Stay ConnectedA podcast for artists, aspiring creatives, and art lovers.
Two artists share their thoughts on art, life and everything in between. Join Alice Sheridan and Louise Fletcher for honest, generous, and humorous conversations that will feed your creative soul AND get you thinking.
Copyright: © Louise Fletcher/Alice Sheridan
Maybe there are artists who are always inspired, always energised and always making fantastic work... but if there are, we don't know them. This week we're talking about those times when inspiration seems to desert us. These are the times when we either can't face making art, or can't make anything we like. We discuss the frustration that comes with feeling lost, and we break down some of the reasons we might feel that way. This is so important because, if we can understand what drags us down, perhaps we can lift ourselves out of it. As always, we both believe this comes down to individual preferences and work patterns. Some people work best when they turn up every day regardless of how they feel; others need lots of time away from the studio to recharge their batteries. We believe all of us need to learn to accept ourselves just the way we are, and honour our own creative processes, no matter what they are.
Mentioned
Rock til we Drop https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001516f
Medicine exhibition - The Science Museum: https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/see-and-do/medicine-wellcome-galleries
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Credits: "Monkeys Spinning Monkeys" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
This week we are talking about success and asking what that word means to you? In particular, we distinguish between external and internal yardsticks. External yardsticks are things like sales numbers, Instagram followers, or show acceptances, and we have both seen these measurements halt people in their tracks. These things are, to some extent, out of our control and they also continually shift and change because we will never be satisified. In this episode, we discuss our own experiences with external measures of success and we suggest an alternative approach - setting your own internal benchmarks. These internal measures of success can keep you focused, motivated and excited about your work, allowing you to stay in control of your emotional wellbeing. We'd love to hear what you think about this discussion - and how you measure success.
Mentioned:
Authentic Obsessions Podcast https://www.authenticobsessions.com/
Trayci Tompkins http://www.traycitompkins.co.za/
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Credits: "Monkeys Spinning Monkeys" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
Talking about our work can be challenging. You might not know what to say - how to find the words to describe the feelings - or you might feel self-conscious, thinking others don't want to hear or that they may judge you. But, learning to talk about your art can open so many doors - doors to conversations, doors to sales, and doors to new realisations for yourself. Once you can tell the story of your art, others can connect with it in new ways. In this episode, we share our own experiences and offer tips and strategies to help you find the words. So whether you are sharing with friends, exhibiting in a gallery, attending an art fair, or even just writing a social media post, we hope this episode will get you started.
Mentioned
Words & Pictures: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkHrVw-cDmU
Beatles Abbey Road: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiRfv6LFXYE
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Credits: "Monkeys Spinning Monkeys" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
Well, hello! Today we started a bit pear-shaped (ever felt like you were pretending to be professional?) But this evolved into an interesting discussion around titles for paintings, and following the thread of work.
Both of us are developing work for upcoming exhibitions and we are finding that we have some of the same challenges, including knowing when a painting is ‘enough’ and choosing titles for our work that add a new dimension.
We also answered a listener question about how to approach pricing your artwork - and offered advice that some may find controversial (when did that ever stop us?!)
Mentioned:
Normal Gossip podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/normal-gossip/id1597761181
Pro Camera app https://www.procamera-app.com/en/
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Credits: "Monkeys Spinning Monkeys" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
This week, we ask a couple of simple questions" What do you want?" and "what are you willing to do to get it?" This week, we're digging into these questions and sharing real-world examples of the kinds of decisions artists face when growing a business ... should you invest in that new website? Should you start a Youtube channel? Should you give that speech at the local art society?
While neither of us is perfect (by any means!), we have both done some work on our long-term visions, both for our art and our lives. We use this knowledge of our desires to guide decisions about what we are willing to spend, or sacrifice, or work towards. Perhaps you have done the same or perhaps you find yourself torn about these kinds of issues, unsure of the right move. If so, we hope this episode will help you develop your own clear sense of where you're going ... and what you are willing to do to get there.
Mentioned:
Art2Life workshop: https://bit.ly/art2life22artjuice
Will Gompertz "What Are You Looking at: 150 Years of Modern Art" https://www.amazon.co.uk/What-Are-You-Looking-At/dp/B00N3KGPMQ/
Happy Scale App https://happyscale.com/
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Credits: "Monkeys Spinning Monkeys" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
Making art isn't always an easy path to take. But it's one we choose because it enriches our life, even when the conditions may never feel perfect. Today's discussion centres on what your art can teach you when you accept the invitation to step forward. We are joined by abstract artist and teacher Nicholas Wilton to discuss how a learning mindset feeds back into your art. As Nick says "the art is just the artefact of the process" and discovering how to stay engaged in the long term will open up how you create and make more opportunities for you to be satisfied with the work you make.
Alice suggests that the frustration of learning can be more easily overcome once you have some key knowledge which builds up your confidence, and ultimately we settle on ways you can feel satisfied, in life and art, by activating the way you think, and optimising how you approach this journey of onward learning.
You can join in with the free Art2Life online workshop HERE.
Mentioned
The Art2Life workshop starts on 14th Feb 2022
Join HERE using the ArtJuice link
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Credits: "Monkeys Spinning Monkeys" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
This week, we answered a question from listener Paige, who asked about our experiences with scaling up. Paige wrote: "I am struggling to scale up, especially in my chosen media of collage but I see you work both small and large and I wondered if there was a formula for that."
Spoiler alert: neither of us have a formula, but we do share our own challenges, experiences and tips. Our conversation covers the challenges of space (both in buyers' homes and our own studios); the need to use bigger tools; and the importance of mixing up a lot more paint. We also look at the inherent difficulties of scaling up collage work, and offer a few suggestions of how to handle that transition. In the end, making large work is a new challenge for each of us, and requires us to find our own solutions, but we have both found the process rewarding enough to make it worthwhile.
Mentioned
Sam Lock https://www.samlock.com/
Bibby Gignilliat large scale collage https://www.bibbyart.com/
Paranormal cold case podcast: Battersea poltergeist https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-battersea-poltergeist/id1548946506
Michelle Walker: Paintbrush & Ivories podcast https://michellewalker.com.au/podcast/
Art 2 Life podcast (episode 12) https://www.art2life.com/2022/01/12/the-artists-gift-nicholas-wilton-ep-12/
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Credits: "Monkeys Spinning Monkeys" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
In this episode, we explore limitations. When - and why - is it a good idea to place limits on your work? First, we discuss the benefits of limiting ourselves in some way. That might mean limiting colours or setting rules for a certain body of work; it might mean keeping everything to one size; or it could mean limiting the media we use. But whatever parameters we set, limits can open up our creativity. The we look at the flip side - where might we benefit from challenging our limitations? What do we believe that might not be true? We hope this free-ranging discussion will help you to assess where limitations might fit into your practice.
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@alicesheridanstudio
@louisefletcher_art
Credits: "Monkeys Spinning Monkeys" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
This week, Louise is joined by brand strategist and web designer Mariana Durst. Mariana specialises in working with artists to develop their brands, create compelling copy and graphics, and build effective websites. Having worked with all kinds of artists she has a unique perspective on the challenges and rewards of a strong brand. In this conversation, we discuss what it means to have a brand (and why we all have one even if we don't know it). We also dive into the questions you can ask yourself to identify and refine your own artist brand, and Mariana shares some of the mistakes she sees artists make. If you would like more people to see and/or buy your art, you won't want to miss this episode.
Mentioned
Mariana's website: https://www.deskanddesign.com/ (scroll down for the free branding masterclass)
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@louisefletcher_art
Credits: "Monkeys Spinning Monkeys" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
For our last episode of 2021, we decided to look back over the year. We look at what went well, we assess what we learned, and we start to think about what we might like to change next year. We both feel that it's important to take this time out each year and to think about these things before w start making plans for the next year. As the conversation evolves, we cover the importance of looking at the whole year and examining where we are out of balance and also where we might be seeing things with a negative slant. We also discuss the areas of life where we would like to make strides next year. This is an honest conversation that we hope will help you feel less alone and also inspire you to find the lessons in your 2021.
Mentioned
The Beatles Get Back documentary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Auta2lagtw4
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@louisefletcher_art
Credits: "Monkeys Spinning Monkeys" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
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