Quote - IMO, you failed - EPIC FAILed - even, in the first sentence because you say you're an "Artist".  No you aren't.  Nobody is.  Anyone, even Picasso or Dali, Botticelli, Da Vinci or any of them cats, would curl up and die rather than proclaim themselves "Artists".  Except maybe Dali but he was taking the piss most of the time anyhow.  

You're as much an  artist as I am and I'm more of an artist than you'll ever be.  See what I mean?  It's total and complete bollocks.

Forget about what "you" are and think about what your images are.  No matter how easy/difficult/good bad/black/white/good/shite your pics are, if you claim you're an "Artist", you just scored 2 million per cent (yes, I know) on the pretension-o-meter and I'll slap you purple. 

Well from the history of people claim that they are an artist.  They usually share a few things in common.

1. They love what they do and could really care less about what other people think about their art.  Including the fact that other people may think otherwise that they are an artist.  I define myself.  I don't let other define me.  I'm an artist in what I enjoy doing because I enjoy it.  I may not be on the same level as other artists but that doesn't make me any less. 

If you are more artist than I am then that's fine. What you do that makes you an artist has nothing to do with what makes me an artist. Spend less time telling people what they aren't and more time enjoying what they share.