Should I keep all my work? [5]

…or does there come a time when you need to take stock. So, how do you decide what to keep – and what do you do with it all?

What are you working on this week?

Louise is preparing to start teaching a new online course and taking a one-week break from painting. Alice is beginning a series of new panels and changing up her approach a little bit by NOT starting with black. Watch the video here.

Help, I’m drowning in old work!

How do you deal with your older work when your style has moved on? If you are surrounded with stacks of old canvases or sheets of paper that no longer feel like you, is it a waste to throw them out? Is it OK to show them with your newer work?

Or are there ways you can reuse them or somehow allow someone else to enjoy them? We discuss some solutions, and why it can feel so hard – and so good – to clear the decks.

Audience Question: What’s the best way to ask for feedback?

“So, what do you think?” leaves it fairly open and can be pretty hard for someone else to answer. What are you really asking? We wrestle with the best (and worst) ways to ask for feedback on your work – and how important it is to prepare yourself mentally before you do.

Inside/Outside: what’s inspired you?

Louise has been inspired by a documentary on Chris Martin and Coldplay “A head full of Dreams”; it looks at their rise to fame, from early school days with braces (!), why “you can’t please everybody” and why he always says this is the end of Coldplay Watch on Amazon

Alice has been reading a book on why staying small is the next big thing for business. Which is kind of reassuring! Paul Jarvis ‘Company of One’

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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