Always an Artist

I love this photograph my mother took of me when I was little. I was about 5 yrs old if I had to guess....I had a little, tiny children's table with little tiny chairs around it and I used to lay all my art stuff out in front of me. Coloring books, crayons, watercolors, whatever. So here I was drawing. I look amused that my mother finds this moment worthy of capturing.

I always get caught up wondering if I'm good enough as an artist or as a photographer and I get wrapped up thinking I don't always deserve those titles. But when I look at myself as a child I remember how much I felt like an artist already. I never questioned myself back then. I was confident in my abilities. I even drew a picture of a teddy bear with holly berries around him and presents in front of him once for a holiday contest in Kindergarten, and out of all the grades up to high school, they published my teddy bear on the front of a pamphlet about the school. I was sooo proud! My parents framed it and displayed it in our home.

Now I look around my home and see others' work, many of which are different than my own and stunning in their own right. But where is my stuff? Maybe I should print photos some just for me to enjoy and frame them, instead of just looking at them online all the time. I want to throw myself into that world again where I was an artist because I had crayons and glue and imagination.  Except now it might be painting an old cabinet or learning to use one of my vintage film cameras. I vow to keep on this path of creating and imagining and being inspired by everything I see on Etsy and in Somerset Life. I'm never going to "measure up" if I'm always comparing myself...I just have to know that I'm OK to be where I am, to show what I see. And it helps to look at this little girl from time to time too.