When can you call yourself an artist?

Several years ago, my brother asked me “when can you call yourself an artist”? Doctors call themselves that after they graduate from medical school; lawyers after they pass the bar. What then about artists? I answered “when you have the nerve to do so”. I think that answer remains as true today as it was then.

All my life, I have been crafty. I explored crafts from counted cross-stitch to knitting to doll making. Each time I decided to “master” a craft, I jumped in with both feet. I bought every book/magazine I could find on the craft, outfitted myself with every supply I could possibly need and set forth. In my cross-stitching years, everyone I knew received a cross-stitched ornament for Christmas. My knitting years saw all my friends and family receiving hats or scarves. (Never mastered socks). I made literally everyone I knew a porcelain doll when I was in my doll-making phase. I was totally immersed in each craft I attempted but none held my attention indefinitely.

That all changed when I first put a palette knife into a glob of cadmium red oil paint and swiped the knife across a canvas. I was hooked. The feeling was simply indescribable and now, twenty some years later, I still experience both the terror of a blank, white canvas and the joy of adding color, form and texture. That was over 20 years ago and I still find the process of making art utterly fascinating and engaging. It took about 5 years or so after I began painting, but there did come a day when I knew I could call myself an artist.