Creativity Throws Plenty of Twists Our Way

I don’t really believe in ‘directions’ in art; the rope twists as you follow it, that’s all.

—GRAHAM NELSON

That’s a fair point. We follow one artistic path a bit, and that one leads to another. Sometimes they branch out. Often our enthusiasm for the next new creative thing takes us down a dead-end road. (No matter, there is always something to learn along the way.)

But we can’t follow every twist and turn, can we? Won’t we get lost? (With no direction home? Like a rolling stone.) Creativity offers us so many alluring options to play that it becomes overwhelming when we try to tackle them all. And who can resist the fun of yet another new creative pursuit? Sampling the buffet of arts, with gusto at first, is the way many of us first experienced our passion for the arts.

It’s only then (if we’re lucky), that with increasing focus, we’re able to narrow our practice down to what most resonates with us. Or what most challenges us.

Being creative provides us with that perfect blessing-and-curse situation. We can’t do it all, though we truly want to. Eventually, even playful artists must grow up and make choices. ♣

Do you agree that making choices is necessary when you’re following a creative path?

A few of the creative paths I’ve gone down are here at JannAlexander.com