Road to the Altar of Creativity

It happened on the altar of nature where the vows were taken, when I was still a young lad. I know it was between the ages of five and seven. I do not profess this to be an experience unique to me. I know that we all come to our own self creative realizations. I have been interested in learning the paths that others have taken to discover that creative flame that burns within.

“It all started with my first box of crayons.”

When I hear this, my first thought is “How lame.” But now that I have matured as an artist, and come to know that maybe there is some truth to that first box of crayons statement. I don’t know about you, but as I went through school, my earliest recollections are of the teachers, trying to get us kids doing creative things. You have to be pretty forgetful not to remember fingerpainting. How joyous was that delightful process of smearing different colors on a piece of paper, knowing that you could not make a mistake? The teacher would compliment you, while she was peering over your shoulder, and she would say. “That is very nice Rod, I really like how you used red and green together, makes me think of Christmas. How wonderful.”

I was born in a small town in the mountains. I’ve written about this before regarding my earliest impressions of what was going on outside the window from my crib. As I matured, I perpetually had…