What does Art Mean to Me, Past & Present

I've been thinking about how my love for art started, what used to drive me and what the purpose behind each drawing and painting was and where I am at with it now. I saw a piece yesterday that really inspired me and made me think about this.

When I started drawing and painting I was in Jr. high, I never felt like I was a great artist, but then again I was only 13. I just knew I loved to express myself with paint and pencil. As the years went on and I took every art class I could, I found that Salvador Dali and Van Gogh were some of my favorite artists. Once I got to high school we had a project where we could copy a masters work and mine was Starry Night. to this day it is one of my favorite paintings. Something in the brush stokes of the nights sky. At this time I was also going through a lot of mental health issues, later being diagnosed with being bipolar. I had a boyfriend, and it was not a good relationship, on the surface I smiled, but inside I was miserable. I used my art as a way to express this. I wasn't even worried about how good of an artist I was at that point, i just needed my emotions out of my head. so i put them on canvas and paper. I look at these now and see a lot of sadness in the young girl I was. I will share one of those pictures below. Anyway, time went on, and I continued to try and find what I was passionate about. I loved to draw people. So I started to practice portraits. I drew Leonardo Da Vincis self portrait for practice, which still hangs by my easel. I then went on to do Willie Nelson and a handful of other celebrities. I wanted to capture their personalities, and there smiles. I did a lot of dark abstract art and as time went on and I healed and got happier with life, the sadness faded, but I still loved showing what was in my head on canvas. Fast forward to now...I have  a huge love for pet portraits. I lost my dog a few years ago and it triggered something in me to paint that pain away and to help others with theirs by capturing their pets how I thought the pet saw themselves. I still also love abstract and dark art, my mind is a vast mess of things sometimes and I enjoy splashing the paint everywhere so to speak. It is all coming from a place of happiness now though, and love. Anyone else resonate with this? through life changes your art changes?  I love to hear about it.