Are you asking if I am really working or just playing without any real goal or purpose in mind? It's a good question. Especially when I am having so much fun doing what I am doing with my photographs and this graphics program.
It is hard to explain to those who do not understand the creative mind rather than the logical mind. Only once an artist succeeds to make a good income is he or she really respected, or that it is even seen as work. In fact, this was always the mindset I lived under myself all my life. It wasn't that I believed that mindset. Growing up as the only child born in the 1950's to a single mother, who herself grew up during the Great Depression, made a big impact on my life. Work is work. It's not supposed to be fun and it doesn't matter if you enjoy what you do as long as you have a job. The important thing is that you have a real job.
Things changed over the years as people became more and more convinced that having a job you enjoy is more important, especially for your health because of what stress does to people's bodies. College educations stopped being all about what our parents wanted us to study and became more about what we really wanted to do with our lives. But even then, the creative people usually had to focus on more "realistic" career choices because nobody really believes just anyone can be more than a "Starving Artist" if we focus our lives on our creative abilities.
My focus ended up being chosen for me. Although I wanted to be a writer/photographer since late childhood, my life took me in the direction of the medical field, mostly long term care. Two years of college for an unfinished BS degree in nursing took me to marriage and raising children. Later I was able to get an AA degree in social work and spent most of my later career as an Activity Director in long term care. It was an acceptable way of earning a living and still making way for a creative outlet. Most of the time I felt like I got paid to play. But it still was not fulfilling what was deep in my heart. The pressure was still on to focus on the income rather than enjoying the work.
Now it's my time. If I don't work toward fulfilling my dreams now, I won't have a chance to do it later. I am a Baby Boomer who finally has time on my hands to do the things I want to do. There is pressure involved, too. This time the pressure is on proving to myself and to my family and friends that I can follow my dream and succeed. Explaining the process is not required. If they want to learn how someone can earn a living "playing around" with a camera and a computer, they can go online and learn for themselves. It's not my time to convince anyone anymore. It's my time to believe in myself and just do it.
The kaleidoscope above was done from the floral below. The original floral below can be found on the Florals tab at the top of the blog along with the other designs I have created.
When you shop for gift wrap and gift bags, what do you look for? What about tote bags? If you are shopping for yourself or for a gift for a friend or loved one, what is it that attracts your attention most? If you are buying note cards or even spiral notebooks, do you ever wonder who designed the covers? The fabric for the tote bags has some type of design. Did you ever think about where that design originated? Probably not. We shop for what captures our attention most. But who designed the patterns on the products we purchase probably never crosses our minds. 
A few weeks ago, I did not think about these things either. My mind was on fine art photography, and jigsaw puzzles using beautiful scenic photos. The past couple of weeks all of these other items were brought to my attention and I realized that there was so much more I could do than I ever dreamed possible. Building my portfolio has been so much fun as well as a work of love. Seeing these beautiful designs appear from my photos that I already thought were pretty good to start with has been such a wonderment. While I do take credit for putting together the various patterns that I've come up with to make these designs, I could not have done it at all without the help of my friend Sharon, who has helped me by teaching me different facets of the PSP program and showing me the "secret" of using plug-in filters. I hope that she knows just how much I appreciate her help with all of this. In fact, since I have "discovered" these areas of design work, I have been working together with Sharon, who is an excellent graphics designer and with a talent she has hidden from the world until now. Together, with her guiding me in PSP and filters, and me guiding her in marketing her work, it's just possible that we both may come out on top in creative careers for each of us. Wouldn't that be something?
