Why do you paint? Why do you make art? To what purpose?
I’ve been thinking about that a lot since I read The Mission of Art, by Alex Grey.
I first started painting to amuse myself, but I quickly found myself doing a couple of paintings to be given away to help fund raise. These paintings were better than the exercises and still life paintings I was attempting.
I don’t know whether I tried to reach a higher standard or I just was more disciplined because I had a purpose.
Recently I did the following painting as a gift. It was a variation on Lavender in Provence, for someone who really liked that painting. I had followed her pictures on Facebook where on her small farm she grew 100 pound pumpkins, had ducks that bonded to her dogs and goats that roamed and probably got into trouble. This inspired me. I did it for fun, because I knew it might might someone happy.
I think it is better than some of my other ones lately. Perhaps, because it came into being with a purpose.
