Season 4 Archives | Page 11 of 12

#208 Hannah Fitzgibbon: Creativity Coach

Hannah Fitzgibbon is a creativity coach on the South Island of New Zealand. Hannah helps artists have more intention and control over their creative process. She coaches people to develop strategies to get past creative blocks, to be better at time management, and to invite innovation into their business. Through her coaching practice she can help you develop and trust your creativity to find more joy and flow in work you love.

Listen here or download from iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, CastBox, or Stitcher.

Hannah Fitzgibbon

Hannah’s website is creativityreflector.com

She is on Instagram at hanfitz.creates

Her podcast is called Creativity Reflections.

Here are some great takeaways from our conversation:

When Hannah is helping people with their creativity, she suggests they first create an atmosphere or space where you can really relax, so that you can lean into the skills you already have. This will give you confidence that you can learn new things.
We talked about the uncertainty that many business owners have been facing this past year. The first thing she mentioned is that you need to understand that your fear and paralysis are completely valid.
The next thing you can work on is bringing your stress level down. She suggests doing that through movement rather than trying to think your way through it. A walk is a great thing to do for destressing.
One of the key things when working on a problem is to stop and reflect about what you’ve done so far. You need to give yourself time to evaluate what is working and what is not.
We can create the conditions to invite inspiration more often by reflecting on what has worked in the past.
When doing a new project, you want to research and learn new steps to take. However, don’t get sucked into over learning that it then becomes procrastination.
You also don’t want to be overly responsible, where you don’t allow others to help you with the work.
For time management, often what helps is getting yourself moving in the right direction but not trying to get something perfect. She also noted that it’s not really about managing time, it’s about managing your energy and prioritizing what you need to do. When you do a task when you have the right energy, it may only take one hour to do, rather than three hours when you aren’t energized.

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#207 Carolyn Peeler: Prone to Wander Artistic and Cultural Retreats

Carolyn Peeler of Vancouver, Canada created her company Prone to Wander Retreats to offer art and culture retreats in various countries. Her retreats include cooking classes from local artisans and tours of the area. She also invites an artist to travel with them to teach their art medium, like watercolor or photography. Her plan is to offer retreats again in 2022, in Italy and Morocco.

Listen here or download from iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, CastBox, or Stitcher.

Carolyn Peeler

Carolyn’s website is pronetowanderretreats.com

She can also be found on Instagram and Facebook.

Here are some great takeaways from our conversation:

Retreats are great opportunities to learn about another country and their food, art, and culture. It’s also a wonderful gift to you to get away from your daily life and meet new people in a new setting.
If you feel stagnant in your art, it may help to switch it up and work on another completely different type of art, like taking a break from your painting to make some jewelry. You may find that when you get back to your painting you are newly inspired and your creativity is refreshed.
It’s a good idea to feature different tours and classes at each retreat to encourage repeat attendees.
When Carolyn planned her first retreat, she planned it with another person so she wouldn’t be doing it alone. That’s a great way to get started with retreats and share the work involved.
For planning a retreat, you need to balance the needs of your clients with the contracts you may have signed for venues. With this pandemic, looking forward, you’ll also have to look at the rules in the country you’re going to plus the rules of all the countries of your clients.
As a retreat host, it’s best if you include all the travel between locations, most of the meals, and all the classes and excursions in one fee for your retreat. Usually, the only extra thing that your client has to buy is the plane ticket to and from the location.
Carolyn pointed out one other thing that is specific to some countries. If you’re providing transportation within the country, you may have to be a registered travel agent in the country. She was able to use a local agent to make those arrangements for her retreat.
When planning additional retreats, make sure you don’t plan so many that they outpace your demand. Carolyn is growing her business at a slow even pace for this reason.
It’s a good idea to set up a Facebook group for your retreat guests so they can “pre-meet” each other before they arrive and they can ask any questions about the retreat.
Carolyn pointed out that going on a retreat is so valuable to your creative growth. You’re meeting other creatives, doing new things, and stepping out of your comfort level when you travel to another country.
If you’re interested in going on a retreat in the future, please reach out to retreat companies now and tell them you’re interested and would like to be put on their waiting list. That will be so encouraging to them to know that you’re looking forward to when they can offer retreats again.

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#206 Andrea Ehrhardt: Mural and Lettering Artist

Andrea Ehrhardt is a mural and lettering artist. She got her start painting for Bass Pro Shops, learning from other muralists and developing her skills. After two years traveling to different locations, painting and lettering at each new store opening, she started her own art business creating murals in her hometown of Springfield, Missouri. After many mural and lettering projects later, she now advises other artists through her membership community called The Artist Academy.

Listen here or download from iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, CastBox, or Stitcher.

Andrea Ehrhardt

Andrea’s website is artbyandreae.com

She can also be found on Instagram @artbyandreaehrhardt

Her Artist Academy membership community, where you can find all kinds of help for your art business, is here on her website.

Here are some great takeaways from our conversation:

Andrea gave a couple examples where she asked for something related to her business and she got it. Don’t be afraid to ask. Nothing is lost by asking, and if the answer is No, then you move on or figure something else out.
If you want to learn a new technique, like mural art, approach other mural artists and see if they will mentor you. Offer to pay them for an hour of questions, or offer to assist for them for free. Take advantage of the knowledge and experience of other artists, but be sure you give them something else in return.
A great idea when you make some street art is to create a hashtag for it so people can post their own photos with your art. Be sure and put your Instagram page and the hashtag at the bottom of the art.
Public art is a great way for tons of people to see what you do. Andrea did her first mural, some butterfly wings in Springfield, Missouri, for free for a friend who owned the building. After that, it was free advertising, and she could use that to pitch her street art to other businesses in the area.
When you’re proposing a unique project to someone, they’ll be more likely to go for it if you really educate them on what it’s all about and what it can do for them. Andrea told businesses that her murals would attract people to the business and people would tag them so even more people would come.
For her murals, Andrea swears by Benjamin Moore latex paint because it’s thick and gives good coverage. She just uses interior or exterior accordingly. She also uses Nova paint because they have a bigger variety of colors.
Andrea offers a membership community called the Artist Academy. Communities are a great way to learn new things because you get the expertise of the leader, plus she brings in experts in other areas to speak to the group, plus group members help each other out with things that they know. Another thing to know about membership communities is that you can join any time, but you’ll usually have access to any resources that were created before you joined. You can always go back and see previous videos and tutorials.
Have you heard of a three-tiered pricing structure? Andrea utilizes this for her art business. You want to offer artwork in three different price ranges so that your art is accessible to everyone, both individuals and businesses. Her murals are her highest tier, then her fine art and prints, and finally, her print of the month club, which is only $7 per print.
Andrea pointed out that it’s a great time to be an artist. It’s so easy to find followers from all over the world, and it’s easy to make videos to show people what you do. If you can’t figure out Instagram, or anything else you’d like to try, you can find lots of how-to videos, or look and see if your favorite artist offers instructional videos.
Videos are a great way to show people what you do. The newest way is by making short reels on Instagram. The time-lapse function on your phone works well because a long video showing your process can be condensed to 15 or 30 seconds.
When you’re making videos, it takes up a lot of your battery. If you put it on airplane mode, that won’t take up as much charge. This is a genius hack that I hadn’t thought of. I’m definitely trying that.
When doing public art, check to see if the city has rules about what can be painted and how. You don’t want to get in a situation where you need to re-do a mural at your own expense.

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#205 Nick Bantock: Writer and Artist of Griffin & Sabine Books

Nick Bantock is a writer and artist who resides in Victoria, British Columbia. His Griffin & Sabine books uniquely contained collage art in the form of postcards and letters that you could unfold and read. He has also written illustrated novels, such as The Forgetting Room, as well as books on creativity, like Urgent 2^nd Class and The Trickster’s Hat. He uses old papers, maps, and photos, and combines them with rubber stamps, handwriting, and artwork. His newest project is a deck of 40 Archetype cards called The Archeo, plus a 200-page companion book.

Listen here or download from iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, CastBox, or Stitcher.

Nick Bantock

Nick’s website is nickbantock.com.

He can also be found on Facebook.

And also on Instagram @nick_bantock_art

Nick has an Etsy shop called BANTOCKart where he sells many pieces of original art.

Here are some great takeaways from our conversation:

Nick has published books over three decades, and he’s seen a lot of changes in the publishing industry. Despite those changes, I feel like the most important thing is that you find an editor who you click with and who understands your vision. When he first proposed Griffin & Sabine, it was a unique type of book, but he found an editor who got what he was trying to do.
Think beyond art on paper for what you’d like to offer in your art business. Perhaps you could write and illustrate a book. Or perhaps you’d like to create a set of cards with your artwork, or you’d like to create your own rubber stamps. Make things that interest you and don’t be afraid to try something new.
When Nick describes his art, whether in his books or on a Facebook post, he tells the story he’s trying to convey, rather than the techniques and materials he used for the artwork. He thinks of the techniques as just the techniques, and they don’t tell the story of the art. Tell your story through the art, and if the whole story you want to tell isn’t there, then you need to add something more to the art.
Working on his collages, Nick says he’ll move from chaos to order to chaos to order. That sounds like a good way to think about things, especially when you’re doing mixed media art, and incorporating lots of materials and supplies. I think the trick is to trust that allowing chaos to happen won’t prevent you from making good art.
I found this fascinating. In the Griffin & Sabine series, Nick is writing letters by seven different characters. Each character has his own way of writing, and his own pen. Also, his own sitting position when writing. If you’re making art and you’d like it to be from a different perspective, or perhaps it’s a new collection, try different tools and a different setup in your studio to make that new art. You may find that it helps you to create a new look for your art.
Think about the writing that you are doing for your art business. When Nick first proposed his Griffin & Sabine book, he proposed to do the artwork, but he wrote up a few things to give some ideas of what a different writer could do for it. His editor said he would be great as the writer too. You may find that you write a lot, maybe for Instagram posts, or website descriptions of your art, and you just may want to write a book that goes with your art as well.

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#204 Virginia Kraljevic: Pen and Ink Artist

Artist Virginia Kraljevic lives in New York City with her family. She’s a pen and ink artist and designer who creates intricate artwork that has appeared on an array of surfaces from clothing, wall decor, giftware, and books to fabric. Virginia has also created artwork for Ikea and many other clients. She tells us how she began licensing her artwork and providing custom art for businesses. At the end of our conversation, after Virginia and I say our goodbyes, Virginia turns the table and asks a me a question. So make sure you stick around after our first goodbye to hear a little extra chitchat from the two of us and about how amazing we think artists are. Usually I cut our extra talk out, but I thought you’d enjoy it today.

Listen here or download from iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, CastBox, or Stitcher.

Virginia Kraljevic

Virginia’s website is virginiakraljevic.com

She is also on Instagram.

Here are some great takeaways from our conversation:

When you’re making your art, you may occasionally think that you’ve made a mistake. Virginia likes to think of those as opportunities to work with it and make something better.
Virginia talked about upgrading your tools. Better tools will help make your artwork more professional and will give you more confidence.
When you’re first starting out with your business, start small, but start doing something. Put your art in small art events, and that will lead to larger events. Join local artist groups or etsy selling groups and you’ll start learning more about the art business.
If you’re looking to license your art and have it seen by many companies, one way to get into that is to get a booth at a trade show. Virginia did the Surtex show in New York.
When you do trade shows, don’t expect to get deals during the show. A lot of them will come weeks or even a year after when the client has a project where your art would fit. The trade show should be all about cultivating relationships for long-term deals.
Virginia had some words of encouragement for Mom artists out there: She said that there’s always time to do your art, even if you have to use the time before the kids wake up in the morning.
Some of her art is used for licensing, and in that case, she retains the rights to the artwork. Other jobs might be custom work that is unique to a client. She also says the licensing contracts are fairly straight forward, so she doesn’t feel it’s necessary to deal with a licensing agent.
Virginia makes her own prints because she’s found that it’s cheaper to invest in your own printer than it is to use an outside printer. She uses an Epson Stylus Photo R3000.
If you are offering prints, it’s a good idea to offer them in a size that will fit a standard frame so that your customer won’t have to cut the print.

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