Your Art Matters

When things aren’t going right or taking longer than you expect, it’s easy to fall into the trap of what’s the point? Why am I doing this??

Many times you are feeling this way as you are focussing on outputs and not the inputs.

To me, the input is the impact you are having on yourself and others.  

You may not see the impact from others who admire your bird painting from afar, you may brighten someone’s day with your art and never realise it. You might be inspiring someone else to make art. There are so many ways you might be impacting others, but you can’t see it.

And, then there is the impact you are having on yourself. Never underestimate the power of mistakes and getting things wrong. Every action you take is a lesson. Whether it’s good or bad. You are growing and growing pains are normal.

This is what I want to chat to you about in this episode, so grab your headphones and tune in with me!

I often get asked if we can use other people’s images, this is what this week’s episode covers.  

Copying images from others is a great way to learn and develop our art. But, we have to ensure we are not breaching copyright.

If you are copying the image for your own personal use, that is fine. As soon as you share the image publicly, or commercially you need to check the rights of that image.

Here is a checklist for when you are using images:

• Check the source of the image, is it copyrighted to someone or in the public domain?Use the reverse image tool to find the source of images: image.google.com
• If the image was created before 1923 or is an image so popular that it’s being used in multiple places, it’s most likely the image is in the ‘public domain’ and is free to use.  But, you still have to check.
• If you are unsure use a site that provides copyright free images:
• https://pixabay.com/
• https://www.flickr.com/photos/britishlibrary
• https://www.openculture.com/
• https://www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online
• https://www.freepik.com/
• https://unsplash.com/
• https://www.pexels.com/royalty-free-images/

You can also download this amazing graphic from The Visual Communication Guy to help you:

In today's episode, I invite you to Stop, Look and Listen.

When we are feeling overwhelmed, or clueless on where to start with making art - this exercise is super!

It brings us back to the present moment, brings clarity to the mind and space for ideas, relaxes us and also leads to inspiration that is sitting at our fingertips.

We often take what's in front of us for granted, we see scenes every day and miss the hidden gems that are awaiting us!

This simple exercise that you can do in 2 minutes will help!

If you want to learn more about Make your Mark, click here: https://uas.unitedartspace.org/mym/

If you want to follow along with the 5 days of sketch-booking, check out our stories on Facebook or Instagram.

Join me as I unveil a step by step process Sharon Griffin and I wrote to help you make powerful art. Sharon has been an artist her whole life and her art career is booming. 6 years ago we wrote a course called MAKE YOUR MARK to help people at all stages of ability who have:

• No idea where to start
• Been making for years but are tired of copying images
• Too many ideas and constantly play but feel like they're not getting anywhere
• Established careers but yearning to make something else - but don't have time

The 6 part process covered in Make your Mark is:

• Research - sounds boring but this is about stopping and noticing.  Noticing what makes you curious, what is in front of you but you can't see?
• Materials and Techniques - Using a starting point from what you notice around you, how can you use different media to express this. This is play time.
• Formal elements - again, sounds so serious but these are the foundations on making art.  This is what Sharon goes back to every time she improves and strengthens her art.  You might know what the formal elements are, you can Google them.
• Colour - do you need colour?? We notice contrast before we notice colour, but colour is a powerful tool.  Playing with different colour options and seeing what happens when you change them is powerful.
• Select and Reject - this is all about learning the right questions to ask yourself during the art making process.  If you are not following this step, you are missing a huge opportunity to learn from every artwork you make.
• Finally - round this up into an outcome, this might be a finished work, a collection, a sketchbook of ideas.

The course starts on 3rd June and runs for 7 weeks. On the 30th May we will be releasing daily prompts on social media to help you start the MAKE YOUR MARK process.   SIGN UP HERE: https://uas.unitedartspace.org/mym/

I was in a studio session a couple of weeks ago with one of my members, Varvara.

We were talking about how distracting it can be when you see the work of others and think 'ooh, I want to make art like that’.

We then go on a pursuit to make that type of art and sometimes it works and sometimes it really doesn't.

In this week's episode, I talk about why this happens and also how liking our work can change from one week to the next and that's ok! 

Enjoy 😊 

P.s. Our Make Your Mark course is starting on 3rd June. It’s a 6 part sketchbook course that is ran by my dear friend Sharon Griffin who helps you delve into your creativity, whilst exploring your artistic voice. It’s such amazing course and it’s really helped me tap back into my creative side over the years. 

Kirsty Thomas took part in Make Your Mark and had this to say: 

“I just wanted to say thank you for MYM course it’s woken me up after 20 years I feel alive and looking at everything so differently - I started to take pictures of people's front doors!!!! Nice ones! Thank you both so much. I also joined the hub and love it.”  

You can find out more and join our waitlist here: https://uas.unitedartspace.org/mym/ 

Ahhhhh!!!! In this week’s episode, I talk about wanting to make art but how life gets in the way. I share my top 3 tips for dealing with life taking over and how I carve out time.

P.s. Our Make Your Mark course starts on 3rd June. This is a 6 part course with my wonderful friend Sharon Griffin who teaches how to create a start pointing, play and delve into the formal elements of art. It is such a fun course. You can find out more and join our waitlist here.

How to be a more eco aware artist is a question that creeps up all the time. So many artists that I speak to are thinking about how to make their art more environmentally friendly and kinder to our planet. 

I, for one, am trying to be more aware of where materials come from, how to package things, and if I can support local businesses in some way or another. 

In this episode, I was joined by some other artists and we discuss how to become a more eco aware artist. We all shared our views, thoughts and tips, enjoy! 

Please note, this a prerecorded episode. 

I went away over Easter and I didn't want to come home. I wasn't sure why, other than that I was having a great time and normal life didn't seem that appealing.

I then realised that it was the silent to-do list that is weighing me down. The to-do list we are not conscious of. Everything in our home 'speaks' to us in some way.

For example, the plant that is saying 'water me', the wallpaper that is falling off that is saying 'the house looks awful’ and ‘you still haven't fixed this yet’ (which leads to a bigger fear that maybe you have expensive damp to sort), the list goes on.

The point is, the silent to-do list might be weighing you down more than you realise. You can listen to this week’s Motivational Monday episode to hear my top 3 ways of dealing with this. 

Read more about this here: https://www.unitedartspace.org/do-you-have-a-silent-to-do-list/ 

“You don’t believe what you see, you see what you believe”

How helpful or hindering are your beliefs? Do they help you achieve your goals or get in the way?

How are your beliefs causing you to behave and at their heart do yours contain a lie? 

In this episode, we’ll explore what a belief is, how you created yours and how to create more empowering ones in order to be more happy, successful and fulfilled. 

I am super excited to be joined by the one and only, Steve McDermott.  Steve is an international motivational speaker, best selling author of 'How to be a Complete and Utter F**k up. 

To buy Steve's book, click here.

*Please note this a pre-recorded episode. 

When it comes to the art making process, it is important to realise that you can make art in your own way. However you like. Whatever you like. It is your decision. It’s your art. You don’t have to fit a mould.

 

When you know this and start to accept it, as simple as it sounds, the art making process can become a lot simpler for you. Tell yourself that you are the captain of your own ship. I can make art in my own way! 

When you want to put your art out into the world for it to be seen and engaged by others on some level or another, for it to make an impact, this is where you’ll start to hear the word consistency. Here is where it becomes more elusive and you start to ask yourself, do I need to create on style of art?

This is the question I will been talking about this weeks episode. 

We also have our Kickstart Your Art challenge coming up in May. 

10 minutes a day (or more if you want)

7 days of inspiration seeking. 

Get daily videos and written prompts to help you gather inspiration and develop your voice as an artist.

Learn more here!