Is Your Art a Hobby, Professional or a Lifestyle?

These questions come a lot for many involved in the arts. I used to get perplexed when when working professionally as an artist  when some people would state what a nice hobby to have. I had regular studio/workshop hours, was working full time as a artist, selling my work, having shows, licencing my images, and was fully embroiled in the act of trying to earn a modest living from art. You don't tell a doctor or a lawyer it must be nice to have such a fulfilling hobby, so why presume it's a hobby for an artist. I am now retired from the business of art, but haven't retired from being an artist, YET I still can't really call it a hobby despite what this NYT article calls it.

The Case for Having a Hobby

Last spring, I forgot the word for hobby. I was on a hike with friends, and I was explaining how much happier my spouse had become recently after starting a band with some friends. "It's just nice for them, I think, to have this creative outlet that's not their job," I told my friends.

 If what we do defines us then creating art goes way past being a hobby. 
I really loved Laura Farrell's take on the issue of art as a lifestyle in this Elephant Journal article.
 "An artist breaths art all around us, they let it fill their soul, and then they let it fill the spaces they occupy. It is applied to every aspect of their life".

Meanwhile in the Studio
I'm working on a small textile graffiti piece for a group exhibit next year.