So true...

I found this artists blog through another artists blog.... I love doing that...could spend hours looking at and reading artist blogs... Anyway, this guy, Marc Hanson said this in one of his posts and it struck a chord of truth.  So here it is... Plus a link to the page if you want to see his artwork, which is very nice...  Marc Hanson's blog

"There is one thing about painting, above all others, that keeps my interest alive and energized.  Including all of the good and bad, that comes with being an artist.  It can be, in part, the following 'things'.  But they're not the major underlying motivation for me.  It is not the particular subject that I'm painting, it's not the physical act of applying paint or pastel, it is not only color, it is not only design, it is definitely not money or the benefits that other 'jobs' hold.

The one thing that keeps me painting is the intimate insight that you develop when you work long enough with your subject.  It's such an immensely satisfying, internal reward, and it is why I paint, above and beyond any other reason.  When you have that, everything that you do in a painting, is guided by it.  That is the quality that I hope to bring to my art. "

Couldn't have said it better.