Studio Diary - May 2022

Charlotte Wensley
May 10, 2022
4 min read

Updated: May 27

artists face overlayed with a transparent painting

Amongst other things this month I've been thinking about 'artists' mindset' and how, with the right approach we can move past those all too familiar stages of self-judgement and what we can do to silence the inner critic!

I'm an explorer....

Last week I stumbled across an 'archetype survey' and being of an inquisitive nature I thought I'd give it a few minutes air time to see what I might learn.

And this is what it said:

"Craves learning through adventure, exploration, no-limits way of life, boldly inviting others to join them on their quest for meaning and impact"

I was amazed that answering a handful of somewhat bizarre and random questions could lead to this description, because this is me to a 'T'.

In the studio I always feel as if I'm on the edge of a new discovery and this compels me to keep going. Some days it's easy to ignore the fear of failure and other days I have to make a more conscious effort to bury any negativity.

I do approach my work with a 'no fear' attitude, that's partly because of my personality archetype, but more so because of my mindset and my attitude that when I begin a painting, I have nothing to lose and that a world of possibilities is set out before me, all I have to do is just jump right in.

And I remind myself to lean into the positives, even on days where things don't seem to go so well.

Making art fills me with good energy;

my work is a genuine and authentic expression of me;

I can say things through my art;

it feels good to show up and commit to working at it each and every day;

there's always something new to learn;

failure offers me unique learning opportunities;

I love to share what I'm learning.

My desire for discovery and the joy and freedom I find on this creative journey is a big part of who I am, but I nurture it by choosing to honour an explorer mindset which helps me boldly go towards whatever opportunities this artistic life has to offer.

banner made up of different paper collages in different colours

Reflections are surfacing as I come to the end of my 'Rekindle Series'

The process of creating this body of work began many months ago, with a series of experimental gelli prints. I could never have known where it would have all ended up! I've been looking back at the series and enjoying what I have learned and thinking about what elements and aspects I want to carry forward. You can read more in my recent blog post called 'Freedom to Respond'.

I'm now figuring out photography and framing for these pieces. It's the first time I have ventured into the world of framing my artwork - if you've been there and done that and got any tips to share, I'd love to hear from you!

Read 'Freedom to Respond'

black and white sketchbook page with lines and blobs of ink

I'm endlessly fascinated by the way in which artists capture and retain a sense of dynamism in their work, so I've been experimenting with different ways to visualise and store my artistic energy. I've discovered that concertina books are a perfect to way to experiment with mark making and allow interesting lines and bold shapes to flow from one page to the next. And best of all, I'm using up some old printing paper stock and cardboard off cuts to make them. Now I have to figure out how best to keep this feeling of energy at the forefront of my mind as get ready to start my next body of work!

And finally, I just want to give a shout out and a big thank you to Charmaine Lyons for the photo of me in this edition! We had such a fun morning playing around with different ways to capture me with my work for a project she's doing as part of her photography studies. I started to see myself in a new light, quite literally, as a result of her unique vision and talent with a camera!

So here I am on this journey of creative discovery and I'm so happy that you're with me on this adventure. I do hope you're enjoying my monthly news, as always feel free to drop me a line if you have any suggestions for future editions, especially if you'd like to learn more about any aspect of what I do or have any questions.

Thank you for engaging with my art, my ideas and my writing and until next time, I recommend trying the explorer mindset on for size to see if it's a good fit for you too!