What’s a job you’d like to do for just one day?

The one quote that has stuck with me, and driven me as a creator throughout my life.

Discover the benefits of getting out in nature and how it can help you become a thriving artist

Ever feel like your blank page or blank canvas is plotting against your happiness? Fear not, fellow artist! Embrace the quirks, work with your imperfections and enjoy the chaos. Because in a future of perfect AI creations, humans are going to be able to provide a little humanity with their imperfections, spelling errors and lived experiences.

Experiment with colors like a mischievous rainbow. Don’t stick to the basics; let your imagination run wild. Remember, even Picasso had his blue period, but who says yours can’t be a technicolor fiesta?

Turn your sketchbook into a comedy club. Doodle caricatures of your artistic struggles, and soon you’ll find that laughter is the best eraser. You might even discover your alter ego.

Transform mistakes into masterpieces. Remember, the Sistine Chapel wasn’t painted in a day. Frame your blunders and create a “Museum of Mishaps.” It’s not a mistake; it’s a happy accident, display it with pride.

Remember, the key to being a happy artist is one that can enjoy the process, enjoy the relaxation and joy you can have living inside your own imagination, it’s an incredible gift that we are given as human beings, so it certainly would be a shame not to use it.

After buying our cafe/art gallery almost one year ago, I’ve virtually had no time to relax. The business was open seven days a week and open from six every morning. So I’ve been working those hours as well as being a husband and parent to our two young girls. Needless to say my illustration work has been on the back burner for a good part of that year. Only recently I’ve been finding time to get back into my art.

Since getting back into illustrating I’ve noticed a definite shift in my mood. I’ve definitely become happier and more relaxed. I think getting into a drawing or a piece of art uses a different part of your brain than what you’re using all day at work or being a parent. It’s like a form of meditation for me. Realising I need my art to be a relaxed and better person all round, I’ve been making more of a conscious effort to get it back into my life.

Other ways I relax is getting out in nature, walking and meditating. Anything that takes me out of that busy mindset of all the things I ‘should’ be doing. And of course nothing beats sleep. I go to bed not long after the kids are asleep, normally about 8:30 and wake up at 4:30 to get ready for working at the cafe. I virtually never get 8 hours sleep tho as my kids still wake me up a couple of times in the night. But I do treat my sleeping hours as precious and the amount of sleep I manage to get affects my whole day.

I should be finishing my kids book, but instead I’m writing this blog post.

One word I’d like to give up is should, ‘I should really do that’ . The word ‘should’ feels like an obligation to do something that you inevitably won’t enjoy even though you know you’ll be better off if you did it.

I think the words you use externally and internally are powerful and can have you believing something negative that isn’t real. The positive to that is, if you choose your words carefully they may benefit you and help you become more productive.

Probably my second most despised word would have to be ‘gunna’ or ‘gonna’ … ‘I’m gonna make a kids book’. By saying it out loud to someone is releasing the dopamine rush as if you’ve already made the book. But now that you’ve said you are gunna do it, it feels like an obligation and you instantly become less likely to actually do it.

So rather than say you should do something, or that you’re gonna do something… just do it.

There’s a reason why Nike chose ‘Just do it’ as their trademark instead of ‘should do it’

I guess I do have a grudge dating back to my early years in school. It’s not really with anyone or anything, It’s more of an opinion widely held by the community I grew up in, where being an artist was something that was only considered to be a hobby. It certainly wasn’t considered to be something you could do as a living. Unless you wanted to be a designer or an architect.

So despite having a keen interest in art, I decided to forget about doing what I loved to follow a more conventional career path. Which led me down many roads that in the end weren’t satisfying and weren’t very profitable anyway. I basically could have been doing something I loved while making no money, instead of something I hated while making no money. However I do believe the truth is that if you are doing something you are passionate about, something that you enjoy spending time on and get excited about that you will eventually profit in some way. Even if it’s not making a fortune, I believe happiness is more important than wealth.

Sure way back when I was at school was before the internet, which has since opened up and continues to open up many possibilities for obsessed artists to reach their audiences. But if I at least stuck with art for all those in between years, I would have such a larger body of work, skills and training behind me.

So at 44, I decided it was time to give art another chance. Since then I have illustrated two published kids books and have almost completed my third and sold around 150 NFT’s something I could have only dreamed about as a teenager, not that I would have known what an NFT was… I still don’t.

So never let people or society dictate what you can and can’t be. Follow your heart and your skills will grow along with your potential to earn an income doing it.

I’ve never been one to get excited about travelling. I hate planes, confined spaces and crowds. And if I wanted to have a relaxing holiday, I definitely wouldn’t journey to another part of the world. But the very few times I have traveled, my attention has always been drawn to the creativity and artistic skill embedded in the history of other cultures. And at the times certain works were created I’m not sure what thought was given to how their art was going to span time, but so much has.

I’m not sure how that’s going to relate to our current generation of digital artists. There are going to be virtual worlds in the future where digital creations can exist, and maybe that’ll become our new reality. In which case creating art for the virtual world is a very smart idea. However all we need is some cataclysmic event and the whole era of digital art and creative ideas could be lost forever. Unlike the physical creations of eras past. Maybe we should get back into making statues out of marble and creating beautiful hieroglyphics to tell stories to future generations.

So in answer to the question, the furthest I have traveled is from Nairne, South Australia to Petra Jordan. The skill and creativity that went into the tombs, monuments and dwellings that are carved into the sandstone cliffs is mind boggling and is apparently 2300 years old. I’m not sure many creative people today could imagine their work being viewed in another couple of thousand years from now. I wonder if any digital artworks will have that kind of longevity?

My dream home would have to include an art studio. I’ve never had an art studio so it’s an exciting new concept for me. But rather than it being this big mess of works, collected objects and art clutter, I think my art studio would be very minimalist along with my house. Because external clutter for me is a direct reflection of the clutter that’s in my head. When I think of the space it would have large windows that bring nature in, and in good weather be opened up to basically turn the space into an outdoor area with a roof. I currently carry my art studio around wherever I go. Basically because I get very little time to create art. So my main tools for creating art are my pencils, sketchbook, iPad and my phone, and that’s it. New additions in my dream house studio would include a standing or sitting drawing desk with cameras constantly set up to allow me to do sketching livestreams quickly and easily whenever I want. Also a coffee machine would be great. As for the house I’d want to live off grid in a self sufficient home that needed very little additional heating or cooling, something with thermal mass that keeps the temperature at a constant, comfortable level. So for me living easily in nature would be a big thing, it’s where I feel the happiest and the most creative.

Apparently it takes 21 days to create a habit and 90 days to make something a permanent lifestyle change. So I’ve got a goal to work towards with my ‘make art everyday’ challenge that I have set myself. As my previous blog post stated I just need to start my art everyday and do a minimum of five minutes on the piece I’m currently working on. Then over time, if I only manage five minutes a day I’ll still start to see my artwork advancing.

When illustrating the Super Scout kids book for Elijah and Crumpet I had created a great habit. I had first carved out a piece of time that I could draw. Then I would do a livestream every night. This would make me accountable for showing up everyday and helped me stay consistent, even when I wasn’t feeling it.

Times change tho and that little slice of time no longer exists. So I suppose you need to be on the lookout for other slices of time that you can use to create your art.

Currently. I wake up at 5am and get ready for the day; open the cafe at 6:30 and work until 3, kids get to the cafe after school, kids home time activities and dinner, then bedtime. I’m usually in bed the 8:30 and I’m completely exhausted. However one thing I can rely on at the moment is the kids waking up in the night. So after getting them back to sleep, that’s when I draw, when it’s quiet and peaceful. My drawing has a timeframe of a minimum of 5 minutes and a maximum of an hour, as I still need to get some sleep so I’m not a zombie the next day. It’s not a perfect system, but it’s what’s currently working for me.