Love What You Do

People always dream about what they'd love to do in life. I don't. I've never had that choice. I seem incapable of doing anything else.

Born with an independent spirit, I guess I'm the type (like many of you) who stubbornly followed what I loved most.

One of those loves was animals. I can never remember a time when my best friends didn't happen to have four legs. While many people look back on their years by the momentus occasions that marked them . . . I remember the chain of dogs from birth until middle life (and counting). And each made my life richer by their presence.

So it was a natural when I started painting dogs and cats in all their beauty that I had observed a lifetime. I disregarded what Mother Nature dictated and started painting their rich, vibrant personalities. Each being I painted spoke to me. Some said "come closer" while others begged a little more space to heal. Some were purebreds, while others had no such high-brow lineage. Some were huge and others not so much.

No matter the animal, each set of eyes compelled me to love them. To make a living at what I do, simply was an added gift I received from them.

Some will say I was lucky. I will not dispute that. But every refuge does have a price. I never hade a real paycheck. And when times were hard, people often didn't invest in art. Being self-employed, I couldn't exactly run down to the unemployment office. So there were lean times but I always was surrounded with the richness of the animals. That type of love sustains you. Moves you forward.

I say that, not to complain but I wouldn't want anyone to quit their day job, thinking the life of an aritst is totally bliss. It is and it isn't. To me, I can't stop creating beauty through these gentle faces any more than I can stop the sun from rising.

So, my advice to others is to Love What You Do. Even if it isn't your "dream job", bring the joyful energy to it that makes life all the better for yourself and all around you. And if there's something else you love . . . well there's a lot of hours in each day. Do that as well!

Don't ever buy into the so called fact that you have to earn a living and therefore have to miss your life. Connect to the gifts you have that make you want to jump out of bed in the morning.

Because if there's one things dogs have taught me is to "live in the moment". Life for them (and us) is so very short. The TRUE art of it all . . . is constantly unfolding before each of us.

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