A student once asked me, “What is art, and how do I know if I am an artist?” There are lots of cliches that immediately come to mind, When you have been doing this as long as I have, you hear them all. I resisted the temptation to resort to the cliches and thought for a bit. I said that all of us who work at something because we love it, are artists. Our differences are only our individual choices and the tools we use to create something we can truly say is our own. Are farmers any less creative than painters? How many painters have painted cornfields?

There is an old test I once heard. It goes like this. Imagine that you are walking through the woods. Explain the experience! Some speak about what they see. They are painters or illustrators. Some add sounds that they hear. They are musicians. Some make it an adventure. They are writers. ... I imagine the cool and the breeze, like the carpenter who can’t resist sliding his hand across a smooth plank of hardwood.