I didn’t go to the crossroads, they always seem to come to me!

Looking back at my recent work, pursuing my creativity, I find myself at a crossroads.  I’ve been a photographer since the 80s.  Quite a few years ago, I chose to pursue ways to use my photography in other mediums.  I started with encaustic, then collage and then I found myself collecting art supplies.

This past year I’ve joined a few, perhaps to many, online classes.  Six months ago, I joined a class that is getting ready to start this January.  This is called Wanderlust.  I’m excited to get this started. 

Then I signed up with a group called StudioWorks.  They have a bunch of live events and a library of past classes and events that you can watch on demand.  But they have a monthly digital magazine that is worth the price of admission in itself. 

I signed up for an encaustic class which I completed the project that I wanted but, they have much more that I could take as well.  There were a couple of other, smaller and interesting art platforms that I’ve signed up for and took the classes that I wanted but also have a library of classes that I could take. 

Then there are two live classes that meet weekly and have different projects going on.  One is Art of Flow.  Here we meet weekly and work on new projects every month.  Depending on where you live you can attend the live event or watch the recording.  I attend the three that are in the evenings.  The first one of each month is at 3 am here in the states.  I tried once to attend, but there’s just no way. 

The second is Fodder School.  The woman that hosts this has a different teacher every month, with a project.  The first half of the month is dedicated to creating collage fodder.  Then the second half is set aside for utilizing this fodder into that month’s project.  She also has a podcast called “Show Up or Shut Up.”

I am trying to keep active and create a life around these classes.  Anyone who knows me knows that I have a ton of books and a few magazines that feed my creative interests as well.  I’m honestly thinking about getting rid of my streaming platforms all together.  Though I would still be a prime member at Amazon so, that would require some self-control on my part. 

There is one more group that I belong to.  The World of Creatives.  This is a little more difficult to describe.  World of Creatives is an active online creative community founded by Dwayne Walker that brings artists, writers, and makers together around the practice of showing up consistently and honestly to their work. Through newsletters, podcasts, guided challenges, and courses, it offers practical frameworks, reflection-based prompts, and shared conversations designed to help people move past creative blocks, quiet self-doubt, and reconnect with authentic creative expression.

In this way Wayne draws from and is trying to recreate the moments in history when creativity flourished through community rather than isolation, from the workshops and salons of the Renaissance to the cafés and collectives of the Beat movement and other artistic countercultures. Like those eras, the World of Creatives functions as a living ecosystem where ideas are exchanged, courage is modeled, and creative practice is shaped through dialogue, experimentation, and shared purpose. Process is valued over perfection, and creativity is treated not as a commodity, but as a vital, ongoing way of engaging with the world.  It’s a creative community that makes me want to show up on my creative path.