If there’s one thing in modern art making which drives me crazy, it’s the notion that artists should keep to a fixed colour palette in order to be recognisable or consistent. Historically the colours in paintings may have been limited by available pigments, or relative cost but these days we have so much available and […]
Recently, we both launched a series of paintings via our websites, and in this episode, we discuss the experience and what we learned. For both of us, this was a relatively new experience – Alice usually launches her new works at in-person events and Louise has traditionally added paintings to her website on an ad-hoc […]
This week we’re celebrating our one millionth podcast download, something neither of us imagined when we started. And it made us think about expectations … where do they come from? What effect do they have? And how can we learn to manage them? During the course of the discussion, we unpick the difference between intentions […]
We start today’s discussion with a quote from artist Chuck Close, who said “inspiration is for amateurs. The rest of us just show up and get to work.” This sounds a little confrontational, but the he continues with an explanation: “If you wait around for the clouds to part and a bolt of lightening to […]
Scott Denholm is a rapidly emerging and award winning ocean artist, living on the Sunshine Coast, Australia. It was his love of the natural world and previous work which first inspired his art, and also to find ways of making better choices for less impact on the environment. He has gathered a decade of research […]
What kind of person are you? What are your personality traits and what are your quirks? This might seem like an odd question for an art podcast, but we both believe that it’s a vital one and in this episode, we get into why. For us, the ancient greek aphorism “know thyself” applies perfectly to […]
Are you too concerned about what other people think of your work? Probably! We all are to some extent… After all, it’s not unusual to enjoy it when other people like our work. However there are times it can become a problem and block you from moving forward. We discuss times when we have been […]
This week, Louise is joined by special guest Lewis Noble. Lewis is a UK-based contemporary landscape painter with a unique style and a well-established reputation. He exhibits widely and has been teaching workshops for over 15 years. In this episode, we discuss his approach to abstracting from reality, a unique process that involves a combination […]
Painting should be an enjoyable process. It IS an enjoyable process – overall! But every stage also bring its doubts. Beginning a new series is full of potential; new ideas waiting to be discovered. I find colour often leads the way, endlessly surprising combinations are one of the joys and key reasons I paint and […]
This week, we’re discussing the challenges of finding time to make our art when we all have so much else going on. Many of us balance family, work and art-making and then somewhere in there, we also need to find time to market the work and manage the admin side of things. This means posting […]
Guides, posts, algorithms… this week, we’re diving into the world of Instagram. This is perhaps the most popular social media platform for artists, but it can feel overwhelming, confusing or just downright frustrating. What are the right hashtags? Why do some posts do better than others? How can you increase your following? Do your clothes […]
How do you feel about your sketchbooks? Inspired – or perhaps slightly guilty? We recorded this episode in response to a listener question about the ways in which we both use sketchbooks. Louise uses many of her sketchbooks as judgement-free playgrounds, places in which to relax and explore while Alice does this kind of work […]