Animals and creativity. They have been been intertwined in my life for such a long time now.
This past spring I designed about 70 new jewelry pieces, frustratingly not yet on my website! (That is a story in itself; but the very thought of putting it down to share is too exhausting.) 
Endowing a lump of grey clay with the personality and form of a hippopotamus, a Chinese Crested dog or a cat has a special satisfaction for me. And viewing the sterling silver cast pieces for the first time is magical. Never fails. It’ s Christmas morning feeling I get to enjoy several times a year.
To me, being an artist is like wearing a sparkly, every-changing but gossamer coat. I get to write, make animal jewelry and create fairy stories for my granddaughters. So far, only one of those activities makes me any money, but strangely enough, they all seem of equal importance. – Merry
I feel that all my past artistic endeavors will help create my future ones. I have expanded my writing in many directions and when I write haiku, it helps me write non fiction articles for my client (or ghostwrite a dark sci-fi novel). It all blends and balances.
Each creation is important.
Personally, I have gotten to a point where I am driven to make money through my art. Once I made that decision, all heck broke loose!
Keep creating, Merry!
I totally know what you mean. Even when I write copy for my website, mundane as that is, I am honing my skills as a writer.
I like your kind of hell. I mean heck. – Merry