Artist? Who Me???

I sometimes get orders for piggy banks over the phone....and while I am talking to the customer, they will ask "Are you the artist?" Me, an artist? I've always thought I was artistic, but never actually an artist. To me an artist is someone like Michaelangelo, Van Gogh or Andy Warhol. But not me. Really, not little old me. I have never considered myself an artist. Crafty. Imaginative. Creative. A painter, and a crafter. To me, an artist is someone who paints or creates one of a kind items. One at a time. Da Vinci. Not someone who paints the same thing over and over. And over and over again. Me.

And so I thought I would look up the defintion of artist, and this is what I found:
Wiktionary defines the noun 'artist' (Singular: artist; Plural: artists) as follows:
1. A person who creates art.
2. A person who creates art as an occupation.
3. A person who is skilled at some activity

I do create art...my designs, maybe simple, are original.
My painting is now my full time job.
And I am quite skilled with a paintbrush.

Who'd have thought after years of painting various walls, ceramics, and in the past 9 years, piggy banks, I'm an artist. I 've always enjoyed the colors in the autumn leaves, or the clouds at sunset, or the way the ice storm coated trees reflect the sunlight. I love to see the different colors in nature. Or just the black and white of a zebra. Those things make me happy. But I never thought my way of seeing the world meant anything. I knew I saw it with a painter's eye, wondering just what shade of pink that cloud was....I love color. I love trying to figure out how to make that color. I love trying to figure out how to use that color.

And maybe my piggy banks aren't a true canvas, but they are my canvas. I've got to rethink my definition of 'artist'. I am an artist. Not just a piggy bank painter....I am a Piggy Bank Artist!