On pursuing a creative dream..

Eleven weeks ago I resigned from my teaching job so that I could pursue a long held dream to work as a visual artist. I have been a drawer and painter for many years but never felt that I had the time or energy to really push myself to see how far I could take it. So, after visiting an exhibition of the work of William Robinson in Queensland, I finally decided that now was the time to leap off the end of the pier and do it.
Naturally I have given a lot of thought to all of this and was interested to find an article (Meanjin, winter 2010) by Ben OMara entitled 'This Is Not a Hobby', about his work as a writer and the kinds of thinking and doing that are involved in him being a writer. It is a very thoughtful and honest piece I think and I loved this quote from writer Thom Cho 'Can I complete my next book? I honestly don't know and of course, at present, there is no decisive evidence to say that I will.' If I substituted 'painting' for the word book, this comment would describe my own situation exactly. It is all 'out there'. But that is part of the thrill, the things waiting to be revealed, discovered.

The Pryor tree, National Botanic Gardens, Canberra