What separates the artist from the would-be artist?

I believe to realize your abilities as an artist requires commitment and sometimes even sacrifice. Â*Occasionally putting your art first; ahead of the trials and tribulations of living. Â*

In the end, we are but a single domino in the line of dominoes we call life, it is our art that lives on.

I can hold a carving created a hundred years ago and still see the contours that artist saw in his minds-eye. Â* I can feel the character of that carver in each piece I touch. Â*
Perhaps I will never see an image of that artist, but the art left behind tells more than a picture ever could.

I doubt many of us will intentionally cut off an ear, but we have all spilled blood for our art; and that my friend, comes straight from the heart.

I couldn't agree more, Rick. Making one's way as an artist often takes sacrifice of other things - sometimes seemingly insurmountable.

Here are a couple of my favorite quotes that I found very moving as it relates to my own art:

'The remarkable thing about this gift of ours is that it has its rise, I am convinced, in the very woes which beset us...it is our emotional salvation.' ~ J.R. Fauset


'In isolation I ruthlessly plow the deep silences, seeking my opportunities like a miner seeking veins of treasures. In what shallow glimmering space shall I find what glimmering glory?' ~ Jamaica Kincaid

Teri

God gives each of us gifts but only the seeds of talent. The commitment to takes those seeds of talent and to nurish them into talent such that the carver can be a true artist involves a great deal of work, sacrifice, commitment, focus, love and support.
My spouse, probably like many of yours, has shared in this commitment and has assumed duties and responsibilities way beyond the call of duty to make sure that I had the time and resources to fulfill my dreams of being an artist who just happens to be a carver. Taking precious family vacation time for visitng carving seminars and shows is a commitment that she willing makes. Gods gift to me was my spouse, the rest is my responsibility.