"Creativity is inventing, experimenting, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun"... Mary Lou Clark

I saw this quote in a magazine... and upon research, discovered that the author of the quote is a Santa Fe activist, author and icon (look HERE)...
I have been thinking alot about this quote today.

I have always considered myself a creative person. A few years ago, I was asked to help start and run a local gallery. At that time, I had a very hard time calling myself an artist. Partly because I was greatly influenced by a local group of artists whom I believed to be significantly more talented/knowledgeable/experienced than I... and so I felt that I would never quite reach the status of "artist."

In the few years since then... I have tried very hard to flesh out what being an artist means to me... and I think one of the crucial aspects is a willingness to put yourself out there. To do what you love... no matter what others may think of your art. To make art because you have to.... because it's part of your essential make-up as a human being.

This is one of the main reasons why I try to focus blog posts on local art, local galleries... things associated with the life of an artist... because I feel it is so important to try and lift these people up... to give them support... to show them that art is not only something they do... but a way of life.

It is a wonderful thing to be an artist... and I am so glad to be home.

photos by Elaine A. Russell