One thing I have been thinking about lately is how a work, when I get into it, consumes me. It almost becomes obsessive in a way, especially if I set some goal as I go along. It has become that way with my SoloType typewriter series. As it comes to a close, I am almost excited to move to a new obsession. I have already began working on a few other projects, musical and visual.

Being an artist and explorer of many different mediums, I find that this hyper-focused feeling spans all disciplines, and if one thinks of life as art, then I feel it reaches into that sphere as well. Before SoloType, I worked on WAKE night and day, listening to it, reworking tracks, balancing additions or the new sound after subtracting. It is a constant process of active decision making. It is higher thinking. When creating it is very easy to silence the monkey mind. Getting started creating, sometimes that can make the monkey noisier than ever.

As I have continued to further my understanding of traditional visual art mediums (primarily ink, but also acrylic paint, stamp & wood press), it has become clear to me how much each form of my artistic expression influences the other. What I mean by this, is that for the longest time I was incredibly intimidated by visual art—if it weren’t for 10+ years of creating and producing music, I likely wouldn’t have created SoloType, WU WEI, Virtual Particles, etc. It took the knowledge of creating something, layer by layer, and seeing how those layers interact with each other (like creating a beat) for me to really see how visual art was made. It is not everything all at once, few things are.

Maybe this seems obvious. But if you listened to the recordings of my first bands, the desire for everything all at once is painfully apparent. Maybe this is also true of some of the first books I wrote, now that I think about it…

Writing also ties into the understanding of my personal output. One of the greatest lessons one can learn from creating is the knowledge that you are able to complete great tasks, things you might have thought near-impossible, if you focus your mind and work to climb that mountain little by little. Writing a book is a slow, painstaking process, and that is just the writing part! Then comes the editing, the rewriting, the editing, over and again. Completing such a task thought me that I can complete any task, maybe not immediately, but with time and effort.

I hope insight into my creative process somehow helps you with yours. My best advice is to keep creating and try things that you are interested in. The first attempts at a new medium do not need to be work of any consideration, but that exploration will help you! And, if you can, finish something. Even if that something isn’t your favorite, just knowing you can bring a work to full realization will bring a fire and certainty to your heart!