Folk Art: The Dinghy

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This is my second ever oil pastel, which I did my Round 3 returned Moleskine sketchbook.  I concentrated on practicing technique.  I drew the image freehand, but copied the boat from an online image and the background from a different online image (both photos).  I had already started it when Ballookey told me that the oils could damage the paper over time.  It is on the page facing the pink elephant (below).  I photographed it rather than scanning it--I didn't want to damage the scanner.

I am still trying to learn to be an artist.  While this isn't great art, it is a huge step forward for me from my early attempts.

If an artist is someone who makes art, a writer is someone who writes and a poet is someone who writes poetry, why am I uncertain about calling myself those things?  I don't claim to be a professional artist, who I see as someone who earns money from art. I must be a folk artist--someone who does art for the joy of it.  But I am often hesitant to even say that for fear that people's expectations will be higher than what I can produce.