It’s been a year where I have happily spent probably 70% of my creative time on zoom. This was the year I became courageous, started painting again, created new and surprising artworks and leaned into my role as an arts mentor.
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Christmas on zoom
The greatest Christmas gift you can give yourself this year is getting confident with uncertainty. Artists and creative people in every field have led the way on adaptability. It is my key word for 2022! Merry Christmas to all my readers and supporters.
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On of our Creators Circle mentoring sessions on zoom
“Can I help you?” is such a powerful question. It implies assistance, service and vulnerability. Service to others was one of my parents’ core values which I have inherited. I believe this is a key ingredient to mentoring.
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One of the images I know I will include in my 2021 Year in Review
It’s coming up to the end of another huge year and time to start planning my Year in Review. As an artist and an entrepreneur, I think it’s really important to look back on what has happened during a year, to see the ideas, themes and events which have shaped my thinking.
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A ‘before’ photo of the thrips attacking the rosebud
Anxiety can stop you from being excited at starting a new art project, big or small. This can threaten to overwhelm your self-confidence. What to do? It’s like pulling weeds. There are two choices: strategic retreat or tackling the problem sideways.
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Glacial Melt (detail) 2021 Ink & acrylic on board.
Art as activism sends a powerful message which can speak to the emotions of people. It is one way to bear witness to the events going on around me. I realised that the new work I am making in the studio is a direct result of watching a program, Glacial Narratives presented by Taigh Chearsabhagh Museum and Arts Centre in the Outer Hebrides.
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Daily ink drawing inspired by lava flow of Iceland’s erupting volcano (detail)
How much do you value yourself? Do you give yourself permission to go on really wild and scary adventures? I have given myself permission to take a helicopter ride to view the active volcano in Iceland, if it is still erupting in April 2022. It is something even a year ago I wouldn’t have contemplated.
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Rembrandt van Rijn, The Night Watch 1642
How do you promote your art? Tell a story. When the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam was reopening after 10 years of renovations, a flashmob were hired to stage a recreation of the museum’s famous painting, Rembrandt’s The Night Watch. Connect stories to your art and you will never be lost for what to say or how to explain what you do and why you do it.
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Nicole Kemp. Covid Quilt - Pictured supplied by the artist.
How do you express your stories, and how do you document your daily life, the personal and social times in which you live? If you look at the great writers and artists, their work was a product of the times. Documenting an I Was Here moment is in the patchwork squares of Victorian artist Nicole Kemp’s Covid Quilt, a visual story of 2020.
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Aureole - work in progress. Wet paper pulp on tapestry screen.
Thinking with your materials means you allow the unique quality of that material to lead you into experimentation. “What if” becomes the starting point for my experiments with abstract painting using bright coloured paper pulp.
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