As we dance merrily into our studios and sing happily opening our sketchbooks, loading our easels or mixing paint, there’s something joyous about studio time *sighs happily à la Snow White*.

Except if you haven’t tidied. If you have your rubbish scattered on the floor, dirty brushes and erm where’s the cad red I love so much?! Can we ever really create in a space that isn’t clear enough for us to think? Ugh.

Karen and Gaynor are taking stock and doing the thing we don’t want to do, but feel so much better having done it. Time to declutter.

This week’s links and mentions: 

Sort Your Life Out - Stacey Solomon

Anna F MacDonald

@janaustinstudio

Marie Kondo-ing

About the podcast

Gaynor Leverett-Jaques and Karen George are both full time artists, living and working in South West of the UK, sharing experiences and the ups and downs of living the painting life.

You can find more about them on their websites where you can sign up to their monthly emails, or by following them on instagram where they share their work and practice on a regular basis. 

Karen George Art https://www.karengeorgeart.co.uk/

@karengeorgeart on instagram

Gaynor Leverett-Jaques https://www.gaynorljart.com/

@gaynorljart on instagram

Thanks always to our wonderful sound editor, Ben Leverett-Jaques, who also wrote and performs the opening song 'Strangler Fig'

Ben's IMBD page: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm7425880/ 

Ben's Music - Low Cinnabar: https://low-cinnabar.bandcamp.com/album/four-songs-from-the-tree

We natter about self-worth, valuing ourselves, valuing our work, pricing and mindfulness… all as a result of attending an event with Alice Sheridan we’re both considering alllll the things - and invite you to do the same. 

This week’s links and mentions: 

Photo by Gustavo Torres on Unsplash

Alan Partridge 

Soul Made - 

Alice Sheridan 

Kellee Wynne 

BS9 arts trail https://www.bs9arts.co.uk

Beyond Boundaries 

Footprint Gallery https://www.footprintgallery.co.uk

Ironbridge https://www.ironbridge.org.uk

About the podcast

Gaynor Leverett-Jaques and Karen George are both full time artists, living and working in South West of the UK, sharing experiences and the ups and downs of living the painting life.

You can find more about them on their websites or by following them on instagram where they share their work and practice on a regular basis. 

Karen George Art https://www.karengeorgeart.co.uk/

@karengeorgeart on instagram

Gaynor Leverett-Jaques https://www.gaynorljart.com/

@gaynorljart on instagram

Thanks always to our wonderful sound editor, Ben Leverett-Jaques, who also wrote and performs the opening song 'Strangler Fig'

Ben's IMBD page: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm7425880/ 

Ben's Music - Low Cinnabar: https://low-cinnabar.bandcamp.com/album/four-songs-from-the-tree

How do we all handle failure? How many rejections can we deal with - do they make you stronger or knock your confidence? Do we learn or feel dejected? There’s always something to learn and we grow-so let’s do it together! 

Luckily (well, maybe not!) Karen and Gaynor have experienced it all… so here we go, let’s all hold hands and fail spectacularly together! 

This week’s links and mentions: 

Image by 青 晨 on Unsplash

@ginabelfordart https://www.ginabelfordart.co.uk

https://www.starvingartists.studio/opportunities

Jo Hill Textiles https://johilltextilecourses.podia.com

White chalk gallery https://whitechalkgallery.co.uk

@rwa

@olist

Royal Academy Open: https://summer.royalacademy.org.uk

About the podcast

Gaynor Leverett-Jaques and Karen George are both full time artists, living and working in South West of the UK, sharing experiences and the ups and downs of living the painting life.

You can find more about them on their websites or by following them on instagram where they share their work and practice on a regular basis. 

Karen George Art https://www.karengeorgeart.co.uk/

@karengeorgeart on instagram

Gaynor Leverett-Jaques https://www.gaynorljart.com/

@gaynorljart on instagram

Thanks always to our wonderful sound editor, Ben Leverett-Jaques, who also wrote and performs the opening song 'Strangler Fig'

Ben's IMBD page: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm7425880/ 

Ben's Music - Low Cinnabar: https://low-cinnabar.bandcamp.com/album/four-songs-from-the-tree

Sometimes life is a bit of a slog. We drag ourselves to the studio, to events, …to no avail! What to do when everything is an effort, nothing is going quite to plan and we hit a patch of despondency.

Luckily, your friends, Karen and Gaynor have had those moments and have ideas about how to switch up the plan, lift the mindset and get back on the horse (enough clichés for you?).

We’d like to thank each of you for listening, this is our way of giving to the art communities we love. We hope you enjoy each episode and share on socials with anyone you think may like it too.

Photo by lilartsy on Unsplash

Peacock arts trail: https://www.peacockartstrail.co.uk/

Faye Bridgewater: https://www.fayebridgwater.com/

Louise Fletcher: https://www.louisefletcherart.com/

About the podcast

Gaynor Leverett-Jaques and Karen George are both full time artists, living and working in South West of the UK, sharing experiences and the ups and downs of living the painting life.

You can find more about them on their websites or by following them on instagram where they share their work and practice on a regular basis. 

Karen George Art https://www.karengeorgeart.co.uk/

@karengeorgeart on instagram

Gaynor Leverett-Jaques https://www.gaynorljart.com/

@gaynorljart on instagram

Thanks always to our wonderful sound editor, Ben Leverett-Jaques, who also wrote and performs the opening song 'Strangler Fig’

Ben's IMBD page: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm7425880/ 

Ben's Music - Low Cinnabar: https://low-cinnabar.bandcamp.com/album/four-songs-from-the-tree

Let’s be honest, there are some things we all like to “manage” and “steer”. We want events -and artwork- to go a certain way, can any of us actually relax and go with the flow? Do you have lots of chaotic moments, but need to control the end results? Are you a genuine collaborator or do you tweak the final edit to your own liking? 

In this week’s episode Gaynor and Karen realise they aren’t at completely opposite ends of the spectrum and definitely learn lots from each other! 

Everlasting gratitude for follows, likes, comments and reviews - thank you, it means the world to have you with us. 

Photo credit by Brooke Lark on Unsplash

About the podcast

Gaynor Leverett-Jaques and Karen George are both full time artists, living and working in South West of the UK, sharing experiences and the ups and downs of living the painting life.

You can find more about them on their websites or by following them on instagram where they share their work and practice on a regular basis. 

Karen George Art https://www.karengeorgeart.co.uk/

@karengeorgeart on instagram

Gaynor Leverett-Jaques https://www.gaynorljart.com/

@gaynorljart on instagram

Thanks always to our wonderful sound editor, Ben Leverett-Jaques, who also wrote and performs the opening song 'Strangler Fig'

Ben's IMBD page: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm7425880/ 

Ben's Music - Low Cinnabar: https://low-cinnabar.bandcamp.com/album/four-songs-from-the-tree

Do you consider yourself an artist? Do you get to call yourself an artist even when you’re not painting, taking a break or working in paid employment as well? This week’s podcast was inspired by an Instagram Post by Harry Martell - he got us thinking about why when artists have a paid job too they may consider their artist credentials “less than”.

What qualifies the word and our work? 

As two people who embrace the title and champion other artists, Karen and Gaynor discuss the confidence it takes to be ourselves. 

We mention the Aristotle quote “We are what we repeatedly do, excellence therefore is not an act but a habit”… food for thought, hey?

loveliness. Do share if you feel inclined.

This week’s links and mentions: 

Photo by Jennie Razumnaya on Unsplash

Kellee Wynne Studio https://www.kelleewynnestudios.com

Harry Martell @martellsart 

“Taking the time to observe the world” 

#dothe100dayproject 

About the podcast

Gaynor Leverett-Jaques and Karen George are both full time artists, living and working in South West of the UK, sharing experiences and the ups and downs of living the painting life.

You can find more about them on their websites or by following them on instagram where they share their work and practice on a regular basis. 

Karen George Art https://www.karengeorgeart.co.uk/

@karengeorgeart on instagram

Gaynor Leverett-Jaques https://www.gaynorljart.com/

@gaynorljart on instagram

Thanks always to our wonderful sound editor, Ben Leverett-Jaques, who also wrote and performs the opening song 'Strangler Fig'

Ben's IMBD page: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm7425880/ 

Ben's Music - Low Cinnabar: https://low-cinnabar.bandcamp.com/album/four-songs-from-the-tree

Everyone else is doing ALLLL the stuff, they’re all great, but how do we get back into the groove when our mojo mosies off?

As always, Karen and Gaynor have some ideas to share! 

Thanks for listening, do follow on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to be notified when each episode drops (and let us know what you think with a review)

Episode Links: 

Photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash

@karenvenio_art 

Extra Heavy Matt Gel from Jackson’s

Jo Hounsome

Westonbirt Arboretum

About the podcast

Gaynor Leverett-Jaques and Karen George are both full time artists, living and working in South West of the UK, sharing experiences and the ups and downs of living the painting life.

You can find more about them on their websites or by following them on instagram where they share their work and practice on a regular basis. 

Karen George Art https://www.karengeorgeart.co.uk/

@karengeorgeart on instagram

Gaynor Leverett-Jaques https://www.gaynorljart.com/

@gaynorljart on instagram

Thanks always to our wonderful sound editor, Ben Leverett-Jaques, who also wrote and performs the opening song 'Strangler Fig'

Ben's IMBD page: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm7425880/ 

Ben's Music - Low Cinnabar: https://low-cinnabar.bandcamp.com/album/four-songs-from-the-tree