Creative and artistic projects can begin from any number of sources, ideas and sparks of inspiration.

A snippet of overheard witty conversation at party, the atmosphere of an old jazz record, a collision of colours in nature, a scent that recalls the summers of your childhood, and a million others...

The common factor though, is they all begin SOMEWHERE. However small the idea, it?s our starting point, the tiny jetty we set off from in our eager hopeful boats.

Pretty soon after we set sail though, what happens if we begin to get a little sea sick? If we get a little anxious about the way this new creative project is going, realising already it?s not quite turning out as we expected, what happens then?

We?ve barely lost site of the shoreline, but the wind?s changed direction, the sails are billowing and our vessel?s heading off determinedly in a completely new direction... This wasn?t the trip we planned!

For example, what if the most rewarding parts of your ambitious biting political satirical novel are actually in the intimate personal dynamics between three minor characters?

Maybe your exhibition watercolours of natural coastal landscapes is dominated by the beauty and impact of the solitary painting that features a derelict lighthouse?

What if, what started out as a dance record based on heavily processed electronic rhythms, only truly makes your spine tingle within the spaces of its slower ambient interludes?

Do We Haul Back The Rudder? Jump Overboard? Or Something Else?

When this happens, when we feel the heart of the creative project drifting away from what we originally expected it to be, we have a number of options.

Number one, we could panic, make every effort to haul the project back to where we want it to be, force it along a straight and narrow path, however much it seems to be resisting that path.

Or, number two, we could give up, jump ship and abandon it completely, exasperated at its refusal to conform to our perfectly formed expectations, exclaiming it?s got to be our way or no way at all.

Or, we could take the third option. Let go of the rudder, lay back, and let the wind take us. Allow the art to breathe, to have its own way, to find its own natural form and definition.

Which of the three sounds most like what you?d do? Which option would be most conducive to getting the most interesting and rewarding results from the creative project?

Which would be the most pleasing to your sense of natural creativity?

The Courage and The Faith

Every piece of creative work we begin has, to some extent, to find its own life, its own shape, and its own meaning. To loosen our hold, to stand back and let this happen, often takes great courage and faith. The courage to relinquish control and step into the unknown. And the faith that we have the patience, creative ability and resources to see the project through to its natural conclusion.

Some of the most famous inventions and artworks in history came as a result of their creator trying to create one thing and discovering something completely different as a ?happy accident?.

Yet still we often have such fixed ideas of what our creative work ?SHOULD? be that we lose the ability to let it fulfil its own potential, and take its own beautiful natural shape, whatever that may be.

Maybe the most beautiful shapes aren?t always the ones we set out to discover, but rather the ones that we allow to discover us...

How does this idea apply to YOUR creative life? How could you benefit from letting your creative projects find their own beautiful shape, their own rhythm and evolve into the most amazing and rewarding possible creative work for you?

? Copyright 2006 Dan Goodwin