The Creative Road

I had this poem by Robert Frost in my office for a very long time:


THE ROAD NOT TAKEN


TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could 
 To where it bent in the undergrowth;


  Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,


  And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.


  I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.


To me it had a very strong meaning. I took the road of scientific research more than 20 years ago. It has led me to a good position in the corporate world, a satisfying career and a stable income. My loving family originated on this road. It is a good road. But I could never forget the Other Road, the road not taken. It was the road of art - spiky, risky, crowded and unforgiving - which may have led me to become a fantasy artist, or a children book illustrator or a visual concept creator.
I am now pursuing a Master of Fine Arts in Illustration at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, the AAU, - one of the few to offer online art courses, thus making it an option for someone with a job and a family. Right from the start I met one of many other people with a similar story, one who is setting off on The Road not Taken.
Together we are starting this blog.
It will be a blog about art, not by professional or hobby artists but by late-day students, who are trying to learn as much as they can as fast as they can and from any possible source (because they know time is not a never-ending richness). It will be about studying art online at the AAU (and to the puzzled question of some whether it is possible at all to study art online, the answer is a resounding YES!). And it will be about courage and faith - the courage to question one´s life when everything seems settled and the faith to take those first steps on the creative road and see where it may take.
We are based on both sides of the Atlantic (is not the modern world a fantastic village?), in Switzerland and on the East Coast of the USA, and we have different majors (Fine Arts and Illustration) so we will offer two different perspectives on art education, progress and chances. It is the diary of a strange journey by strange fellow travellers - I hope many will enjoy it, some will find it useful and a few may take it as an inspiration to follow their own creative dream!