So, here it is… my new creative home! The long-delayed dream is finally coming true. Nestled in the heart of Georgetown is an old, former DC school building that is now filled with students of another kind — students of life, lovers of art and the art-making process. After being on a waiting list for well over a year, I have finally secured a studio of my own. Here, I will be surrounded by other artists busily at work in their own studios. The air is fragrant with the smell of oil paints, turpentine, clay, wood, and the mustiness of old age. I am filled with anticipation… and trepidation.

What if…? What if the creative juices don’t flow? What if I am not as “good” as the other artists here? What if I don’t have the necessary self-discipline to push aside all the other people and things that compete for my attention on a daily basis and give this process all the focus that it deserves and demands of me? What if this grand experiment fails? What if I fail?

A few years ago, when I was embarking on a difficult and major life transition, a friend gave me a drink coaster that reads, “Wherever you go, go with all your heart.” Someone else once said, “Courage is not the absence of fear, but the willingness to act in spite of it.” Come what may, I am jumping in with both feet on this creative journey. Care to join me?