My Artist Friend

Today, we’re chatting all about journaling on My Artist Friend. Journaling is kind of a cornerstone in my life and I’ve mentioned it enough on the podcast in my interviews that I wanted to dedicate a full episode to my practice. I do a little more than the average person, I think, so take what you like and leave the rest! I’d love to know if you’re an avid journal-er as well!

LINKS

Find me all over the place!

* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebeckyhelms/

* Substack: https://substack.com/@beckyhelms

* YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BeckyHelms

* Blue Sky: https://bsky.app/profile/beckyhelms.bsky.social

* Watch on Youtube:

Thanks for reading and listening to My Artist Friend with Becky Helms! This post is public so please feel free share it!

Hi! I’m you’re artist friend today and we’re going to do a quick check-in of your first quarter goals! I’m doing this because I totally lost my way in the haze of January and business of February. I haven’t even started on any of my big, creative goals for the year and I wanted to check in with myself and figured I’d bring you along with me.

The basic framework to check in with my goals goes like this:

* Review the goals that I set

* To be honest, I completely forgot about them and had to go back to my actual planning podcast. Don’t judge me! Life happens!

* Do as I say, not as I do: keep your goals front and center. I didn’t do this and look where it got us. You’ve got to listen to me yap for 20 minutes about it.

* Review your current projects

* Did things go off the rails? Are you in the weeds and not carving out time to work on your big goals? Then congratulations, we’re in it together, because that’s the story of my life at the moment.

* Take a look at what you’ve got going on and see if it aligns with your overall goals and plans for the quarter, year, month, week, however you measure your time.

* Adjust your expectations

* Maybe it’s good that you’re in the weeds right now? Maybe the new projects that have popped up are actually way cooler that what you planned?

* Adjust your priorities and know that change is ok. Only you can measure your success. I mean, don’t ping pong around and not get anything done, but it’s ok to change your mind.

* Recommit to your plan

* If you’ve changed things, awesome! If you’re sticking with the original plan, awesome! Take some time to sit with it and commit to keeping it top of mind.

* Bonus, actually print them out, or add them to your phone screen or keep them in your main Notion database. Put them where you can see them this time! I’m mostly talking to myself here.

There’s more detail, and a fair amount rambling in the podcast, so definitely take a listen!

LINKS

Find me all over the place!

* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebeckyhelms/

* Substack: https://substack.com/@beckyhelms

* YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BeckyHelms

* Blue Sky: https://bsky.app/profile/beckyhelms.bsky.social

* Watch the video here:

Thanks for reading and listening to My Artist Friend with Becky Helms! This post is public so please feel free share it!

Your artist friend today is Renata of Gremren! Based in Melbourne, Australia, Renata has built a following on social media around her vibrant, fun and absolutely delightful work. Listen to her journey from industrial design to starting a business and how she got into rug tufting. Renata is an absolute treasure and I’m so glad we got to chat!

LINKS

Find Renata:

* Shop: https://gremren.com/

* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gremren/

* TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gremren

* Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/gremren

Find me all over the place!

* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebeckyhelms/

* Substack: https://substack.com/@beckyhelms

* YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BeckyHelms

* Blue Sky: https://bsky.app/profile/beckyhelms.bsky.social

Thanks for reading and listenting to My Artist Friend with Becky Helms! This post is public so please feel free share it!

Today, we have a very enthusiastic chat about February’s Snart theme! This month, we’re going to talk about all things clay! I’ve got ceramic artists to share for inspiration, books to check out about the history of clay in the world, ideas for the types of clay to use for your projects, activities to do outside the home that celebrates ceramics and list of project ideas that range from fine art to artisan crafts. It’s a good time. Also, I’m pretty sure I mispronounced Ashmolean, so please just giggle to yourself and don’t mention it in the comments, ok thx.

LINKS

Artists Mentioned:

* Adam Ceramic: https://www.adamceramic.com/ & https://www.instagram.com/adamceramic/

* That High Five Life: https://www.etsy.com/shop/thathighfivelife & https://www.instagram.com/thathighfivelife/

* Ave Rivera: https://www.averiverastudio.com/ & https://www.instagram.com/averiverastudio/

* The Coy Collection: https://www.thecoycollection.com/ & https://www.instagram.com/thecoycollection/

* Edmund de Waal: https://www.edmunddewaal.com/

* Shio Kusaka: https://www.instagram.com/kusakashio/

* Calder Foundation: The mobile’s I talked about! https://calder.org/archive/all/works/hanging-mobile/

Find me all over the place!

* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebeckyhelms/

* Substack: https://substack.com/@beckyhelms

* YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BeckyHelms

* Blue Sky: https://bsky.app/profile/beckyhelms.bsky.social

Today’s artist friend is my cousin Sydney! She’s our first artist who mainly does music, as a singer, vocal coach and all around virtuoso. We chat about what it’s like for new moms to attempt to nurture their creativity, the importance of starting where you are and what it’s like to build a tiny home on a school bus! It’s such a fun conversation and I’m excited that I can introduce you to my family.

LINKS

Find Sydney on Patreon:

* https://www.patreon.com/ColeandSydney

Find me all over the place!

* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebeckyhelms/

* Substack: https://substack.com/@beckyhelms

* YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BeckyHelms

* Blue Sky: https://bsky.app/profile/beckyhelms.bsky.social

Last year, I came up with the idea of Snart (Snack + Art) as an afterschool activity to do with my elementary aged kid. I had grand plans that very much needed to honed and I think I’ve got a solid plan for the year. This episode is all about the original concept, re-evaluating when I bit off more than I could chew, and what the project is looking like this year.

I’m hoping to write more about it on Substack as the year goes on and it would be fun if some folks joined in! I’d love to see what you make!

LINKS

List of collage artists mentioned in the episode: https://www.contemporaryartissue.com/top-25-collage-artists-in-the-world-a-complete-survey/

* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebeckyhelms/

* Substack: https://substack.com/@beckyhelms

* YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BeckyHelms

Today’s Artist Friend is Laura Fisk of Fisk & Fern. We met in Austin on the show scene and I can’t say enough about her work! It’s fun, free and will make you giggle as you notice all the silly details. She has such a great sense of humor and it was a treat to hear her talk about her transition from owning a product-based shop to focusing mainly on children’s book illustration. There’s also a healthy amount of Muppet talk and if you want to see me flip out over the ability to watch all of The Repair Shop on YouTube, check out the podcast there, too. I was seriously SO EXCITED!

Laura is a delight and I hope you love the episode! Come say on IG or in the comments on Substack.

LINKS

Find Laura:

* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/laurafiskstudio/

* Website: https://www.illustrationfisk.com/

* Shop: https://fiskandfern.bigcartel.com/

Find me:

* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebeckyhelms/

* Substack: https://substack.com/@beckyhelms

* YouTube:

My artist friend this week is Danny Brito! Known for his brightly colored, cheerful illustrations, Danny chats with me about running a Patreon with physical rewards, feelings about tabling at events as an introvert and his evolution from handmade art to manufactured products. This episode has it all!

PS: I misspoke in the outro! Visit Danny’s shop on Etsy!

Links:

Get to know Danny:

* Shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/dannybrito

* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dannybrito/

* Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/dannybrito/home

Get to know me:

* Substack: https://beckyhelms.substack.com

* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebeckyhelms/

* YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@beckyhelms

Today’s episode is all about planning for the new year. I go into how I would plan my year as a product-based business and break down the whole calendar in a way that lead to consistent sales throughout the year. Make plans, stay flexible and get clear on your day-to-day!

I try to do the same thing for my personal and creative life and you can join me as I try to make that work, lol!

If you want access to my calendar, a template you can use, and a more in depth lesson in planning (see the calendar in action!), you can sign up to be a founding member on Substack. There’s WAY more content in my course about enamel pins, running a product-based business AND marketing on social media.

LINKS:

Sarah Murphey: https://www.instagram.com/1sarahmurphy/

This is my first official solo episode and I’m chatting about what worked, what didn’t work and what I’d like to add to my creative practice in the coming year.

In an attempt to give myself a little space during the busy holiday, this is a short solo episode. I’m taking a note from Carla in episode 2 and evaluating my creative endeavors this year. It was so nice to look back on my hobbies and various projects and really consider how they served me over the course of 2024.

As promised, here are some photos and resources mentioned in the episode:

Here’s the charm pack quilt tutorial that Carla suggested I follow: (TW: the creator of this playlist has since passed away, in case you’re sensitive to that right now.)

My first two bitty quilts:

The “quilted ornament” tutorial:

And what I made, plus one of my sequin beauties:

Lastly, here’s a link to the book The Artist’s Way. Full disclosure, I haven’t finished it and it does mention God quite a bit. I like to replace that terminology with “the universe”, but take what works for you and leave the rest!

If you want to watch this video on YouTube: