Since 2023 I started selling my art. Long before then, there were times where people had asked me to buy some of my drawings. When I was young, I refused to have my art purchased by friends. Crafts were fine to be purchased; art could not be.

In my child-mind, the act of purchasing art was sacrilegious. Art was something to be gifted to someone else. Putting a set value to it in my mind, took away from the inherent value in what I had created. Therefore, while I was liberal in providing drawings as gifts to others, the purchasing of my own art seem to be unacceptable.

Fast forward to nowadays, it seems to me that the adult version of me is the opposite. My mind thinks that if patrons purchase my art, it shows the value in my art. My art actually is worthy of not only attention but to have it backed by someone’s hard earned dollars.

I still do create gifts of art. However, the gift is somehow intrinsically tied to the value of what it might otherwise sell for. I’m not sure whether in a world without costs and overheads, whether I would prefer that art remain gifts only.

Alas, the practical reality is that it costs time, materials and money to create art.