Finding Joy in the Process

I joined Louise Fletcher’s online Art Tribe at the beginning of December. I pay a subscription every month for access to the online hub; containing art masterclasses, inspiration, conversations and other resources, and the Art Tribe group on Facebook. I had been considering joining for a while but decided that now is the time to take the leap.

Louise talks a lot about finding the joy in our artmaking processes and this is something that I have been exploring for myself in the past few months. It is one of the reasons that I decided to join her group. I have been taking the time to gently notice the things that I do, the places I go, and the people I spend time with that bring joy into my life. I have been taking note of the things that catch my attention when I am out and the books that I have enjoyed reading. It is helping me to build a more complete picture of the next steps that I would like to take and the things that I would like to do and explore next year.

I have been working through some of the artist mindset masterclasses in the Art Tribe hub and I have had some real ‘aha’ moments. Things tend to become clear when I start to write them down and I begin to wonder why I didn’t see them before!

I have found that;

·         I am happiest when I am walking in nature, I am particularly drawn to details in the landscape; foliage, flowers, trees, driftwood, shells, pebbles, seedheads, mosses and lichens, nests and skies.

·         I am mesmerized by colour and light in the landscape.

·         I like to read about female experiences of the landscape and the work of artists who are inspired by nature and/or landscape.

·         I enjoy painting and embroidery but don’t have any desire to combine them. However, I do think that drawing plays a part in all my artmaking.

·         I would like to express more of the way I experience nature and the landscape in my art. I will experiment with various degrees of abstraction as a way to achieve this.

These discoveries are feeding in to my planning for next year. For example, I know that I would like to do more drawing outside, in the landscape, to capture the shapes and colours that catch my attention. I am also keen to learn more about the process of abstraction and improve my painting technique. These are all things I can work into my diary for next year.