Why Do You Do What You Do?

Our Foray show has been great and we've extended it through June.  It's been estimated that around 600 people have gone through the show already. 

I had made an announcement about it in my Nia class when it first opened.  This week, one of the guys (one of a rare few) in my Nia class had been to the show and asked me which piece was mine.  He didn't really remember when I told him, but he kept asking me questions about art.  What I figured out eventually was he was trying to ask me why I was an artist or why do I create art, although he couldn't get that question out directly. 

Why do I make art?  Because I have to, would be my first response.  I'm not happy if I can't create.  I see pictures all around me: beautiful colors, shapes, details others might miss in nature, buildings, objects.  Sometimes pictures pop into my head.  I have to get these things down in my sketchbook or in my camera (but even a photograph is different than what I see in my head; it is just a reminder for me).  One, so I don't forget them (sometimes pictures can be fleeting).  Two, because then that clears out room for more ideas and pictures.  I create art so I can share what I see with others.  Eventually, I told him that I am a visual person and it is easier for me to communicate my ideas through my art.  That was the answer he was looking for. 

Why do you do what you do?