Final Thoughts on our Roads Less Traveled

Final Thoughts on Roads Traveled alongside other Fellow Travelers

This journey of Independent Study alongside all of you has been a delightful, motivating and all-together wonderful experience. Living alone, not having a community of artists nearby to spend time with, to share and discuss personal artwork has been difficult. Many of the artists in the past as well as many contemporary artists today have gained support and encouragement from interaction and personal relationships with fellow artists, writers, poets, etc. Junction has been the only community of artists that I have been able to spend time with since my college days. I have learned so much from reading the blogs of my fellow travelers, hearing your thought processes and interests, watching as you shifted directions for various reasons. I have had the privilege of seeing break-throughs in personal lives, hearing you talk about your relationships with mothers, great-uncles, grandparents and children. I have watched videos of great teachers doing what they love, seeing their playfulness as they encourage others to enjoy the magic of art. I have gleaned information from those of you who have extensive knowledge in areas with which I am unfamiliar. Your comments to myself and others have been thoughtful, insightful and on occasion, probing. Your personal journeys and comments about mine have encouraged me to continue pursuing the path that I see in front of me with less fear and trepidation.

Many roads diverged and criss-crossed in our woods. There were times when it seemed like many of us were on the same road; our paths would cross and for a while we were going in the same direction. Other times we would meet up, and one would have been down a path before and was able to give insight from their experience which, in turn, helped me to navigate a little differently than I might have without those words. The shared experience of reading about your lives, seeing your artwork as a response to your life story helped me to see beyond the limited vision of self and connect with you in a way that I would have never been able to without this format of shared art and words.

I sometimes was frustrated as I tried to follow each of your stories as we wrote in and around each other's posts. There were many excellent journeys to follow as each of you traveled down your individual path. I have read and re-read many of our past posts and find there is much wealth within them. I see depth of passion and desire to create. Individuals who want to share thoughts and who want to encourage and motivate others. It has been a treasure.

Thank you all for sharing your journey with me.