All Good Things...

I told myself I wasn't going to write a long thing eulogizing our last days at the workshop. I tried to resist. At the very least I kept it short!

I started this Monday night, and finished sometime Tuesday. By the time it posts I'll be on the road back to New Jersey.

It seems like the workshop is ending in as much of a whirlwind as it began. We're all sitting awake drawing or getting ready to get back to our lives, mostly just trying to pass the time without getting sad.

No one wants to talk about it being over.

We watched some inspiring movies and documentaries, and some awful ones, too. Some were so bad they became fun again. Waking Sleeping Beauty (at Jimena's request) and it was almost as eye-opening as the rest of this workshop has been.

I can't express enough that every single day has held some sort of new life epiphany that will be nurtured, groomed, and developed for months and years to come. Not a single day drifted past without great things happening.

I feel like we all started this workshop last month with open minds and open eyes, waiting to see how our lives and art would be changed. We end this workshop with direction, equipped to teach ourselves in ways no one else could teach us in colleges and classrooms, and will spend the rest of our lives learning effectively and improving at our crafts.

We will all go our separate ways, thousands of miles from one another, but we will only become more close over time. We shared a significant amount of time as part of one another's lives, when you consider the 24/7 nature of the workshop.

We will surely collaborate on projects that came from the time we spent together talking about our dreams and goals over three meals a day and late nights of painting at our desks in the studio... we will connect each other to people in our lives that can help us on our way, so our lives are enriched for this experience in ways that go far beyond drawing and painting skills.

So all good things come to an end. I for one will be taking this as an opportunity to consider the sweeping change that is about to take place in all of our art and in our lives as we pursue new goals with as much excitement as we had for our time here.

To Imaginism Studios, Bobby, Kei, Jason, Peter, Fez, the rest of the crew, and especially Thierry and Isa, thank you all for the insights. Every conversation was electric with knowledge and passion for realizing our dreams, you gave us more than just new skills and knowledge, you inspired change in our lives and forged connections and friendships that will pay dividends out into the world for years to come.