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Lorraine Bell artist

#188 Lorraine Bell: Wandering Artist and Art Journaler

Artist Lorraine Bell was a part of the group that started The Documented Life Project, about seven years ago. She is a lifelong journal keeper who expanded her artwork to include sketches and stories in travel journals. She’s truly a wandering artist, and she’s planned workshops for next year in Italy and France. She offers online courses on sketching and journal keeping, and she hosts a podcast called The Wandering Artist.

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

Lorraine Bell

Her website is lorrainebell.com.

You can also find her podcast The Wandering Artist on her website.

Details about her art retreats in France and Italy in 2021 are also on her website.

On Instagram, she is @lorraine_bell

Here are some great takeaways from our conversation:

Lorraine creates her own books for her travel sketches. Often she travels with loose pages and binds them into a book when she returns from her travels. Loose pages give much more flexibility in your drawing and ability to add mixed media items.
Seven years ago, Lorraine and 4 other artists started the Documented Life Project. Each week for a year, they offered a lesson or prompt for creating art in a planner. They ended up with a Facebook group of many thousand participants. Don’t be afraid to start something online. You won’t know if it will be something that resonates with others unless you try.
For her online classes, she has set up one Facebook group that they all can use. This is less time-consuming than doing one group per class.
When offering online classes, you have the option of offering them through someone else’s platform. That enables your class to reach a whole different set of potential students.
When we were talking about overseas retreats, Lorraine made a very good point. As a single woman, it’s easier and safer to do your traveling through retreats, where most everything is organized for you and you get to experience it with other women.
If you are looking to host a retreat elsewhere, one option is to connect with a local retreat venue that puts on retreats all the time. They’ll know the area and can plan the tours and excursions for your group.
Lorraine keeps her art supply list small when students are traveling to her classes. This makes it easier, especially when it’s an overseas retreat.

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Rachelle Kearl artist

#187 Rachelle Kearl: Painter of Wildflowers

Rachelle Kearl is a painter that is inspired by the wildflowers in Alberta, Canada. She creates beautiful floral paintings that are sometimes very detailed and sometimes more graphic in design. Often her paintings are large because she wants to make grand gestures on her canvas. Her paintings are shown in boutiques and artist collectives near her home. She’s hoping to be able to teach in person after the first of the year, using her skills as a former school teacher.

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

Rachelle Kearl

Her website is rachellekearlart.com.

On Instagram, she is @rachellekearl_art

Here are some great takeaways from our conversation:

We talked about art having a purpose. Some people stop making art because they don’t think it has a purpose. We forget that the purpose can simply be to make someone think or to make them happy.
Rachelle talked about learning from artist Betty Krause, that you should start out painting by activating your canvas. Just put some paint down, any color, and you don’t need to know where it’s going to go. This gets you started and you can change your colors or ideas later.
The first marks also help to treat your canvas as if it’s not too precious. Sometimes people are afraid to “mess up” a canvas and that’s why they can’t make the first mark. Just go for it and get it started.
Rachelle paints large canvases because she wants to make large gestures. The canvases suit what she’s trying to create.
When I was talking with Anthony Burks in Episode 185, he said that he had moved into a studio space that was a formerly empty store front. In his case, it is one space that has 18 smaller rooms for 18 artists. Rachelle told me that in Calgary they will utilize empty spaces in malls. She’s a part of an artist collective that is one space where many artists can show their work. These are great programs that utilize empty spaces, and they’re good for the retail areas because they’ll look busier and bring in more people.
Artists are starting to think about offering in person classes for next year. Rachelle mentioned that she will decrease the number of students so that they can keep their distance while working.
Rachelle mentioned a great thing she did when she was teaching pre-school for 3-5-year-olds. If they were working on something, she wouldn’t tell them what to do, instead she would say “Do you need anything?” That can be used for adults too. It’s a very encouraging statement that helps them to keep going.
Her paintings are inspired by the wildflowers she sees near her home. She takes photos on her walks, prints them out, and puts them in sheet protectors in binders. That way she has inspiration even when she’s in her snowy months and there are no flowers around.

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#186 Carl Stoveland and Shannon Torrence: A Month of Art on a Tropical Island

For today’s episode, I’m having a follow-up conversation with artists Shannon Torrence and Carl Stoveland. I first spoke with Shannon and Carl about two months ago in Episode 176. They told me about their upcoming month-long artist residency at Dry Tortugas National Park, which is 70 miles west of Key West, Florida. On Loggerhead Key, Shannon would be painting with acrylics and Carl would be taking photographs, videos, and painting watercolors. They were taken out there by boat with everything they needed for a month: paints, paper, easel, cameras and film, and of course, their clothing and food. If you haven’t listened to Episode 176 yet, I suggest you go back and listen to that first. They told me how they applied for this artist residency through the National Parks Arts Foundation, and that they planned to make a documentary film of this residency. Their final product is changing a little bit, as you’ll hear in today’s episode, as a result of what they saw during their time on the island. But they’ve returned with many paintings, photos, and film footage, and they’re excited to share their experiences with us. Here they are talking about their month together at Dry Tortugas National Park, on the 64 acre island called Loggerhead Key.

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

Shannon Torrence and Carl Stoveland at the top of the lighthouse on Loggerhead Key

Shannon Torrence

Carl Stoveland

Their website documenting this residency is flyingtortugabrothers.com

and it is also on Facebook and Instagram.

Carl’s website is carlstovelandphotography.com.

You can also find him on Instagram @carlstoveland.

Shannon Torrence is on Instagram @tidalcroftstudio.

You can find their podcast here.

In January, 2021, Shannon will be showing his art at Palm Beach Framemakers, and in November 2021 they hope to be at The Gallery on Greene in Key West.

Here are some great takeaways from our conversation:

When doing an artist residency where you won’t have access to stores during it, be sure to bring backups of everything you need. You don’t want to bring too much, but you don’t want to run out of art supplies or not have working devices, batteries, or chargers.
Shannon would scout locations for each day’s painting. When painting outside, you need to prepare for all kinds of weather, plus different drying times for your paint, plus bugs, and blowing sand. You also need to dress appropriately, which for them meant long pants, long sleeves, and a hat so they wouldn’t get sunburned.
Shannon did color studies while he was on the island so that he could do accurate large paintings later when he got home. This is a good idea because photographs won’t always show the true color of a scene.
When taking photographs to use as inspiration for later paintings, take pictures at different times of day. You’ll want to see how the sun and clouds change the scene, and for them on the island, how the tides change the scene.
As I’ve said here before, for most artist residencies, you need to propose a project you’ll be doing while you are there or completing when you get back. It’s O.K. if that project changes based on what you experienced during the residency. You need to be flexible and adapt to unexpected things.
When you’re creating outside, it’s important to bring all your trash back with you and to not leave a negative impact on the environment.
They ended their interview with this great bit of advice for anyone doing a residency: The key to a successful residency is just being flexible. Things change every day from what you think you’re going to do.

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Anthony Burks

#185 Anthony Burks: Creating Beauty with Colored Pencils

Anthony Burks is a colored pencil artist who creates on paper, and often on wood and other found objects. He adds other materials, like charcoal and watercolor. He had a full year scheduled with out of state art shows as well as his teaching and mentoring gigs, which all had to be cancelled. Before the pandemic, he had applied to a local fellowship, and he received it this summer. That has opened up many opportunities for him, including a move into a group studio space. He probably has worked harder than ever this year, creating new projects and seeking out artist grants.

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

Anthony Burks, Sr.

This is Anthony’s website: anthonyburkscollection.com

You can also find him on:

Facebook

Instagram

Anthony and his wife Trina Slade-Burks created the show How Do We Move Forward at the Cultural Council for Palm Beach County. It combined art with poems from 10 black artists. You can see this at the Cultural Council’s YouTube channel.

Anthony recently moved into a studio space that was created by Zero Empty Spaces. They are creating these spaces elsewhere in the U.S. You can find out more on their Facebook page here.

Here are some great takeaways from our conversation:

Branch out from the usual substrates for your art, beyond canvas and paper. Anthony has produced art on wood, cigar boxes, and now wine boxes.
Anthony recently was awarded a fellowship from a local arts group. Fellowships, grants, and residencies are a great way to fund an art project. Usually they want you to propose what you will be doing, and the funding is a way to get the new project done. You can find these by searching local, regional, and national art groups.
Anthony recently moved into a shared art studio space. A local group approaches commercial real estate holders who have retail space that has been empty for a long time. They propose letting artists use the spaces for a low price for a set period of time. The space he is in is one of 18 smaller spaces grouped together. If you want to find out more and see if this program can come to your area, contact Zero Empty Spaces through Facebook.
We’re all trying to figure out how to do art events and keep up the social distancing. Expand beyond the four walls of your gallery and studio and see if you can utilize the outdoor space. You can set up live painting or music outside and people can take turns going inside in small groups.
If you have a studio space where people can visit, set it up so you also can display art and merchandise to make sales. Most sales will occur in person rather than online, especially if you’re allowed to see and talk to the artist about their art.
It’s not a good idea to lower your prices right now. No matter what the situation is, it’s hard to raise your prices back up again after you have discounted your art. Instead, offer lower price points with small pieces or merchandise.
Making art live on Facebook or YouTube is a great way for people to get to know you. You can have the camera on your face or your hands, it doesn’t matter.

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#184 Craig McInnis: Artist, Muralist, and Creative

Craig McInnis is an artist based in West Palm Beach, Florida. For the past few years, he’s been developing his abstract fine art, while still working with his pop/surreal character-driven art that often depicts a social message. In the past few months, he’s found that some cities and art groups are working to support artists, and he’s received art grants as well as many mural opportunities. He’s also moved his teaching to online classes, and he continues to expand his art career with collaborations with other artists and business leaders. Be sure and go back to Episode 33 when I first talked to Craig. He tells us how he got his start and how for a big part of his year he was the Creative Director of a large group of haunted houses, known as Fright Nights. That’s been put on hold this year, but Craig has found many other artistic things to keep him busy.

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

This is Craig’s website: craigmcinnis.com

You can also find him on:

Facebook

Instagram

You can find his classes through Lot 23 on Facebook.

Craig mentioned his great website designer. You can find him here: Steven Spencer.

Here are some great takeaways from our conversation:

Expand your view on the art that you can produce. It doesn’t have to be limited to one medium. For Craig, he started painting sets for a haunted house. Later he worked on the makeup and wardrobe for the actors, and then the design of the actual houses. Ultimately this led to a Creative Director position at Fright Nights, a haunted house event in Florida. He was able to move to this position because he had used art skills at so many components of the whole project.
Murals are a good art form to pursue right now, because they’re usually a solitary experience. You’re usually outside in the open air, and not around a lot of people when you are creating it, so you can do it rather safely during this social distance time.
Craig made a great statement about a client who he has worked with on multiple jobs. He said Take care of your clients, and they will remember you in tough times. He gave the example of a restaurant owner and designer who has hired him to paint murals in three restaurants, the latest during the pandemic when Craig really needed the work.
If you’re being offered larger jobs, you might want to take an assistant to help you. It’s a win-win for you both, because they can help you get the job done in a timely manner, and you can teach them your skills so that they can expand their art experience.
Seek out artist grants to help fund your business. Many organizations have offered microgrants to artists since the pandemic began to help them get through the slower months. You can search for grants at the local, regional, or national level by just googling “grants for artists.”
I mentioned that you can also find virtual art shows right now. You can apply to some no matter where you live in the country. The art is still for sale, and buyers from all over can see the art.
Some of the changes we’ve had to make due to social distancing are very innovative and successful and can actually be carried forward even past when we don’t have to distance so much. Think of the changes you’re making and see if it makes sense to continue these new things for your business next year.
Artists this year have had to cancel large events that they’ve done for many years in a row. It’s a good idea to keep the name of the event out there and perhaps do a smaller version, maybe something online, that can continue the name so people won’t forget it when you’re ready to go big again next year.
If you’re unable to sell your art in your usual way right now, continue to put your art out on social media anyway. This way you’re keeping your name out there, and when you’re ready to put art out to sell again, your followers will still be there.
Craig likes to balance making his fine art and commercial art, because when one is having a good day, it can support him until the other one is doing well again.
The last thing we talked about was making it easy for people to find you, whether they want to buy art with you or collaborate on a project. List your email address and phone number right on your website. That’s where people will go to find out how to contact you. Contact forms are fine, but they’re just not as easy to use as putting your email address out there.

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