My family and I recently got back from a 10 day excursion in Arizona. We travelled through Phoenix, Sedona, Winslow, The Petrified Forest, The Painted Desert, and some key points like Monument Valley and Canyon De Chelly in Navajo Nation. We did a similar trek almost 20 years ago back in 1997. At that time we were gone for 2 weeks; I was sort of a lone soul who just hit 21 and was about to enter my final 2 years at San Francisco Art Institute.
It’s always strange being back home after such an enlightening and spiritual vacation like this, but this particular vacation hit me with some serious nostalgia as I hadn’t been to the area since those younger days. Back then I was about to embark on my last years as an art student and concentrate on what I was going to do when I graduated. Now, having recently quite my day job as graphic designer, I am embarking on my life-long dream as a full-time artist. I sometimes I wish I had taken the leap as a full time artist back then right after graduation. Lots of factors kept me from doing so, but mostly it was fear. Fear of not being able to pay bills, fear of failing, fear of rejection, fear of living. I don’t regret the life lessons and skills I have learned as a graphic designer over the last 15 years. I have been able to do my own marketing, flyers, postcards, website, etc. all myself without having to pay some else to do these things. However, the caveat is that I feel I lost years of my one true passion of creating art. So this recent trip out to Arizona was a very special one to my heart. So many parallels with newfound inspiration. It has reminded me of a time in my life when I had flourishing ideas, a slightly idealistic view of the outside world and the energy to keep going. The only difference between then and now is that today I am squashing that fear and embracing the unknown. And today it all seems like a dream.