Intrusions of Culture (Blog)

Why do I paint? It's a question that every creative type should probably ask themselves... in case someone wants to know.

The first thing that comes to mind is that I like the attention. At first glance that seems rather immature, like a toddler throwing spaghetti on the floor for a reaction. But there's something to this. In fact, I think it may be the reason I've tried to learn Spanish for the last twenty years. Like painting, it's something not everyone can do. Hey, look at me. I always felt like it would be cool to be bilingual. Am I fluent? Unfortunately, no.  Like painting, it takes lots of practice and I just don't use it enough. 

But even at my age, I still enjoy a form of show-and-tell. When I feel like I've got a good painting going, it's a joy to have people walking by and acknowledging it. It's a real high. Something in my biological makeup is triggered to the happy side. On the other hand, a bad painting can make me apologetic, or even frustrated.

There are other, more practical reasons for painting, like the cognitive health benefits, having an endless supply of things to hang on the wall, and the income it brings from sales and competition awards. But the true reason or better, the motivation seems to be that I just like the human connections that are generated from it. And I like that it invites interaction, friendships and hopefully growth as an artist and person.