Will they come?

I think the hardest thing for artists of any stripe is to know if they create will they find an audience. I have come to realize this very fact after years of painting things...birdhouses, bisque figurines, plates and boxes even a platter or three.

Then I added another art...oil painting. Oil painting With landscapes. The first set of classes were, well to be generous, interesting. I learned not to make mud. That those trees have LEAVES. Shadows are not black but are tones of darkness.

Your vision changes. Your eyes become sharper, you become more focused not necessarily on what is there but what you "see." This became very apparent the day I started a painting of a koi pond. A lovely clear day suddenly darkened. First sprinkles, then a downpour. To my horror the oils were washed right off my canvas leaving only the acrylic under painting in place.

When I got home I printed out a photo of what I was painting only to realize what I saw and what the camera saw were very different. Who was right? I had to return again to work on that painting.

It is that unique vision that separates all artists. It is this same vision that either attracts or repels its audience.

Again, will they come? Most of us never know.