In this video I share with you some of my recent art explorations which show an ‘eclectic’ selection of interests, approaches and processes, a creative soup of sorts, where things gets mixed together, combined and blended in the hope of finding a new set of fascinations.

I love exploring lots of diverse ways of making art and often have multiple irons in the fire at any one time. I’m often nurturing more than one idea and more than one way of making art...

Experimenting with a variety of materials, subject matters and techniques and pursuing lots of different lines of inquiry at once helps me to find my next big thing.

Following the whispers

As I’ve just finished a set of six paintings, I am looking for the next creative pursuit, the next line of inquiry, the next idea that I want to explore, expand and develop.

I find that after I have completed a series of paintings there is always a bit of time where I am searching for my next destination. I make lots of stuff, give myself permission to mess about, to create unfinished things, to cast the net wide in the hope of finding my next thing. I have to follow the whispers and the bread trail to see where it takes me.

Bringing things together

I often layer my interests, ideas and influences together and that is what I think can make our art unique to us. We all have different things that excite us, we all have a different visual language, different associations and bringing these together can ensure our art is a reflection of our own idiosyncrasies and uniqueness.

Sketchbooks are a brilliant hunting ground

My ongoing love affair with sketchbooks is no secret. I find that a sketchbook is such a great place to gather the threads and disparate ideas of my own art making, a safe keeping place to capture, collect, curate and connect…and then reflect. I am always hunting back through sketchbooks to pick up lost threads…

The creative soup

In my own art making I’ve found that everything informs everything else, eventually everything connects in one way or another. It’s like a creative soup, it all gets thrown in and blended. Often one idea or way of art making will rise to the top and take centre-stage and all my attention, while the others wait in the wings, or ideas will combine and come together to create something surprising, something new.

So I encourage you to embrace all your disparate curiosities and celebrate them as a wonderful reflection of you…being multi-curious can be both marvelous and delightful.

Books to inspire…

The two books I mention in the video are:

Art Against Despair written and published The School of Life 2022

Make Every Day Creative, Art Anyone Can Do by Marion Deuchars, published by Skittledog 2024