In this episode, we address the massive changes that so many of us are experiencing and discuss how they affect our lives and our creativity.  Very few artists seem able to continue as normal. Instead we are dealing with new realities, creating new routines, managing anxieties, and finding new ways to express ourselves creatively (including my’s ongoing experiment in using up out of date food, just to find out what happens!) This week, we share the very real changes in our own lives and discuss our different responses – how do we continue to express ourselves creatively when everything around us is so uncertain?  We also debate the role of the artist in challenging times and share a new idea that we hope will inspire you. 

#markthistime is our response to the current situation – it is early days and the idea is evolving. There is more to come. For now, we very much hope you will join us and make art to mark this time.

Our manifesto reads:

We are experiencing an unprecedented situation. One that calls for artists to step up. We need positive messages. We need reportage. We need insights. We need community. We need to mark this time.

The media mark this time with dramatic exaggeration. The politicians mark this time with obfuscation  — it falls on artists to mark this time by bearing witness, by being present, by documenting,  by connecting, by offering perspective – most of all by sharing our experience and letting it shine a light on the experiences of others. It falls to us to truly mark this time.

So come join the movement. Make art to mark this time.

Make whatever you feel called to make and share your work on Instagram with the hashtag #markthistime. We will be curating and sharing images each day on IG , the Facebook Page and on the new website we will create at markthistime.com

Mentioned:

Mark This Time on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/markthistime2020/

Mark This Time Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/markthistime2020

If you have a question you’d like us to discuss, click here to send it to us

If you are enjoying the podcast this is an easy and inexpensive way to help support it and ensure it continues. The demands of making it each week can be challenging. Your support is allowing us to hire some editing help. If you’d like to help out with a one-time or a monthly donation, you can “buy us a coffee” us at Ko-fi.com

Contribute to the podcast here:

Follow Alice on Instagram @alicesheridanstudio
or Louise @louisefletcher_art

Credits
“Monkeys Spinning Monkeys” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

Things are changing so quickly. Last week, we recorded a normal episode … a few days later and we are preparing for a lock-down. As Brits, we tend towards the “keep calm and carry on”‘ wartime spirit, and yet we are also human. So we feel anxiety, and stress about lost income, and worry about relatives, and wonder if we will ever again be able to buy toilet roll and pasta…. BUT, there are also reframes here; there are ways to look at the positives as well as the negatives; there are ways to manage our emotions; there are options.

We don’t have answers. We have no expertise. We just wanted to talk to each other, to connect, to share, to console and to giggle, and we thought you might like to listen in. Hence this bonus episode. Stay safe … but more than that, stay calm and keep a sense of perspective. We can live without pasta!

Also please join us on the #artjuicekitchendrawerchallenge (catchy, I know!) by sharing your before and after!

Mentioned:

Louise’s Your Art Tribe membership site: https://thispaintinglife.mykajabi.com/art-tribe

If you have a question you’d like us to discuss, click here to send it to us

If you are enjoying the podcast this is an easy and inexpensive way to help support it and ensure it continues. The demands of making it each week can be challenging. Your support is allowing us to hire some editing help. If you’d like to help out with a one-time or a monthly donation, you can “buy us a coffee” us at Ko-fi.com

Contribute to the podcast here:

Follow Alice on Instagram @alicesheridanstudio
or Louise @louisefletcher_art

Credits
“Monkeys Spinning Monkeys” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

You can listen as usual above and watch some of the action on this shortened video version we made just for you!

This episode is a little different, Usually we record with hundreds of miles separating us, but this week, we take a rare opportunity to meet up and spend some time chatting about studio spaces, art careers and whatever else comes up.

We drink tea, drive through London, and eat sugared chickpeas while we geek out about recording equipment, discuss the importance of resilience, and visit both of Alice’s studios (old and new). During the visit to the new studio, we discuss Alice’s newest paintings and share how it feels when your work moves into surprising new territory.

Mentioned:

Surrey Contemporary Art Fair 13-15th March 2020 https://contemporaryartfairs.co.uk/surrey-spring/

Royal Watercolour Society 6-18th March 2020 https://www.royalwatercoloursociety.co.uk/exhibitions/36-rws-contemporary-watercolour-competition/overview/

Lighting products discussed:
Simple ring light and phone holder for livestreams HERE

Arm clamps for phone and ring light HERE

Day Light Umbrella Continuous Lighting Kit HERE

LED lights HERE

If you have a question you’d like us to discuss, click here to send it to us

If you are enjoying the podcast this is an easy and inexpensive way to help support it and ensure it continues. The demands of making it each week can be challenging. Your support is allowing us to hire some editing help. If you’d like to help out with a one-time or a monthly donation, you can “buy us a coffee” us at Ko-fi.com

Contribute to the podcast here:

Follow Alice on Instagram @alicesheridanstudio
or Louise @louisefletcher_art

Credits
“Monkeys Spinning Monkeys” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License