Risk

People often ask me questions like how did I become an artist, and when did I first know I was one, and how long did it take to paint that piece there, and do I work every day, and do I ever feel like quitting, and do I ever feel like never quitting.

These questions are fairly easy to answer.

The tougher ones live in the suburbs of reason.
Ones like why does an artist answer the call, and who exactly is calling, and why would anyone give up things like fiscal certainty to make marks, and who exactly makes the marks.

All I can say is that it has something to do with risk, and how at some point for me, the risk of flying without a net finally became smaller than the risk of never having flown at all.

📖 This piece first appeared in The Home Volume of FOLKLIFE Magazine.