Art Juice: A podcast for artists, creatives and art lovers

This week's discussion was sparked by a question we received from a listener. AJ asked this question about commissions: “I am an up and coming artist with a handful of commission requests. I would love to learn about the professional way to handle commissions. How do you and Alice do this? How much do your charge? What do you do about edits? Should the client pay upfront or give a deposit?” The question led us into an interesting debate about how formalised a commission process should be. Alice sets clear parameters and her process has worked very well for her, while Louise has found that any kind of commitment feels heavy. She is therefore taking a much more informal approach (including refusing commissions unless they feel just right).  We discuss practicalities (pricing, process, deposits etc), share our successes (as well as those that didn't go so well), and debate the pluses and minuses of allowing client input during the creative process.  In the end, we both agree that there is no one-size-fits-all "professional" methodology and that the most important thing is for each artist to determine an approach that works for him or her (and make the parameters very clear to the buyer in advance).  This week we also share some exciting studio news, celebrate the success of a fellow artist, and (literally) get a little bit potty-mouthed (!) Mentioned: Zandra Stratford's show at https://afternynegallery.com   (Until Sept 21st) Buy us a coffee and support the podcast here  Submit a question at bit.ly/artjuicepodcast Follow us on Instagram:  @alicesheridanstudio  @louisefletcher_art See fuller show notes on our websites: www.alicesheridan.com www.louisefletcherart.com Credits "Monkeys Spinning Monkeys" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

Do you feel the need for a “good” result every time you paint? Or hope for a painting that looks good at every stage? This can bring an added stress to making art and limit your ability to experiment. We discuss what might be at the bottom of this, quite natural, desire to feel satisfied and how we can work this into our process.  Also, one listener asks "Am I not going to move forward in my art if I keep using my phone?" and we have some ideas of the advantages and disadvantages of using your phone as a recorder and where it may be holding you back. Mentioned: Kyle Cease podcast interview - creativity and taking that one step (Warning; curse words!) https://podtail.com/en/podcast/you-made-it-weird-with-pete-holmes/kyle-cease/ Buy us a coffee and support the podcast here  Submit a question at bit.ly/artjuicepodcast Follow us on Instagram: @alicesheridanstudio  @louisefletcher_art See fuller show notes on our websites:  www.alicesheridan.com  www.louisefletcherart.com Credits "Monkeys Spinning Monkeys" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

Settle down, you are in for a treat in this discussion of the artist as problem solver!  Megan Woodard Johnson is a mixed media artist who layers vintage paper ephemera with paint, various drawing media and found objects to tell evocative stories within her work. Alice talks with Megan about that fact that an artist's growth is rarely linear and how we can only make sense of it all when we look backwards at everything that happened.  The wide-ranging discussion also covered building a creative practice alongside a family, how to find honest critiques  of your work, and how new classes and experiences can invigorate us as artists. Megan also offered practical tips for loading your car (!), teaching workshops, and how creative collaborations can allow you to blossom. Mentioned: See more of Megan’s work at: http://www.meganwoodardjohnson.com/ Find her on Instagram at: @meganwoodardjohnsonart https://www.instagram.com/meganwoodardjohnsonart/ Buy us a coffee and support the podcast here  Submit a question at bit.ly/artjuicepodcast Follow us on Instagram: @alicesheridanstudio  @louisefletcher_art   See fuller show notes on our websites: www.alicesheridan.com www.louisefletcherart.com Credits "Monkeys Spinning Monkeys" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License 

“If I had to describe my work, I would say that it is a blend of grunge, whimsy and outsider.” In our first breakout week, Louise is in discussion with artist Jacqui Fehl . Influenced by music, lyrics, feelings, stories, other artists, and the materials themselves, Jacqui’s art is as varied as her ever changing hair – sometimes light, humorous and colourful , while at other times serious with a touch of dark. In this podcast, Jacqui and Louise dive deeply into issues around the creative process, scaling up your work, your personal voice and and how we define success.  Part of the conversation centred on this quote: "It quite frequently happens that you’re just treading water for quite a long time. Nothing really dramatic seems to be happening. … And then suddenly everything seems to lock together in a different way. It’s like a crystallization point where you can’t detect any single element having changed. There’s a proverb that says that the fruit takes a long time to ripen, but it falls suddenly … And that seems to be the process." Brian Eno Mentioned: See more of Jacqui’s work at: https://www.jacquifehl.com Buy us a coffee and support the podcast here  Submit a question at bit.ly/artjuicepodcast Follow us on Instagram: @alicesheridanstudio  @louisefletcher_art   See fuller show notes on our websites: www.alicesheridan.com www.louisefletcherart.com Credits "Monkeys Spinning Monkeys" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License 

Things haven’t gone to plan chez Alice and Louise this week. Alice’s much anticipated summer break was swamped by rain, meaning a lot of wet walks and NONE of the planned sketchbook days out. To compound the situation, she also lost internet which meant she couldn’t catch up on important work. Louise worked for months on an online course, only to be let down by Zoom, YouTube and Mailchimp all on the same evening. The result was less than pretty! Given these mini-disasters, we discuss how we react when things go wrong. It’s easy to say ‘put things into perspective’ but do we need to feel that emotion first? And if so, is there a way to feel the emotion, but also keep things in perspective? We also answer a question about art degrees. One listener is considering whether to go for an MA.  We acknowledge that being an artist is about learning and stretching yourself, but we wonder whether taking an advanced degree is a safe option that simply postpones the inevitable time when you have to do this for yourself anyway. We would love to hear you views on this topic too, if you’ve taken an MA, what did you feel it gave you? Mentioned:  Louise's course - Find Your Joy Two Dots - you really don’t want to waste your time on this (unless you are only human!) Buy us a coffee and support the podcast here  Submit a question at bit.ly/artjuicepodcast Follow us on Instagram: @alicesheridanstudio  @louisefletcher_art   See fuller show notes on our websites: www.alicesheridan.com www.louisefletcerart.com Credits "Monkeys Spinning Monkeys" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License 

This week we’re discussing gender and how it influences the way we work. The high-end art world continues to be dominated by men and yet attend any workshop and most of the artists there will be women. Are female artists victims of a sexist society? Or are we actually holding ourselves back? We discuss how our parents influenced our attitudes, how women’s tendency to care for others can hinder us, and how we might make our way confidently in a man’s world without resorting to mimicking our male colleagues. We also wonder why some men take up two seats on a plane instead of just one!  (Damn! Should have scrolled further down the page… look at this article!!! By 40 women’s confidence grows to match men and post 60 is greater!!!!! There is hope :-) Alice has been taking and collecting selected work from exhibitions You can see three paintings as part of The Annual Exhibition Society of Women Artists at The Mall Galleries Tuesday 24th Sep at 4.00 to Sunday 29th September.  Mentioned: Alice’s mum’s book (for a great summer read) is called 'The Baby Box' by Jane Hayward Buy the hard copy direct:  https://janehayward.blog/book/ Or on Amazon HERE  Find the Olafur Eliasson documentary Alice mentioned  HERE The exhibition is on at Tate Modern until 20 January 2020 'The War of Art' by Steven Pressfield HERE 'Art and Fear' by David Bayles and Ted Orland HERE Buy us a coffee and support the podcast here  Submit a question at bit.ly/artjuicepodcast Follow us on Instagram: @alicesheridanstudio  @louisefletcher_art   See fuller show notes on our websites: www.alicesheridan.com www.louisefletcerart.com Credits "Monkeys Spinning Monkeys" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License 

We discuss our different approaches to summer - Louise doesn’t slow down in summer and in fact, her online course is about to start which means she is working even harder. Alice has children, which means her summers have always been a time for family. Even with the best will in the world, it’s almost impossible to work while caring for young children so she has always had to find ways of creating that could be squeezed into the gaps around family time. This has included other creative projects including home decor, gardening, cooking, and reading the art books that she has never got round to. We also discuss sketchbooks and the different ways we have both used them.  Oh, and also we started a hashtag for sharing how you are keeping in touch with your art practice over the summer!! Use #artjuicesummer on Instagram Our audience question is about charity donations: The listener wrote: “Had my fill this week. Would make an interesting podcast. The tactics they use to get free artwork. How to say no. How to not feel guilty. If I’m targeted then others artists must be too.” We have a slight reframe on this one … listen for ideas on how you can turn this around so it works for you AND for the charities you choose to support. Mentioned: Find your Joy FREE mini course runs Aug 2nd - 10th and you can sign up HERE Simple sketchbooks for the sketchbook in a day project HERE  Buy us a coffee and support the podcast here  Submit a question at bit.ly/artjuicepodcast Follow us on Instagram: @alicesheridanstudio  @louisefletcher_art   See fuller show notes on our websites: www.alicesheridan.com www.louisefletcerart.com Credits "Monkeys Spinning Monkeys" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License 

This week we’re talking about transitions - those times when our work moves into a new phase. Perhaps it comes upon us almost without us noticing - perhaps we make a conscious decision, but either way, change can be both exciting and unsettling. Louise is preparing to start new work in a few weeks time, and feeling pulled in several directions which feel unrelated. Alice has started new work that could be seen as re-visiting an earlier interest. We talk about letting ideas go, and giving them time to develop, how you can recognise transition moments. And when you should be on alert that perhaps some new transition is needed to fire up your creative life again. We also discuss a listener question from someone feeling impatient and wondering "how long did things take to start gaining momentum in terms of sales and can you see what this was linked to?" Mentioned: Find your Joy FREE mini course runs Aug 2nd - 10th and you can sign up HERE  Buy us a coffee  Submit a question at bit.ly/artjuicepodcast Follow us on Instagram: @alicesheridanstudio  @louisefletcher_art   Credits "Monkeys Spinning Monkeys" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License 

This one is a biggie... What does it mean to find our voice as an artist? How do we discover what we want to create? Especially as that may change over time. After a week of admin Louise believes the answer lies in following what you love. To do that you need to learn to play, which is something many people struggle with.  Alice wonders what happens when you enjoy the process, but not the end result? She believes you may need to let go of some ‘rules’ so that you can  discover your own questions; questions that will guide your art as you develop your process. If this is something you would like to explore, then join Louise for her "Find your Joy" FREE mini course which kicks off on 2nd August  We also discuss a listener question about what size paintings work best for galleries.... can you guess what we have to say about that?! Mentioned: Find your Joy FREE mini course runs Aug 2nd - 10th and you can sign up HERE Buy us a coffee  Submit a question at bit.ly/artjuicepodcast Follow us on Instagram: @alicesheridanstudio  @louisefletcher_art   Credits "Monkeys Spinning Monkeys" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License 

This week’s main topic was inspired by a listener who wrote: “I was hoping you could talk about colour mixing/ opposed to buying already mixed colours. I'm wanting to invest in new paint, I’d just like to hear your opinion on different paints & colour mixing etc.” This question led us into a discussion of colour and the way we use it in our work. For both of us, it is quite an important focus, but our preferred palettes are quite different. We discuss the emotional resonance of certain colours; the power of surprising ourselves; the freedom that can come (paradoxically) with a limited palette; and mixing colours versus using them straight from the tube. We also discuss the relativity of colour, and Alice shares her approach of choosing one hero colour for each painting. In the end, colour is an incredibly personal thing, and each artist approaches it in a different way. Some artists study colour theory, some spend hours mixing in a sketchbook, and some choose colours totally intuitively. And this is perhaps the most important point to come out of our discussion - we both believe that your use of colour should be guided not be rules or by what you think other artists would do, but by your own preferences and your goals for your work. Mentioned True Colors sign-up (featuring Alice's lessons)  Joseph Albers - Interaction of Colour Buy us a coffee  Submit a question at bit.ly/artjuicepodcast Follow us on Instagram: @alicesheridanstudio  @louisefletcher_art   See fuller show notes on our websites:   www.alicesheridan.com  www.louisefletcherart.com Credits "Monkeys Spinning Monkeys" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License