In today’s episode I have a lovely interview with fellow Aussie artist Lizzie Alsop. Lizzie is a full time contemporary artist who works from her home studio on the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria. She’s been creative all her life and launched into her full time art career after a move to the coast fourteen years ago.

Her artwork is a joyful and colorful mix of abstract and realism.  Lizzie loves to create and express the wonder of her natural environment with abstract layers of geometric shapes and botanicals which are mainly Australian Natives.  Much of her inspiration comes from spending time walking the coastal tracks, and ocean swimming close to her home.

Lizzie and I had a great chat about what it’s like to be an artist located in the country and coming from a country background. We talk through her process of finding her second career as a professional artist and navigating the way to success without a degree in art.

With lots of practical insights to how Lizzie has approached collaborations, created prints, tea-towels and also exhibited in a number of solo and group shows, this interview contains a wealth of information for emerging artists.  I really hope you enjoy the episode.

In this episode, we talked about:

Links:

Lizzie Alsop

www.LizzieAlsopArt.com

Lizzie’s Instagram

FB: CreativeSquiggle

Susan Nethercote

Suse's Instagram

Suse's Facebook

Suse's education website

Suse's art website

Suse’s jigsaw puzzles

I can’t believe we’ve created 100 episodes of this little podcast.  It’s been such a joy to connect with you in this way over the past couple of years and I’m so grateful to each and every one of you for tuning and sharing the journey with me.

I love the connection with you and with creatives all over the world that I’m able to nurture thanks to the podcast.  It’s been the perfect way for this little introvert to deepen my connection with other artists and such a pleasure to be able to share it with you.

To celebrate 100 episodes and to say thank you to you for supporting the podcast, I’m having a flash sale on my e-courses from the 5-8th April 2022.  So if you’d like 20% off any of my e-courses or bundles, just use the coupon code 100, that’s the number 100 at the checkout. Simply follow the links over on www.susannethercotestudio.com/online-classes to find your course.

In today’s episode, Steph and I are chatting about unitasking vs. multitasking in our art practices and businesses.

We dive deep into what I have specifically discovered during my ‘painting as a practice’ months- that unitasking for extended periods of time is generally when I make my best work. I’ve also discovered similar benefits of having extended periods of focus on other tasks such as making e-courses.

We chat through different practical ways that I’ve been implementing to create a loose structure in the greater picture of my work life that best supports unitasking for extending periods. I do this so I can ride my hyperfocus to its greatest benefit.

In the end, we discover that when we truly accept who we are and how we are wired, therein lays the recipe for how to best approach our work style and rhythm.

This is also the final episode for season 8 of the podcast as we’re about to move into school holidays here. I’ll be back with some fab new interviews and chats with Steph on 3rd of May.

Episode Highlights:

Links:

Susan Nethercote:

Suse's Instagram

Suse's Facebook

Suse's education website

Suse's art website

Suse’s jigsaw puzzles

Steph Wallace

Steph’s Instagram

Steph’s Website

In today’s episode, Steph and I dive deep into the sometimes elusive question of what our art is truly about and what motivates its creation.

Anyone who has ever written an artist’s statement knows how tricky this question can be to answer, particularly when it comes to articulating it for the gatekeepers of the fine art world.

But this conversation goes so much deeper than that. We explore how excavating this information can help in binding together all the different avenues and mediums of our art practice.

We also explore how relating to this deep level of our ‘why’ as artists can provide fuel and nourishment for the journey of becoming more masterful practitioners and free us from the never-ending grind of focusing on product and profit.

I really hope you enjoy the episode.

In this episode, we talked about:

Links:

Learn my Floral Abstract Style

Susan Nethercote:

Suse's Instagram

Suse's Facebook

Suse's education website

Suse's art website

Suse’s jigsaw puzzles

Steph Wallace

Steph’s Instagram

Steph’s Website

In today’s episode I’m on my own talking about some of my favourite books that I read over the summer holidays that have just passed here.  There is a pretty big range in breadth of the books that I read, but the ones I talk about in today’s episode are all ones with a focus on creative inspiration in one way or another.

Some relate directly to art, some to interiors and women, some on the Eastern approaches to painting, and one is soulfully reflective. I’ve listed all of them in the show notes with links, so you can get a closer look if you like to know more.

I really hope you enjoy my nerdy little deep dive into my favourite current books that are floating my creative boat.

Books mentioned:

Susan Nethercote:

Suse's Instagram

Suse's Facebook

Suse's education website

Suse's art website

Suse’s jigsaw puzzles

In today’s episode, Steph and I are unpacking the world of art prizes and grants. We talk through various aspects of this world- such as how prizes and grants differ from each other and what the experience of applying for each is like.

We also talk about the exposure to the risk of failure in this process and how, for someone like me, this can be disabling.  But for Steph, she has found that she’s been able to move on from hearing no and find her way through this.

I was recently the recipient of an art prize, which surprised no one more than me, and it’s made me realize that it is actually worth the effort to apply for opportunities for art funding that are out there.

So if you’ve been thinking about applying for art prizes or grants, this is a great episode to help you build your bravery and learn about what to expect.

In this episode, we talked about:

Some useful resources for exploring what art prizes are available In Australia:

https://www.art-prizes.com

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Australian_art_awards

https://www.art-almanac.com.au/awards/

https://dawsonsframing.com.au/australias-comprehensive-list-of-art-awards-and-competitions/

For other parts of the world, try google ‘List of Art Prizes’ and your country.

Links:

www.susannethercote.com/challenge

20% OFF ON FEBRUARY - CODE: FEB22

Susan Nethercote:

Suse's Instagram

Suse's Facebook

Suse's education website

Suse's art website

Suse’s jigsaw puzzles

Steph Wallace

Steph’s Instagram

Steph’s Website

Today's episode is a real treat for all the art supply nerds out there. Steven Patterson is the CEO of Derivan, a family-owned Sydney-based company that manufactures one of my favourite brands of acrylic paints: Derivan Matisse. Many of the Aussie artists out there would likely have used a Derivan product at one time or another as they were the first company to manufacture student grade acrylics back in the 1950s when his father started the company with a couple of partners.

Steven grew up at the factory and started off working in the lab in the day and studying chemistry at night. He's a multi-passionate creative and innovative CEO that has been involved with the creation of a number of unique products, many of which have been inspired by the requests coming from artists.

He also continues to strives to make the factory and the products he makes as environmentally friendly as possible. I really hope you enjoy learning more about this unique paint company and the man behind it.

In this episode, we talked about:

Links:

Check out Derivan’s new Watercolour ground

Check out Derivan’s Liquid Pencil

Check out the Matisse range

Derivan Recycling program

Connect with Steven

Today Steph and I have a special little bonus episode for you. We’re talking all about the FREE painting challenge we run for our community every February and we’d love you to join us. In this studio chat we talk about the immense value we’ve both found after taking on this challenge, which we’ve done 3 times now and also how much we love the connection it gives us with you guys and the work that you’re making. Be sure to pop on over the challenge page on susannethercotestudio.com/challenge, or just click the link in the show notes to download all our free resources to help you to have a super-fruitful and fun painting month. 

And remember, this structure will work for you any time of the year, not just February. So if you’re listening to this at another time of the year, you can still access my freebies and make your own challenge. But February is when we gather is a community. It’s so special to connect with all of you during this month, so I hope you’ll consider coming along for the ride so we can get to know one another better. 

Join us as we chat about: 

More shownotes and links at www.susannethercotestudio.com/podcast/community

It’s a fresh new year and new podcast season, so in today’s episode, Steph and I are talking about some of the big projects we have planned for 2022.

Neither of us is a big one for micro-managing our art businesses.  But each of us does have a couple of big projects coming up this year that we are excited to share.

Join us as we chat about:

Links:

Painting as a Practice FREE painting Challenge, find all the details at:

https://www.susannethercotestudio.com/challenge

20% OFF ALL E-courses for February 2020 - Use CODE: FEB22  at the checkout 

View All E-courses on Teachable.

Susan Nethercote:

Suse's Instagram

Suse's Facebook

Suse's education website

Suse's art website

Suse’s jigsaw puzzles

Steph Wallace

Steph’s Instagram

Steph’s Website

Marce King:

Website

Instagram

In today’s episode, Steph and I are discussing our mutual tendency to go off on unexpected tangents in our artwork.  In the world of art business, honing on one style that sells is what we are often encouraged to do.

But as this conversation unfolds, we realise how vitality important following these tangents is for our emotional, spiritual and intellectual wellbeing. We also realise that it is an essential component to building integrity and professionalism as an artist in the longer term.

This is also the final podcast episode for 2021.  The summer holidays are in full swing here in Australia, and now that we are free to travel, I’m going to be taking advantage of it and spending lots of time away from the studio with my family for most of January.  We’ll be back at some point in late January or early February with a brand new season.  I’m also going to be sticking to the fortnightly rhythm with episodes, as this shift has been a game changer for me and allowed me much more time in front of the easel.  And let’s face it, that’s what we’re all chasing right?

Thanks so much for all your support of the podcast for another great year.  We cherish you guys and love all your feedback, so keep it coming!

Take care until then and I hope you have a truly beautiful holiday season.

Episode Highlights:

Links:

The episode where we unpack art school

The Instagram post relating to my autumn leaf project

Susan Nethercote:

Suse's Instagram

Suse's Facebook

Suse's education website

Suse's art website

Suse’s jigsaw puzzles

Steph Wallace

Steph’s Instagram

Steph’s Website

Hi and welcome to episode 93 of the studio insider art podcast.  Have you been experiencing a downturn in art sales over the past few months?  It’s something that Steph and I have both been experiencing, so we’re wondering if other artists out there, particularly in Australia, are experiencing this too?

In many ways, this is not surprising to us, given that we have only just come out of two years of lockdown where we live. Our capital Melbourne has been the most locked-down city in the world, and we can see how this has really affected mental health on a mass level in our state and consequently people’s desire and financial ability to buy art.

As often happens to creatives, when our work stops selling, we can tend to take this a bit personally and start telling ourselves all kinds of stories, true and imagined, about why this may be the case. And for each of us, that has been a bit of a journey over the past few months. Join us as we dive deep into how we are managing these times when we find ourselves valuing our worth by how much we are, or are not, selling.

In this episode, we talked about:

Links:

Susan Nethercote:

Suse's Instagram

Suse's Facebook

Suse's education website

Suse's art website

Suse’s jigsaw puzzles

Steph Wallace

Steph’s Instagram

Steph’s Website