Ya know, I've been collecting art materials for a long time; watercolors on sale at an art store or two, enamels & acrylics from the Salvation Army or other thrifts left behind from people who may have thrown in the towel too soon, scraps of metal & wood for found-art/collage work, obscure pieces of old toys for the same, old photos, old frames, brushes, spraypaint, clip-art, a black-book... yeah, you know.
I occasionally poke through everything with some fiery intent, but the ideas quickly flow into one big pool of brown, sticky muck - not unlike the results of the food poisoning I had a few weeks back. Throwing it all into one big pile and covering it with super-glue and a coat of lacquer might look cool, and I might just end up doing that.
Easiest thing to do is pick up the camera and hit the streets.
Art is expensive. No wonder there's so much 'bad art' at thrifts when a person spends 40-60 bucks on canvas, tubes of oils and non-synthetic brushes, tries once, and shrieks in horror when they step back and gaze at their creation, face tingling red at the thought that they could actually be an 'artist' or some such nonsense...
The decision between trying again, and again, to achieve that vision crawling in the mind's eye, and chucking it all - with a weird sense of relief - and saving money and resources (a tree died for your non-masterpiece!) can be hastily-made and not always the wise one.
Whether I'm wise or not, I'll let the future invading alien forces say when they sort through the rubble of their victory. What?
Hell, I just finished building my own easel, so that must mean something.
Anyway, keep trying, all is not lost.
Unless you give up.

PS - Rrrgh! A big thanks goes out to all who fave my shots and stuff; I hardly ever visit my 'home' page when on the site, and when I do... I don't know, maybe it's the way dA is set up, but I never check the messages. Maybe a little blinking envelope-icon or something would grab my attention. I'm a bit numb on the best days and when I hit the "#" messages' tab, I see the community messages only (usually about 20 of them, I check so few times) and say, 'Oh, okay...", then go back to browsing or uploading...
A sincere thanks (I'll try to get to the comments!) and I'll force myself to be more alert that way.