What I’ve Learnt From Running Art Workshops

Creative workshops

Recently I had the opportunity to set up a private art studio and start running art workshops. I’ve been running or facilitating creative workshops for many years, on and off, from crochet through to watercolour but this was my first chance to do it in a dedicated space. I thought I was prepared and it would be a seamless addition to my working week. I was so wrong!

My sweet studio

Here’s what surprised me the most-

So much work needs to be done before I’ve even planned the date. I heard I was accepted for the studio rather unexpectedly, so I did have to hit the ground running. This is my third month, and I only feel like I’ve just about sorted out the literature, the order of play, and have a decent idea of what people expect out of the workshop. Despite starting a couple of weeks before I opened the doors, I’ve only just finished writing up all the handouts!
There will always be snags where you encounter problems during the pilot workshops, whether it’s the limits of the chosen materials, or different examples if my explanation is falling short. I have a wide demographic, so lots of different people with different abilities and expectations. But the good thing is: the sessions then instantly become group trouble-shooting sessions, and solutions are found that wouldn’t even have crossed my mind. These are creative people, after all!
Having your own physical space is tiring. I mean, I knew it was tiring, but there is a huge gulf between the energy it takes running a workshop once a month in a space someone else is taking care of, and having to swap out all the botanicals every time, keep everything dust free, and having to keep stock of everything right down to paper towels and washing up liquid. It adds a good couple of hours each side of each workshop, after which I need to decompress and recover from all the over-stimulation. I absolutely adore having complete freedom to arrange it all how I want though, and not having to figure out where the lights are or if we’ll be kicked out by the next class.

Some of the beautiful student work underway in the botanicals class

I am not cut out for marketing myself constantly, just like a lot of other creatives. I need to get on top of a consistent and achievable schedule and plan for this, as it’s one of the aspects I find most draining. I’d say: outsource this or find useful apps if you can! Luckily people are still managing to find me, but it’s still absolutely terrifying to have to promote myself and fill seats otherwise the rent doesn’t get paid. I just have to remember that at least I’m giving it my best shot!
I underestimated how rewarding and inspiring it would be. I have been raring to have my own space to teach for years, purely because of how inspiring it s to share knowledge, but I didn’t realise just quite how much being around all that enthusiasm and different creative approaches makes me want to undertake more of my own projects. Now to find the time!
Being able to set my own themes and workshops has absolutely scratched a creative itch. Even though I’ve only covered watercolour painting workshops, sketching and drypoint etching, its been a surprisingly varied experience, and to be honest I’m enjoying being the boss and deciding what it is I think the attendees need to hear most!

If you’re interested in joint us at the studio for a session, whether for drypoint etching, drawing or watercolour, take a look at my Agenda page to see what’s on, or sign up to my monthly newsletter where I announce upcoming workshops.

Hope to see you in 2025!

Top Tips for Artists Working From Home… with a Child

Creative life, Uncategorized

… or What I’ve Learnt as an Artist-Mama, Working From My Living Room, With a Young Child

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-

Watercolour landscape painting — 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.

Take care,

L x

Migrating artist

Art, Creative life, eindhoven, expat life, fibromyalgia

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.

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 😉

P.P.S If you’re an expat, creative or otherwise, and struggling to connect around Eindhoven, I’d definitely look in to some local groups. I can recommend the C.L.O. https://www.cloeindhoven.nl/ Center for Latin-Americans (friendly not just to Latinos!), International Creative Women https://www.internationalcreativewomen.nl/, and Hub2- the successor to the original Hub for expats in Eindhoven https://www.facebook.com/groups/hub2eindhoven

My Choice to use an Earthy Palette

Art, Creative life, Uncategorized

You may notice when you look at my art that it is often quite muted and earthy in colours, and that is a by-product of the materials I choose to use. I love bright colours in my personal life, but for my work I’ve chosen to go with a more muted colour palette, as it’s often better for myself, others and the environment. I prefer to keep my sustainable footprint as small as possible by working with found, recycled/rescued or upcycled materials where I can, and in particular ones that were made with as few harmful dyes as possible.

Of course, sometimes nature provides a way of working that gives spectularly pure colours (I’m looking at you, indigo), and some of the materials I’ve used happen to have been bright pops of colour, such as the off-cuts of industrial faux-leather I’ve used in my bags in the past. More often though the less harmful dyes are of course, more earthy. I have used un-bleached cotton and linen in things like my zipped pouches (I’m working on a new range!), which instead of bright white gives a lovely warm beige. Paper from recycled pulp is also often of mixed fibres, resulting in natural melange of soft colours. I also love working with recycled paper for my lino prints and the handmade cards.

Unbleached cotton for one of my hand-painted zip pouches

My pregnancy this year spurred me to make a change to my watercolour paint palette too. After a bit of research I am happy to have found what seems to be quite a varied palette with some rich colours, which is still less toxic to Baby Q and myself. Out went the obvious Cadmium hues and a few of the ‘older’ pigments (they’ve developed safer ones now). You can see a few changes I made in my swatch below. Scribbles look super professional, I know.

My adjusted palette swatches.

It’s not perfectly safe, but at least I’ve chucked out some of the scarier ones. No Vermilion-induced birth defects for us (it contains mercury)! I’d love to hear from you if you know any good resources for checking what are ‘safe’, or relatively safe pigments.

Here’s a recent painting I did for this year’s Christmas cards (the robin one was a very limited run… it’s sold out!)-

My biggest bug-bear is that I miss a bright red. The other hues in my core palette are very lovely, as is Indian Red (or Light Red, as named by some brands), which is the red I’m currently using. You can see the swatch tucked under where I’ve crossed out ‘Cadmium Red’, which I’ve stopped using. Light Red just misses that… pizazz that Cadmium has, and tends to muddy other colours when mixed. Light/Indian Red also varies from brand to brand. So again if anyone knows of any brighter, relatively safe reds, please let me know!

Small Steps

Creative life, Uncategorized

It’s been very quiet around here, but I’ve been busy. We welcomed our little baby boy, Baby Q, in July!

A common scene at my desk

Over a few months of adjustment I’ve managed to sneak in some illustration work time, and you can see what I’ve been up to over on my Instagram @illustratorlaura.

It’s been tough, having to work around the schedule of a completely new human, who has no clue what a schedule even is. I’m constantly tired, and you can throw any expectation of plans right out the window. Any work is nibbled at in tiny ten minute bites, mostly with an ear out whilst I hold my breath and hope the wee man doesn’t wake up. Luckily there are a couple of hours of babysitting time a week, which is heaven. And yeah: mini human. Super cute.

Having so little ‘me’ time has made me realise that illustrating is such a necessary part of my life, and it’s renewed my drive to fit it in, no matter how drained I feel. I’ve been working on a new series, which you can get a peak at over on Instagram (and I’ll share here shortly).

I’m also a bit nervous about this but I’m doing it anyway: another market! It’s been a couple of years since I was doing them regularly, and it’s a bit of pressure to prepare for it at such a busy time. Markets are always fun though, great to get yourself and your work out there, and I do love a challenge.

If you’re in the Eindhoven area on the weekend 24/25th November (I’ll only be there Sunday 25th) get yourself down to Etsy Made in Eindhoven pop-up market and show some love for local makers and sellers!

Laura Carter Illustration

Fine eco illustration goods

artist life