Oil Painting of New Orleans Streetcar in the Garden District...

The streetcar is finally finished. I worked on it yesterday and today. This one is 40x30" and I really love it! In person, in this view, the streetcar looks like it is coming out of the painting straight into your living room.

I don't know about everyone else, but every now and then I look around and think, "You know, I really am an artist now." For years, when someone would call me an artist I would say, "I just dabble" or "I'm just artsy". So it was a big step when I finally would say that "Yes, I am an artist." And I still have trouble believing it.

I have attended lots of art shows and talked to lots of other artists over the last couple of years and I have found that (with one exception, and I speak of Bob Tompkins) no matter how big an artist gets they still are insecure about their work in some way. It truly amazes me to talk to someone that I think is way on down the road to success and hear them say that they were really worried about this, or that they feel out of place compared to this or that artist, or something to that effect. Once I realized that everyone else had doubts, too, it made me know that I may never feel like I have "made it". And that's probably a good thing. You never need to feel like you don't need to keep learning, trying to get better or improving yourself...expecially in this job.

I tried unsuccessfully, to find the author of this quote, as it is one of my favorites. If anyone knows the author, please let me know and I will give credit where credit is due. But for now...

"Simply to be and artist is to have achieved success."