"I am not interested in art as a means of making a living, but I am interested in art as a means of living a life." Robert Henri

The object of painting a picture is not to make a picture--however unreasonable this may sound.  The picture, if a picture results, is a by-product and may be useful, valuable, interesting as a sign of what has past.  The object, which is back of every true work of art, is the attainment of a state of being, a state of high functioning, a more than ordinary moment of existence.  In such moments activity is inevitable, and whether this activity is with brush, pen, chisel, or tongue, its result is but a by-product of the state, a trance, a footprint of this state.
These results, however crude, become dear to the artist who made them because they are records of states of being which he has enjoyed and which he would regain.  They are likewise interesting to others because they are to some extent readable and reveal the possibilities of greater existence.