"Art, at its core, is the act of being yourself," said Cinnamon Cooney, The Art Sherpa, on her Art Sherpa Blog. 

Throughout this last year and a half of my art exploding, self-study-tutorial-seeking-materials-using awakening, it has become more and more clear to me that I need art. I need to create - I need to play - I need to manifest whatever this is going on inside my heart/head/soul. 

The other thing that has become crystal clear is that the more I show and share what I am doing, the less afraid I feel about this wild ride, and, when I do start to feel afraid, or frustrated, or penned in, I go to my artspace and create something - which often leads to some sharing online. Something struck me as I looked at my Graduate Diploma peering out from behind the door of my studio, holding it's obligatory space on the wall but not really where I have to look at it much. I don't feel like that person anymore.... and, at a time when I'm not really sure who I am or why I am here, something quite amazing has been happening - I am creating myself with Art every single day. Through art I am telling myself who I am and why I am here, and I'm not really sure that the answer is "artist" mind you, although that is part of it. There is something bigger going on. Alcohol Inks are mending what Lyme Disease broke. The more I create, the more of me I see... simultaneously a work in progress, and an old masterpiece, being restored. 

Art is fixing me. 

Art is putting me back together. 

I'm beginning to see - I need art like a bird needs the sky. 

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This piece was first published on my blog on The Art Sherpa website, October 25, 2016