As we age in years and gain life experience as artists, the dawning realisation whispers forth
that we may have been “asleep at the wheel”, “while our boat had sailed”.  The careers we once dreamed of experiencing in our youth have run aground on the barren shores of a strange land we never intended on sailing to, now harbouring the suspicion that the “Captain” had jumped ship a long time ago while we were busy scrubbing the deck.

The corrosive leaden gravity of freelance creative slavery while competing to service the needs of restrictive corporate commerce has culminated in a motivational impasse, awakening the awareness of long repressed desires to express an inner truth and purpose.  Formulating, developing, and evolving projects fulfills the need to build a new creative experience liberating us from the past conditioning of negative associations to freelancing.  Through much discussion with friends and meditation it became apparent that the original purpose of mission and clarity of intended vision had dimmed due to life needs, extraneous circumstances, and untapped discipline.

Apart from applicable practical actions to take in the process of creating a work, there is also the hidden inner landscape of the creator’s emotional and psychological processes that surface whilst doing a work, presenting as the nagging mental struggle with fears and insecurities of proceeding forward into an unknown.  The invisible philosophical, intellectual, and emotional landscape of issues, thoughts, and reflections in various stages of resolution are brought forth during action that manifests as an internal struggle with psychological conditioning.  At times these repetitive thought strains present habitually whilst wrestling with external egoistic expectations, both explicit and hidden, placed on the artist from the commissioning client.

For a way through these conflicting issues of intention, will, and mental habit, there too is a road map, and a procedure with which to deal with them.  It is this mental landscape that we walk through that dwells in our mind’s eye, that we experience through emotion and visualisation, and repetitive thought forms; but it is a sole (soul) journey we take alone within the mind.  And in this landscape we meet our selves, our creator, demons, angels and other fellow travelers seeking “the way”.  It is this inner, elusive, and sometimes dreamlike adventure that remains secret from even our closest loved ones and friends, as we are within two worlds at once.

Areas of interest that sign-post the multi-faceted aspects of the creative journey are similar throughout our careers, and those of our creative friends and colleagues; they are synchronistically linked via separate yet parallel experience.  Many aspects of the creative act correlate to form a cohesive practical procedure that can be applied to any project, however small or large.  Listing these as we discuss our challenges revealed a “road map” to creative fulfillment.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned that I constantly forget, it’s that the solution to a problem presents itself while working on it.  That is, a way through is opened as we knock, a path is revealed while we search, a force is made available as we do.  The hardest time is when beginning, the strongest resistance is when first pushing against inertia.

It is now my intention to obtain, maintain, and sustain creative freedom and control of expression in all aspects of creative output, then distribute, trade, and share collective creative product and the wisdom gained for the betterment of others, translating into long term sustainability.