"Ahead"

The interesting thing about what’s ahead for each of us is that we just don’t know how life is going to work out. Maybe the world will end in 2012, but more likely we’ll keep putting one foot in front of the other until we end up in a place we never knew we’d go.

Sometimes people like to tell us that life isn’t about the destination, it’s the journey. I created this piece because I was at a place in my life where I needed to reinvent myself because I hadn’t foreseen the future well enough to be prepared for the things I found happening in my career. I wrote the following to go with the picture…

Slaying the dragon isn’t slaying the beast
Because I’m my dragon too
Phoenix to ashes in the flames
To be born anew

I’m feeling that way about Adobe Creative Suite 5. A friend has sent me a number of videos and tutorials, and between grouching about having to learn more software, I am also reminded that I’ve gone through the same process every time I’m told I should spend more money and time on computer stuff. When is enough enough?

Yes, I could’ve done this picture in Illustrator, and it would’ve been more technically perfect, but I didn’t do it for anyone other than myself, and the process of doing it was part of the pleasure. It’s large, 18” x 24” and done in pen and ink on illustration board.