I have been attending these monthly morning lectures called Creative Mornings (CM) a couple of times, now. They started in New York, and have around 80 chapters world wide. On the last Friday of every month, one speaker give a mini talk on the particular theme for that month. These short twenty minute talks are usually preceded by coffee and pastries, and followed by a brief QnA session. Freedom was the theme for May. The CM Melbourne chapter brought along an Aussie artist Lucas Grogan to share his story on how he achieved freedom in his work.

I hadn't done much research before going in, and was a little confused by popularity for the morning's talk. Is he a very famous person? Turns out, I'd seen his work around. In fact, I had been smitten with his 'fuck yeah' plate, which had stuck me as fun and calming in its patterns and blueness. Everyone else must love it as much as I do, because I have seen it around in various shops and social media posts since.

from here

While definitely his most famous work, the 'fuck yeah' plate is by no means Lucas' only artwork to date. He experiments with many different types of media, trying his hands at embroidery, sculpture, weaving, ceramics, murals... There are pretty cool murals done by him in Melbourne, Perth, Sydney, and even Bali.
I really liked how he only uses blue, white and black. It is strangely calming in spite of the intricate patterns and texts Lucas incorporates into all of his works. Plus his message:

The best cure for worry is work

To gain freedom in life, and thus at work, you need to work hard. Hard work will pay off in freedom to choose how and what you work on, and how you live. Here's a young artist with the right mindset, I thought. He is off to another adventure away from Melbourne in August, he says, and I wish him luck!

I find Creative Mornings a great way to find inspiration by hearing these creatives tell their stories, and in turn they are great motivators for my creative goals. Working hard towards them!