An interesting question

was asked of me a few days ago by my painting professor.
I do a lot of my painting by observing images digitally on my laptop. These are images that I take myself and then collage in order to see how I want my finished painting to look. My professor asked me why I paint the image? Why don't I just take what I have assembled and make a nice high quality print out of it? Would what I'm trying to communicate through my paintings still come through in the digital print?
I don't know.

Why do I paint?
I never ask myself that question. I just do. I enjoy the challenge of recreating an image, of reinventing the world. I enjoy the process of getting my hands dirty with paint. I like the control and the lack of control at times.
But what am I trying to convey through my paintings? How it is different from what I'm trying to say with my photography?

Its something that I honestly didn't think about enough and now it's on my mind constantly.
I feel like I need to take my paintings to a level that my prints can't go.
I want to get more texture in the paint, make it more tactile. I want to experiment with over painting and adding things into the paint and onto the paint. Its time to stop playing it safe and experiment. Is this what my teacher meant when she asked me this question? I don't know.
I have constant fears that I'm not doing what ever I'm doing in the "right" way. Maybe there is no "right" way, maybe in life, there is only "my" way.

Lets see where this train of thought takes my painting.

after all, "Creativity takes courage."