WHY I DO THIS.

   Happy Sunday, Everyone!

   I want to address this, because I've been asking myself this question lately. A LOT. WHY do I do this? Naturally, since I've been asking myself this question, I've been forced to think about the answer. 

I draw every day. I get up, I have coffee (usually too much - do you know how hard it is to draw when your hands are SUPER over-caffeinated?), I turn on the TV - sometimes Netflix and sometimes YouTube. Lately - a lot of YouTube. I need help. Everyone needs help. YouTube is where I go to find out how other artists survive. Then I try to rack up the motivation to draw ANOTHER coloring book page. Or ANOTHER free page to give a way. Or ANOTHER thing for you to look at knowing full well you may just hit the "like" button to be nice and never even click the image, or share it with your friends. 

   When I sit here, alone, drawing, thinking about drawing, wondering how I can get you to see it or to care about it, then wondering why I even bother, I invite stress and depression into my day. I invite defeat, loneliness, doubt. My confidence slips with every unnoticed post. For that reason, when you DO something - anything - in your life, you have to have a BIGGER reason to do it than just to be noticed. 

   I love being praised when I accomplish something. Especially if it's something that I'm proud of. I am constantly striving to do better in my art. To improve. To show you what I can do. But that isn't why I keep putting myself through this. 

   I started designing coloring books because of stress. Because of anxiety. Because of self-loathing, doubt, lack of confidence, low self-esteem, loneliness, anger, hate, disappointment, fear, sadness. But NOT my own. Well, partially my own. But mostly, everyone's. 

   I really, REALLY believe that when you are GOOD at something, if you have a PASSION for something, or if you just have a REALLY GREAT SMILE, that you are morally obligated to find a way to inject that into someone's life who may need it. We are all struggling. Just because one person's struggle seems minimal to you does not mean that it's less significant than your struggle.

   You don't have to buy my coloring book. But I want you to. The reason I want you to is NOT because I will make a ton of money. (I definitely won't.) 

   The reason I want you to buy it for yourself or for someone else is because coloring is an AMAZING way to get out of your head. It's an amazing way to allow yourself to think your thoughts, to sift through all of the information that you've been given (whether you wanted it or not) that day, to remember things you may have forgotten about.

   I WANT you to color (my book or any other artist's book) because I want you to have TIME with yourself. I want you to remember things from your childhood that you haven't thought about in years. I want you to think about who you are and how your day went. I want you to give yourself time to think about what you did today and what you could have (or should have) done differently.

   We all need that time for ourselves. We need to get to know ourselves before we judge others. We have to turn off the television and put down our phones and think about what our OWN opinions are before we jump into reading about everyone else's. We need to keep our minds and hearts open.

   THAT is why I do this. I could sit down and draw every day and post stuff in my gallery so that people will say, "ooh that's nice" or "wow I really like that." But what good does that do? I didn't help anyone with that. I didn't inject my talent into the lives of others in hopes to make any kind of a difference. If I post something in my gallery, it's to hear people say nice things about me.

   I will continue to design coloring books that may or may not sell. I won't make a bunch of money, and I won't become rich and famous. I do this for me by doing it for you. That's what I get out of it. So I will brush my discouragement, my fear, my anxiety aside. I will continue to call myself an artist and I will move forward with courage that I can reach some people sometimes. Somehow.

Have a BLESSED Sunday, and every day.

Love, Krista


If you like this, follow me.
If you have questions, comment here or email me. I WANT to hear from you.

E-mail:         ktessierart@gmail.com

Twitter:      @KTessierArtist

Facebook:  @KTessierArt

Blog:            ktessierart.blogspot.com

Gallery:       ktessierart.deviantart.com

If you want to color, buy my book. If you don't want to color, but you know someone who needs to, buy them my book. OR buy them another book. Any book. But please. COLOR.