A confession, a promise, and thougts on a "daily creative practice"

First of all: thank you for the beautiful response I got on my previous letter. Moving this little community to Substack absolutely feels like the right decision, and an extra thank you to you who wrote me the very first comments there. I appreciate that so much. 🙏🏻

And to those of you who are new here: Welcome! So happy you're with me. 🖤

This past week... ugh. A lot of confusion and frustration and having to re-think things.

I'm sorry to say it, but I'm going to have to put the podcast on hold for now. The timing's not right, and I should have figured that out before I officially launched it.

This is one of my weaknesses. I get excited about starting new things, but I also change my mind easily. I've been back and forth about a podcast for months, and although I really love the idea of it, the production process was way more time consuming and mentally draining than I expected. At least for the type of episodes that I want to make. Long and value-packed ones. But I'm just not used to talking that much, all by myself. 😅 And I really missed the visual element of it, the video part.

I'm not one of those people who commit to doing something and then does it no matter what, out of principle. I constantly re-evaluate what I'm doing, to make sure I'm on the right path. And that can be both good and bad. Ever since my burnout, I have promised myself to minimize work that drains, bores or exhausts me. And I felt, after several attempts at recording podcast episodes, that it was draining my energy and I was not having as much fun as when I'm making videos.

My mixed feelings about YouTube are still there, and I'm going to work on those. Going to relax more about the analytics, broaden the scope of the type of videos I make, and just be myself and have fun.

Can't do much about the ads, but what I can do is offer an ad-free alternative to you. Substack is introducing a video feature, which I've been invited to use. So I might start uploading my videos here on Substack as well. And I might also occasionally give you early-access links to upcoming videos, and even extra video content that I'm not uploading to YouTube. We'll see!

I'm so excited about continuing to grow as a video creator, and I hope you'll continue to accompany me on that journey. 😊

Another thing I'm excited about right now is my next course.

It's going to be a bit of a departure from what I usually do, but I'm looking forward to re-visiting where my watercolor practice started - with abstracts.

When I took my first, shaky steps as an artist, just the thought of trying to capture the likeness of something made me anxious and exhausted. Painting watercolor abstracts was a way to ease myself into a creative practice, without much judgement and self-criticism. (There's only so much judgement you can have about a colorful puddle of paint on a piece of paper.)

Painting watercolor abstracts was such a healing practice for me. It taught me how to use my brushes, how to control the water, which colors play well together, how different types of paper behaves. It unleashed my inner child, and gave me the courage and confidence to start calling myself an artist.

This is what I want to give to others now. I want my next course to be for people like me back then: People who have maybe dabbled a bit in art before but who really don't feel very artistic at all. Who are curious about watercolors but terrified at the same time. And who just want to get started with a simple and relaxing art practice.

I already have an outline for the course, and as soon as I have finished writing this letter, I'm going to plan out my filming and editing, and commit to a launch date within a month from now. 🥳

After that: very much looking forward to the weekend. My plans are to continue working on my "Birds In Flight" collection. Last weekend, I was feeling lazy and got only half-way with this poor Jay, so I'm going to finish that. As you can see, I'm painting a little bigger now. A3 instead of A4. Right around the outskirts of my comfort zone. Slowly working myself up towards the ravens, owls and raptors I'm going to paint on my largest sheets of paper later on. Yikes...

I'm also going to practice piano, which I haven't been able to do all week because of the work-related stress and confusion. I've played the piano since I was 5 years old, but always by ear. I never bothered learning how to sight-read. But now, I want to take my skills to the next level, I can't do that without being able to read sheet music. (Have given up on trying to memorize long pieces of Chopin...) So that's the goal I'm working towards now, and it's like a bootcamp for my brain. After 1-2 hours of piano practice, I'm pleasantly exhausted. It really feels like doing reps at the gym. And similarly satisfying afterwards.

I love this weekly creative practice I've managed to establish. For a long time, I felt like I had to commit to a daily art practice in order to be a "real artist". (Whatever that means...) But no matter how much I cracked the whip on myself, I just couldn't work that into my daily schedule. I was too busy during the weekdays, and too tired in the evenings. I just needed some guilt-free relaxation, and if I feel that way, I can't imagine what people with full-time jobs, kids and pets feel.

A daily practice just isn't realistic for everyone. Our lives and needs and goals are different.

On Saturdays, my mind is fresh and my body is well rested, and I often spend the whole day on my creative projects and practices. This is what works for me, and I don't think I'm any less of a creative than someone who paints every day. Or more creative than someone who paints once a month. Our output and pace of growth will be different of course, but those aren’t the only things that count.

We can still have a regular, joyful and relaxing creative practice, and make consistent progress, without stressing out about a daily routine.

I'm curious: What does your creative practice look like? And how often do you usually manage to spend time on it? Is it less than you would want?

I wish you a relaxing (and possibly creative) weekend. I'll be back next week with a video (finally!) and another studio letter.

With love,

Louise

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A few great things

Currently reading: Amanda Palmer - The Art Of Asking (So good! Every creative should read this.)

Currently watching: Better Call Saul season 6 (Final season. Man, I'm going to miss this show...)

Article: “Write Every Day” is Bad Advice: Hacking the Psychology of Big Projects by Cal Newport

Video: 3 ways to paint watercolor portraits by Liron Yanconsky: