Every layer, nobody to pay

I'm a good drawer and not a good painter. That matters, because painting is the one art form you can do completely alone, and it's the one I can't carry to the finish line.

So I've spent my life building the other kind of thing. Software, where I imagined the interface and what it would do for the person using it. Molds and tools. Rooms. Every one of those is art. Every one has layers, and layers have people, and people have invoices.

That works when the thing sells. When it doesn't, you're left with the satisfaction and the bill. I've had both.

The rule I took from it

If a project might never sell, keep your collaborators nearly free, or become every layer yourself.

The first project where I can

Songwriting is the first layered project where I get to do exactly that. I write the words. I find the melody with a collaborator that costs almost nothing. I produce the record. Lyrics, melody and production are all one person, with no budget and no investment to recover.

It's a full creative stack with one person running every layer. It's a delight, and it lets me play with technology while I make something real.

I'm still not a good painter, but I finally have a canvas I can finish.