My art is selfish and I don't make it on demand. It's a creative abstraction of life. It's a puzzle I make that the viewer must solve through analysis of the piece. My art is a small universe of which I am the god - I make the meaning and I know the answers. Although there can be several interpretations of a single piece, there ARE correct and incorrect conclusions. Interpretations that fit within my original intended theme are the correct ones. Slop doesn't count and I can't take credit for it. If you like your interpretation better than mine, that's fine - but you're still wrong.
I have no "formal training" in art and it's not my profession nor obsession. I make art but I am not an artist in the sense that everyone who swims isn't a swimmer. My art takes advantage of its medium such that the same piece could not be rightfully experienced outside of its original context.