Why do I want to be an artist anyway?

An artist is what I always wanted to be since childhood. After high school I chose to study graphic arts and got an associate's degree in illustration. I did this because I didn't understand how a person was to earn a living as a fine artist. All my life I had heard about how artists are starving and I knew that I needed to make money to earn my way, starving was not an option for me. I had to learn a kind of art that involved having a job. And so it made sense that I would study graphic arts, and through graphic arts I discovered illustration. This was the reasoning of my young adult self. I knew all along that I preferred  fine arts and intended to pursue the fine arts after acquiring my associate's degree. But then, as soon as I graduated art school I gave birth to my son and my life took a very different direction.

First I stayed home with him. I made it work at the time by running a small home daycare. He was three and a half when I began looking for work in my field of study, graphic arts and illustration. The jobs were few and far between and the only ones available were entry level which meant very little pay, not enough to support myself and pay for childcare. I realized I had to do something for money and I didn't know what. So I got the book, What Color is Your Parachute and I began doing the exercises in the book to help me figure out what kind of job would be a good fit for me. The book helped me to look inward and figure out that I should be either a clinical psychologist or a hair stylist. So the choice was to go back to school for 2 years or 9. I went to beauty school and was surprised to discover how much I loved it! I had a beautiful career as a hair stylist for 27 years. And during those years I dabbled in arts on the side, always wishing to return to it. 

My heart has always been telling me to create art and to be an artist.