When it comes down to it, we all have something to prove. . .

One of the many wonders that accompanies art is absolute feeling of satisfaction creation can stir. It is, for me as I'm sure it is for many others, a form of meditation where the world swirls down into a mark or a line or an object in the making. Everything else quiets down, often to the point where I am alone in the studio dancing with the piece I am making.

And then back in the real world, at my real job, with real people, I have to prove my worth by the value of the object. If I don't sell, get into a show, or make some tangible movement forward, I become valueless as well. A sorting, filing, secretarial robot with (here it comes again) a friendly phone voice.

I don't care to prove my worth, but I end up doing it. Spouting off quotes from my resume, reliving small moments of glory. Somehow stripping the peaceful studio moments down into a dirty, torrid affair.

It has been a slow psychological equation in the making. Then if such-and-such opportunity doesn't work out, I blame it on talking about it too much, getting my hopes up too high. The sense of failure accompanies me out of the studio and into the office.