NEVER let someone ELSE tell you what your art is.

SO MANY artists who are making a living with their art have an attitude about other artists. It's not only artists, but critics, and public. Lines start to be drawn in the sand about WHO can call themselves an artist. There are suddenly RULES about how GOOD art has to be to be allowed to be CALLED art. How many items in your art are things YOU did or did not make. There are so many lines drawn in the sand that it becomes impossible to enjoy the beauty of the beach it is on.
So just what IS art?
Art is the process or product of deliberately arranging elements in a way that appeals to the senses or emotions. ~Wikipedia
By definition, ART is what you MAKE. It doesn't say anything about whether or not you copied someone to learn a technique.** It doesn't say you can only use things to make it if you also made THEM. It doesn't say that EVERYONE has to agree that it's beautiful or appealing. Art like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. It doesn't MATTER if it's scrapbook papers, or cards, or photography, or yarn making, or sculpting, or gardening. WHATEVER it is, it's simply about the deliberate way that you put something together to MEAN SOMETHING, or to LOOK GOOD.
Fine art is another buzz term that gets thrown around a lot. But what IS fine art?
Fine art describes an art form developed primarily for aesthetics and/or concept rather than utility. This type of art is often expressed in the production of art objects^[2] using visual and performing art forms, including painting, sculpture, music, dance, theatre, architecture, photography and printmaking.~Wikipedia
Folk art encompasses art produced from an indigenous culture or by peasants or other laboring tradespeople. In contrast to fine art, folk art is primarily utilitarian and decorative rather than purely aesthetic. Other terms that overlap with folk art are naïve art, Pop art, outsider art, traditional art, tribal art, "self-taught" art and even "working class" art. ~Wikipedia
No matter WHO you are.
No matter WHAT you create.
ART lives inside you.
Even within yourself, what you find frustrating because it didn't come out the way you intended isn't any LESS art. Even in it's definition, art is in the PROCESS.
Let your art SHOW. Don't let someone else tell you what your art can or cannot be. It's not up to them.
Certainly, one hopes that others will like and enjoy their art.
But be cautious in who you allow to have INFLUENCE over you.
Be cautious in how you give and take critiques. In the end, no matter how "worthy" the person giving a critique is, your art is YOURS. THAT is what makes it valuable. It's not about living up to the standards that other people have set for you. Make your art for yourself. When you allow yourself that freedom, the people who need your art will come.
There are people who will criticize, and pick, and pull at what is and is not art. They are not important. THEY do not "get" it. It's time we support eachother. There is room in this world for art to live in ALL of us. Some of us will make money at it. Some of us will not. THAT has nothing to do with letting your art SHOW, and allowing your art to LIVE.
**Please note that I am not condoning outright copying of other artist' work and calling it your own. I do believe that it is in the nature of INSPIRATION and art to use another artist's ideas and build on them. If you have questions about copyright, there is an excellent on line resource HERE that explains it in good legal detail.
™