Big news: I have my own studio space now! Over the summer I cleared the application process plus won an actual lottery to gain my own studio space in Strijp S, Eindhoven.
I’ve been looking for a while for a space to give workshops, mingle with people in a creative setting and generally have a bit more room for my business. My living room was bursting at the seams trying to contain my business goings-on, necessaries AND just generally being lived in, so this is fantastic.
I was missing the chance to connect and teach in my own space. Being hosted by other creatives and venues is lovely and cosy, but I’m going to relish not having to lug my stuff around to each location each time. Plus I get easily overwhelmed by the cleanup process, and having to clear out immediately after teaching a group. Now I have a chance to slow down and recoup at a slower tempo.
I’m based at Studio 52 in the Apparatenfabriek, Strijp S. A lovely, ramshackle old Philips building with a history, that now houses a hundred or so creatives. It’s broken in, with an industrial, functional feeling. I’ve been enjoying primping it with my own bits and pieces. Big tables, big airy windows (natural lighting!) and good access.
The only downside is the building will be renovated end of 2026, which is the outermost our rent will be extended to. This does however mean I have an end-date to this endeavour, which gives a satisfying idea of how long I’ll be at this, and keeps it all in perspective instead of me getting a bit carried away with plans. It’ll hopefully be a lovely tenancy with some great workshops and meeting new people. Hopefully a learning curve, preparing me for another location after 2026 (give me a heads up if you have any leads on a new location!) because it would be a shame to downsize again.
Meanwhile, here’s the first look at my agenda for this workshop season (links are clickable to tickets for all currently listed events)-
I’m focusing on painting and manual printing workshops for now, but if you have suggestions or ideas for collaborations (especially eco/nature ones) then do send me a mail.
Above you can see some photos of a drypointing etching workshop done over the summer at Minimuc Architecture and Interior Design studio. I can’t wait to get nice and inky in my own space with some of you!
We’re organising another botanical watercolor painting workshop in Eindhoven, in the lovely Irisbuurt Blokhut. Come join us on Saturday 30th September, from 10.00-12.00!
Please drop me a message or RSVP to the event on Eventbrite if you can, it helps with planning! The event is listed as ‘free’, but €2 donation on the day would be much appreciated!
English// (Dutch below)
Open for beginners and experienced artists. This will be a guided workshop, with tips and tricks. Use the lovely garden and prepared botanical elements as inspiration! We speak both Dutch and English. Everyone is welcome!
€2~ per person (cash or card), coffee/tea included.
Use our watercolour materials (10 sets available, first come first served) to make a couple of paintings of the lovely garden or the prepared botanical elements with an Autumnal feel that we will place on the tables for you to study. Alternatively, bring your own painting equipment and inspiration pictures. Materials for tonal sketching will also be available. We’ll go ahead even if it’s raining, we can sit under cover and if it’s cold, inside.
PLEASE NOTE: It is paid parking in the neighbourhood, except the nearby Lucas Gasselstraat. The first hour of the Jumbo carpark is also free.
See you there!
Previous painting workshops
NL //
Samen gezellig aquarelleren bij de Blokhut. Gebruik de prachtige tuin en botanische elementen als inspiratie!
Voor zowels beginners als ervaren kunstenaars, iedereen is welkom!
Wij spreken zowel engels als nederlands. 10 sets materialen beschikbaar (op is op)
Schilderen wat je wilt, en ik ben er als professionele illustrator aanwezig om tips te geven.
Ook met slecht weer gaat het door (er is een overgedekte ruimte en binnenruimte beschikbaar)
€2~ per persoon (contant of betaalpas). Koffie/thee inbegrepen.
Alstublieft RSVP voor het evenement op Eventbrite, dat helpt met plannen, dankjewel (op Eventbrite staat dat het evenement gratis is, maar ik zal die €2 betaling op de dag heel fijn vinden)!
Let op: Betaald parkeren in de buurt, wel gratis parkeren op de Lucas Gasselstraat, en de eerste uur bij de Jumbo parkeerterrein is gratis.
… or What I’ve Learnt as an Artist-Mama, Working From My Living Room, With a Young Child
My little studio assistant
We made it through to school age! I have a little school-goer! What a ride. Caring for small children is a job in itself. I honestly don’t know how we as parents have time to breathe sometimes, let alone focus on ourselves for part of the day and *gasp* HAVE A CAREER. All I know is, if you’re going through it (and you’ve all not throttled each other yet), hats off to you.
These tips are quite general. Having a young child around the house is a trying time for everyone. I’m sure all WFH (work-from-home) parents (and even those who work outside of the home) will relate, not just mamas. Read on for what I learnt, and maybe it’ll help you just to know it’s something a lot of people around the world are struggling with. I’m sure non of it is new or revolutionary, but a bit of solidarity goes down well with a cup of tea on a particularly trying day.
Double box your art materials! And put up as much high, out-of-reach storage as you can
If they can reach it, they will touch it. Particularly the black. It’s always the black. There’s darkness in the souls of young children that simply must be expressed, apparently. All over your nice clean paper stock.
2. If you’re drawing nudey bits, and you leave it out on the desk, be prepared to explain.
Just saying.
3. Have a strict ‘no drinks’ policy around your desk, and your tech, and a no ‘sticky fingers’ policy…
Ok, this will be impossible. If you so much leave anything that can be made grubby, children will go out of their way to make it so. Even if you’ve just wiped their fingers. I don’t want to think about what they make half of those marks with.
That’s the practical side of things. Now on to how to save your sanity, self-esteem and some semblance of basic hygiene.
4. Don’t be under the impression that you will keep a professional appearance at all times.
Pj’s and comfies are just workwear here, barring the hours of maybe 10-2pm. If I have to be seen in public before or after that, well: that’s what coats are for. Maybe once a week I put on actual grown-up clothes first thing in the morning, even when I don’t have to meet anybody, and don’t I feel swish. I challenge you to do better.
5. Get a decent set-up, from the Get-Go.
My posture is awful. My chair is too high, my screen too low. I cram in between my desk and my shelves, whilst doing an awkward quarter turn towards my graphics tablet. Save your joints. I already have chronic pain: you’d think I’d have learnt, but no. I don’t need to advise regular stretching exercises, because you already have a toddler who ‘needs’ you to get down on the floor with them and play with that one little figurine. Again. And every two minutes after that. No use climbing back up to your desk actually. Maybe you don’t need that fancy set-up after all.
One half of my desk. Isn’t it a glorious set-up *eyeroll*?
6. You will Develop an iron Sense of Self Control…
… but not before you’ve gone through a period of unbridled self-indulgence, relishing the fact that you have an open plan living room/kitchen/work area, and love snacks. And The Child is asking for snacks constantly anyway, so you can’t avoid that short walk to the snack cupboard. No tips here. I still drink too much coffee, but I think I just got bored of the sugar highs.
7. It’s ok if you dont ‘have it together’ for a while.
My productivity levels are all over the place. It depends on if there are school holidays, if there’s a sick boy (or mama, or papa) resting on the couch, how much we’ve been up in the night… and that’s ok. We’re creative people, so I suppose we need to give in and apply that to our business schedule too. It’s tough not being able to apply myself full force when the muse hits, but I’ve been trying to be softer on myself and use any downtime to rest and contemplate, instead of wringing my hands in frustration. Ok, I still do that, but I’m getting better at it.
It also means I utilise what time I DO have really well, if I do say so myself. I managed to knock all these out in the two weeks before our first summer break-
Background paintings, all completed in two weeks
And then once in the holiday, this was my entire plan for marketing my 2024 calendar (which was a huge project for me this year so I really need to put a lot of effort in to marketing)…
Scribbled on the back page of my planner, because I hadn’t bought a new one, and written in the five minutes my son was using the bathroom during an ‘at home’ day
… yeah, that was the best I had at the time. Once I write EVERYTHING down, and in multiple planners and calendars, I usually don’t need to look at it again because it’s filed in my brain. If I don’t write it down, however, I’d get to November then remember that I hadn’t finished the calendar yet. It doesn’t matter if you have an analogue or digital agenda system, but USE IT! Planning doesn’t have to be pretty (although I’m a major sucker for pretty stationery, especially as a visual person) it just has to be DONE.
So I hope that you at least feel a little bit comforted if you remember that the pressure we and society put on ourselves to be ‘switched on’ or pushing our career as soon as our children are barely able to mumble ‘mama’ is absolute nonsense, and absolutely not helpful when applied to the messiness of everyday life. Chuck that pressure out the window.
Also worth looking at is this fantastic book ‘The Motherhood of Art’ by Melissa Huber and Heather Kirtland. A look at lots of other artist mamas (but could easily apply to papas and carers) and how they make it through the day as a creative with little ones.
This book reminds me we’re not alone on this journey. ISBN 9780764359187.
(Not a promo: my sister gave it to me and it reassured me I wasn’t alone as a WFH creative on this parenting/work struggle).
I’ve also been hearing the idea going around a lot at the moment that you don’t stop being an artist (creative, crafter etc.) if you’re not actively making art. YOU ARE STILL AN ARTIST. This is just a season, and your creativity will re-kindle, and I hope you can be kind to yourself if things aren’t quite perfectly in balance.
I say new, it isn’t really, I have just had the mental space to sit down and really consider the why’s and the where to’s of my artwork, and what the connecting thread is. Obvious, once you see it.
‘A Quiet Spring Read’- One of my images from next year’s ‘Simple Pleasures’ wall calendar. Each image in this series has a botanical flourish, a touch of nature in the everyday.
Anyhow, the botanical touches in this calendar series are a reminder that the beauty and seasons of nature can still touch us in our daily lives. Completing the series is a continuation of my study of ‘the cycles of nature and our connection to it’.
How Did It All Become Clear?
One evening in October I sat quietly on my son’s bed, his head in my lap, stroking his hair in the dark. We do this every night and it’s often the first chance we get to slow down after a busy day. This particular evening I sat and reflected on where I was with my art, where this year had taken me and where I wanted to go with it next year. I was taking a breather after assembling my exhibition for Dutch Design Week, and had already checked off most of my ‘to do’ list for this year.
I realised the chosen theme for our joint exhibition, a sort of ‘catch-all’ each of us was already using as a creative, was a thread I have always had running through my artwork for a long time. The theme ‘Nature Human Nature; exploring the state of our connection to nature as the organic beings we are’ is not exceptionally unusual but one I’m sure many creatives can relate to.
Nature is Magical, but…
Why would anyone want to hear that coming from me? Everyone knows the natural world is wondrous and important, so how am I sharing it in a meaningful way with people? What in particular about the natural world draws me in so I can draw it out?
My connection to nature was so obvious once I looked again at my work, and the theme for the exhibition.
It’s the cycles! The renewal of the seasons and cycles of nature that return and plough on even when shaken and disrupted by us. Just look at some of the works I’ve made in the last couple of years that physically use a ‘cycles/circles of nature’ theme~
Midwinter Frolic, fox painting Midsummer Magic iFox painting
My work is a celebration of how grounded the rhythms of nature keep me, even when I’m living in a box apartment that vibrates with the superficial airco of the supermarket below. The symbols in my images are often widely acknowledged cultural representations of the seasons, a testament to the unity with nature many of us rejoice in throughout the years of our lives. The hopeful fresh tones of Spring, the bountiful blooms of Summer, the chilling angularities of Winter: I want to capture and honour it all. I want to portray the marks it makes on our psyches.
My brain has clearly been crying out for me to connect to nature in my current urban setting. I love people but I’m a nature lover and country girl at heart. I miss walks in the woods and fields, and will rekindle that feeling every way I can. What better way than capturing that magical awe and sharing it with others through my artwork? I hope you can feel the energy and feeling of ‘completeness’ that being able to portray it gives me. I just needed to slow down and pause to catch up with myself again.
Folklore, semiotics and cultural references to nature have long been a part of my work, but now I know I need to delve even deeper to grasp hold of that golden connecting thread running through my artmaking journey. If I’m lucky that thread will pass on beyond my reach to be grasped by others who feel the same connection. Others who find my artwork celebrates their own grounding connection to the natural world, that honours their own seasons.
Come join us Saturday 10th Dec at the Blokhut for a ‘Winter Botanicals’ watercolor workshop! All abilities welcome, I can give tips for those who ask, or just come along and do your thing. Botanics are one of my passions and a much-covered subject in my work. I’d love to share my process with you!
We’ll have some lovely botanical materials on the table to paint and draw from (donation jar will be on the table, much appreciated!), or bring your own ‘wintery’ reference photos.
Come join us on the 10th for a watercolor workshop in Eindhoven!
We speak both Dutch and English. Everyone is welcome!
Use our watercolour materials (10 sets available, first come first served) to make a couple of paintings, or bring your own painting equipment. Materials for tonal sketching will also be available.
This will be inside, so no worries about the weather. This will be our third edition, and the first two were really fun, with some good chats with fellow creatives.
PLEASE NOTE~ Please sign up to the Facebook event or send me a message to say you plan on coming if possible, so that I can make sure we have a decent amount of reference material laid out for everyone. It helps me out greatly with planning!
Here are some examples of the type of botanical illustrations I can show the process for in the workshop, if you want to follow along~
For the second image I used my painting as the background for a mini desk calendar, which is available to my peeps on Patreon (hence the smaller image size: it’s exclusively for the use of my Patrons).
Here’s a peek into my process~
Tutorial video for watercolor painting workshop in Eindhoven, December
Creating little spot images like these are a great way to make art for yourself, for journaling, to stick on your wall or to turn in to your Christmas cards this year. You’ll come away with something you love!
We’re back for another painting workshop at the Blokhut in Eindhoven, after the success of the first one! Saturday 24th September 10.00-12.00 with the theme ‘Late-Summer Botanicals’.
This one will be an actual lesson with tips and guidance on how I paint my botanical sketches in watercolours. Again suitable for both beginners and advanced watercolourists (in which case, feel free to do your own technique and just enjoy the company and creativity), all are welcome. We speak both English and Dutch.
Painting lesson Eindhoven 24th September
We have 10 sets of materials available for use, so get there quick to grab one. First come, first served. Coffee and tea available. Come on down for a casual creative morning.
It’s a free session, but donations for materials will be greatly appreciated. I’ll bring a tip jar ❤
I’m going to be sharing more of my art-making and design process here, as well as my tips for anyone who’s interested.
My Patrons get full details on the process as it happens, as well as invitations for their input, and my newsletter gives a monthly run-down of the best bits as well as a heads-up on when things will be available to purchase in my shop.
I’ll be using this space to curate the processes of my most interesting and juiciest projects, and sharing any experience that I think may come in handy to anyone else. I know I’m always eager to see the design process of other illustrators, out of curiosity and to see if I can pick up any useful tips.
I’ll start with my pocket Garden Journal. This was a self-initiated project that I made basically because I wanted to use it myself!
Run-down of Development Steps
Pencil thumbnails and brainstorming ideas
Scribbly first ideas in my notebook, with teeny tiny thumbnai ideas
Watercolour spot illustrations, then scanned and digitally cleaned up
Cleaned up bird-feeder spot illo
Each page made up and imported into a digital page template
A selection of my finished pages
Mini thumbnails of all finished pages, placed in a layout overview document
Mini layout of thumbnails for an easy overview, to check it all works together
All pages assembled in a multi-page PDF template, then sent to the printers
The final printed journal coverA peek at an Autumn pageThe final printed journal
Tips / Notes to Self
// A thumbnail overview is useful~ Even a ‘blank’ journal has a sequential layout that requires pacing. A zoomed-out overview lets you check out that colour-schemes and page layouts all have room to breath and are varied enough to be interesting. Especially with so many pages (mine has 44); that’s a lot of room for error!
// Leave lots of time for a multi-page project~ Give yourself a roomy deadline. I knew what I wanted for the finished journal from the start, as gardening is also my hobby, but if it had been an unfamiliar subject I’d have needed a way longer planning and research stage. I’m also naturally bad at time-management so I had to have a lot of patience when things took longer than I initially anticipated. On top of that it was also a new document format, being so many pages, in a publishing program that I have barely used. Patience!
// Ask for a proof version if you have time~I DID actually go for a proof this time, and in the end it wasn’t needed. I ended up making no changes. I think this was down to luck though, and the fact I was making up a booklet to my own requirements. If it had been a commission, or anything with any word count at all (I think this journal has maybe 60 words in it, mostly on the back), then I’d definitely double check before approving the full run. These things cost money, especially with the cost of paper these days, and it’s just not worth throwing your money away. Enquire with your printers, if your print run is large enough then they may be willing to throw in a physical proof print for free.
This journal was certainly a challenge, and if you’re thinking of making up your first illustrated book I’d definitely recommend starting with a familiar subject matter as an anchor to grow your skills around.
If you have any questions, or there’s an aspect you’d like further explanation of, then feel free to comment below!
I’m crossing my fingers and toes that this year is a steadier ride for everyone than the last.
My business couldn’t have made it through 2020 without the amazing support and encouragement from you, so a big thanks to everyone who bought anything, pledged to my Patreon (Patrons are superstars: without them I’d have thrown in the towel last year for certain), and those who shared, simply ‘liked’ or commented on my stuff on social media. All very important support, thank you. I was able to launch a Patreon page, invest and test new products, invest in a new graphics programme (Affinity Designer) to streamline my work, and even take a bit of time to dabble in some personal sketches. I feel like I could get my business affairs a bit more in order, finally!
I’m also here to mention that I also have plans for this year. How fast I can roll them out depends on what happens with the latest lockdown, and when my son can go back to childcare, and also my therapy schedule. I think we’ve all learnt to be a bit more flexible over the last year though, so I’m sure I can re-jig and fit most of my plans in if needs be.
I have a few new products sat here waiting to be assembled, photographed and listed, which I’m already proud of even if no-one else is interested in them. I already plan to use some of them myself.
On the ‘sustainability’ front I’m also dipping my toes in with a local supplier who hold themselves accountable when it comes to the environment. I’ll be trying new cards and textile products this month, actually.
Recently I conquered the seemingly over-complicated task that is setting up Instagram Shopping. I say ‘seemingly’ because I think the complications were mostly down to my ineptitude with tech, and me misunderstanding what the instructions exactly were telling me to do. It’s probably not that difficult if you just follow, and most importantly, understand all the instructions to the letter.
I was determined to set up Instagram Shopping because a surprising amount of direct sales and traffic comes from my Instagram profile. Still a very small amount, but hey I’m working on it, and this is a step to making it even easier to buy from me.
It doesn’t help that, as I’m selling via Etsy, I needed to set up a Facebook catalogue first, THEN integrate that with Insta, get everything verified, etc. I wasn’t even on a full Facebook Business profile before this, which is the very least of what is required.
My shop catalogue finally set up in Facebook Business manager.
Also, I tend to lose the ‘help’ articles amidst my million tabs open in my browser… anyway, I did get there in the end.
For those interested (totally not leaving this here for my own reference when I lose the tabs again), here is the Etsy help article you need to follow to verify your Etsy shop account with Facebook and Insta. You’ll also need to have set up a Facebook business page, and also have a ‘business’ profile for Instagram first. Clicking on ‘settings’ in your Instagram will take you through to your profile type, and if you have a business one set up, you can click through to ‘set up Instagram shopping’. Then Instagram admin will review your Facebook Business profile, which takes about a week. I didn’t expect this very frustrating week’s wait, but I just wanted to get this all done an dusted, after already going through so many different steps. Finally though, Instagram will notify you in app and you can ask it to email you, asking you to finish and verify your linked (Etsy) domain over on your Facebook Business page.
My goal: my products on Instagram with clickable shopping links!
Follow the Etsy set up guide to the letter ESPECIALLY when entering the URL format for products in your catalogue (otherwise you get all sorts of security warnings), and you can finally create a Facebook catalogue and then tag your items over on Instagram. Phew. I hope you find it easier than I did.
Let me know if you have any questions and think I can help!
I want to talk about being an immigrant artist with a chronic illness, and how that has shaped my life and work over the last ten years that I’ve lived here in NL. I just touch on my own experience, and it feels like a good time to talk about it now. I’ve just finished jumping through the hoops (I hope!) of applying for my first residency document as a newly non-EU national, and have also finally had my doctor give an official diagnosis of fibromyalgia, after ten years of living with the symptoms. I’m in a good place for a bit of self-reflection!
I’m an immigrant, and proud of it. Call me an expat if you like, I fit that bill too. But I will never shy away from describing myself as an immigrant, because I think a lot of people are too quick to view that term in a negative light, when in fact expats and immigrants are exactly the same thing.
People emmigrate for all sorts of reasons. I’m incredibly lucky that I moved for relatively minor reasons, and it was not an absolute last resort, as is the unfortunate case for many people (hello upcoming global warming-induced mass migration). I was at a low point with my health, moved from England to the Netherlands for love, settled, then we broke up. It was amicable, don’t worry! And I’m now settled in N.L. with my man and my little son Q, so all’s well.
Q Bean, making himself at home
In terms of my career, well, being an immigrant adds its complications. When I moved here I was quite ill. It turns out I’d just had a burnout and developed fibromyalgia, neither of which I’d put a name to until a few years later. Bad health meant I struggled to find paying work (hello, I have an art degree. Talk about awkward!), get out to make friends or generally ‘fit in’. For years I struggled, when actually I should’ve been focusing on recovering and making myself better, not trying to please everyone else and The System. Don’t get me wrong, I think I’ve landed in one of the most diplomatic and open-minded countries in the world, and know that other people haven’t been so lucky if they’ve chosen, or been forced, to move countries. Just, being an artist AND an immigrant made things doubly hard. Not exactly condusive to a ‘steady income’ situation, and when you throw in chronic illness… I could barely get out of bed at one point, for goodness sake. But the point is, I tried. I worked very hard. I made several short-lived but very determined attempts at jobs that I was ‘allowed’ to do, mostly physically. Each one ended in exhaustion, or just a flat-lining of my health at rock bottom. I just wasn’t healing, mentally or physically.
These last few years have put me on good footing, both in my art career and personal life. Still, Eindhoven has never really felt very ‘me’, and the three of us are still looking for a place to settle in to a forever- home, which will take a few years to save for. Meanwhile, I’m trying harder to appreciate what postives Eindhoven has to offer me as a city. As a bumbling traditional artist from rural England, it is feeling more accessible and vibrant and less stiff and pretentious than it did in the past. Perhaps it’s me who’s reaching out and connecting more (ok, social-distancing aside). It has a huge expat community, but I’ve always felt they were in a different world to me. A lot come from ‘tech’ backgrounds, and I’m a complete technophobe. Part of being an immigrant is adapting though, and maybe I’m just finally overcoming my resilience to change, and to my belief in myself, that I can and am indeed ALLOWED to fit in. Isn’t imposter syndrome great? I also finally reached out, asked for and received an official diagnosis of fibromyalgia, which was a big step. It has been so influential in my ability to work and fit in here. Perhaps I’m ready to face the idea that having a chronic illness doesn’t define me, but is key in how I adapt to living my life. Anyway, things are steadying out, and I’m finding more ways to show the world (including Eindhoven) that I’m here and that I’m creating work. I hope anyone else in a similar situation, immigrant or creative or with a chronic illness, or a hybrid of all of those as I am, can see their own strengths and value and is not afraid to face anyone who talks them down. I’m here if you want to talk about it!
Eindhoven urban sketch of Van Abbe Museum
It has been people and their attitudes that have really made the difference between the first difficult years here and now. The other lovely immigrants at the naturalisation course, the friends I made around Eindhoven, my ex and his family who were kind enough to take me in, and lastly my now-husband and his wonderful family. My own British family and friends, who are all so positive and just plodding along doing their thing, and are there for me when I need to connect with a bit of home, no matter what is going on in their own lives. Britain and the British will always be my origins, my history. Immigrating never meant forgetting or trying to replace that slightly shambolic, eccentric and diverse rock and root of all of me. It forms the basis of my understanding of others, here, there and everywhere, and feeds in to my growing knowledge of human beings, my creative response to the world at large, and what being an immigrant can mean and provide society in these turbulent times. I’ve weathered xenophobic discrimination (only mild; I know lots aren’t so lucky) and will continue to reach out to connect and absorb the culture around me, whilst keeping my heritage in my heart. I will always be English, and I will always, always, take milk in my (Yorkshire) tea.
Big love to everyone,
Laura
P.S. If you’re a creative around Eindhoven, do drop me a line, tell me your story or just say hi! I’m up for connecting more locally. See above 😉
Laura Carter Illustration 