Art Life Plan Podcast

There’s a point where selling your work starts to feel like it’s pulling you away from actually making it. In this episode, I talk through why that happens, why it’s not a personal failure, and how you can start to separate those two modes so they don’t compete with each other. If selling has been feeling heavy or off lately, this is a gentle reset.

A lot of artists feel comfortable making their work… but the moment it’s time to write about it, everything suddenly feels harder. The piece is finished, the photo is ready, and then you open Instagram and that blank caption box just sits there staring at you.

In this episode, I’m talking about why that happens and why it’s actually really common for artists who think visually. Most of us are thinking constantly while we work, but those thoughts don’t always show up as neat sentences. Translating visual thinking into words can feel awkward, exposed, or like you’re suddenly performing instead of just sharing your work.

Writing about your work doesn’t have to feel like a separate skill you need to master. It can simply be another way of staying connected to your practice.

Question for the week:
When you look back at the last piece you made, what is one small moment from the process that you could put into words?

Say hi on instagram @cookiereddingart

At a certain point in your art life, experimentation starts to change. In the beginning it often means trying everything. Over time it becomes more intentional. In this episode I talk about what that next stage can look like, from working with constraints to experimenting with your process instead of just materials. If your work has been feeling a little restless lately, this might be a sign that your experimentation is ready to shift too.

How tightly are you holding your ideas right now? In this episode, I talk through the different ways artists work with ideas, from research-heavy planning to letting meaning emerge through making. We’ll look at how parameters form, why ideas are allowed to change, and how paying attention to your own process can bring more clarity than trying to get everything right at the start. This one’s about staying in conversation with your work and noticing what it needs from you right now.

Still trying to figure out your artistic style and wondering why it hasn’t “clicked” yet? In this episode, we talk about what style actually is, why it rarely shows up all at once, and how it quietly forms while you’re already doing the work. This isn’t about forcing a look or chasing visual consistency for social media. It’s about paying attention to patterns, process, and the decisions you make over time. If you’ve been questioning your style or feeling like it should be clearer by now, this episode is a reminder that clarity comes from working, not waiting.

Reflection prompts:

• What shows up more than once, even when you weren’t trying to repeat yourself?
• What decisions feel familiar across different pieces?
• What parts of the work feel like they belong together, even if the surface details change?

Pausing can feel risky when you’re a creative person. It can feel like losing momentum or falling behind. In this episode, I talk about why pauses aren’t a failure or a lack of motivation, but a necessary part of how creative work actually functions. We look at what a pause can really look like, why creativity doesn’t disappear when you slow down, and how stepping back can quietly change your relationship with your work. If you’ve been feeling tired, stuck, or pressured to keep producing, this one’s for you.

If you’ve ever felt behind as an artist or like your path doesn’t look the way it’s “supposed” to, this episode is for you. We talk about why most creative lives aren’t linear, how detours and pauses are part of the process, and why progress isn’t always visible from the outside.

This is a grounding conversation about letting go of comparison, moving at a pace that fits your real life, and trusting that your timeline doesn’t have to match anyone else’s to be valid.

We made it to February! So, January was a bit of a slog (mostly thanks to snow, also thanks to some burnout) and now there's some action in the studio. In this episode, I chat about processes (and being ok with yours!) as well as .... what to do about selling our art? (or better...when should we sell our art?)

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It's still quiet in my art studio but....things are brewing. I sense a new series is coming and I've been having some fun with the "fig tree" challenge linked below.

Ellbat: I have 365 Days to change my life (first video)

and her video that follows the above on the system.

It's a quick catch up episode on my week 1 on my self-imposed creative sabbatical. How has your first "official" post-holiday week been for your creative practice?