Starving Artist

To be an artist, one must live and breathe art. The world is their canvas, it is a stage, and every chapter of  life is a tale to be told. That is what I think it is at least. When you can take a difficult situation and morph it into something beautiful, that is a true artist.

My question is, can one be an artist if they are not starving? Can you see beauty in everything if life is planned out, if you always play it safe? Obviously you can not live a predictable, normal life if you want to be an artist. You can't have a nine to five and live in a little box; you need a story to tell, you need life to kick you in the butt.

Careless... maybe that is the word I am looking for, you have to be a little careless to be an artist.

For myself, I feel my calmest at my weakest. I suppose that is why I make such terrible decisions, because I love the feeling of inspiration that heart ache, and pain causes. I am an emotional masochist.

I delight in other artists, I suppose you could say that I am more lenient on them. When they have emotional outbursts, when they are down right shitty... well I get that.

I am a little torn, maybe one can enlighten me... Can you have material things and still be inspired? I mean, that would discredit a lot of individuals from being called artists, would it not?

I believe that as long as "things" are not your God, if you treat an expensive house, or a shiny new mercedes like you would a shack, or junker... well then I think you are okay. It is a place to stay, and a thing to get you from A to B. You just can't lose sight in what really matters. Money does change people, I myself... I don't think I ever want to be rich, but I think I can still be a writer and have a shiny new beetle!