't be happy at all and instead I would be miserable waiting for life to end. Art is an enlightenment, something I enjoy, something I would consider far more than some hobby. I mean if you think about it the world would not exist without art. The most joy I find in art is the expression on someone's face when they see it...especially from strangers. As a child I liked to draw and I would do it constantly, but then as I got older, I gradually stopped until I started getting back into the habit. I really didn't know what I would do with my life and now I've found it.

I believe that I am fearfully and wonderfully made, I believe that what created me also left that thumbprint of wanting to create in me.

When I knit, I am amazed that with one long string, I created something that keeps me warm. When I paint, I've created a message that was not there before.

Grow or die. As a part of living matter, I need to grow, become more than was there before. To not is to deny how I am apart of this creation. To not is death.

It massages a different part of your brain, just like playing music and studying other languages does. When you strengthen all the different muscles of your brain you end up with more balance. That's my theory.

why do i do it?
because it makes me feel like me

What great replies! I love what I do and feel eternally grateful to have been given the gift of creativity. Like I said at Everydaymatters, WE are indeed the lucky ones. None of us will ever be bored.

'cuz it feels so darn good.

if I couldn't do music I would be lost in this world.

Because I'm accident prone. That rules out most service, administrative, labor, technical (for sure), and managerial positions. In art, accidents don't hurt. They help.

Why create? Because it is a way of seeing the world; of processing our experiences...all that we see and hear, taste and smell, feel...There are the experiences themselves, and the creating is yet another experience. The "stuff" of the world sifted through you.
Drawing is a channel by which I can process all that is around me. It is the greatest quiet, it is peaceful, and it is endlessly surprising to see what emerges on the page, no matter what I had imagined would appear there. I like the element of surprise.
Art/creating has made me more open to the world. All of it. The details. The big picture. It makes me take time to really observe. It isn't that I necessarily look in terms of drawing, it's just changed my whole outlook so that now I automatically find myself slowing down and studying things more.
There's also a thrill out of making something from "nothing." You take some stuff, and work it a little...voila! Something different. Something new. Delight.
It's fun and it's meaningful. My dialogue with the world. -Lisa

Just because I can.

actually, I paint WITH the TV on so it's not an either or thing for me! That said I agree with much that has been said re: having many creative outlets and attempting to build even more into my life. As someone who works long hours in a business not known for it's creativity, I also find that having art as a focus brings another community into my life. I've lived in 3 very different areas of the country in the past 15 years and each time, after establishing the professional community, I've developed affiliations through art as well. This not only enlivens my spirit but provides diversity that I think is essential and inspiration for the art.My professional colleagues also like that I bring the arts into their lives- they're interested in the daily journal, are the first and last to arrive at shows, and feel that "art" is more accessible to them. It's a win/win/win- to use my day time language.

Because I HAVE to. It's in my blood. It's encoded in my DNA. It's all I know how to do. I couldn't stop even if I wanted to. Which I don't, of course.

I do it because it makes the world go away.

Is that Pelican Opaque water color I see?

Because I feel empty and sad and frustrated if I don't.

Because unlike most other things, it feels good twice - the first time when I create my creations, and then again when I can reflect on them. And if they happen to be of the food art variety, they're generally good a third time, going down.