I feel like I’ve been on a train going uphill for a long time. The summit is getting closer, and we’re picking up speed, but we’re not there yet.

To get right to the point, there are a certain number of creative projects I’ve had in my head for a considerable duration, but I’ve not begun to realize them due to a lack of the appropriate tools (and a dearth of available time, but that will soon change). It’s absolutely true that the tools don’t make the talent, and it’s true that talented people can bang on toys and make them sound decent. For example, some of the early 1800’s photographers created amazing art using stone knives and bearskins (so to speak) — check out the work of Julia Margaret Cameron for some jaw-droppingly gorgeous fine art portraiture.

Nevertheless, with professional tools and practiced skill, raw talent will transfer into a realm of creative authority whereby the artist can is able to bring his or her communicative and emotive purposes to bear. The goal is to streamline the flow between imagination and final result. Once that process has been perfected, the only excuse the artist has left for bad work is what’s between his or her ears.

There are three creative projects which I currently have in my peripheral vision: a new electronic music album + live setup (to appear on our Binary Sea Web site at some future date), a push into fine art studio portraiture (just waiting on some additional backdrop and lighting equipment), and a series of short video presentations or sermons in conjunction with one or more Christian ministries (see my first stab at such a thing on my church’s Web site).

It’s been a while, but the fog has lifted, the engines are at full blast, and I can see that summit clearly now. Lord willing, by the end of the year, the mountain will be mine.