Art Life Plan Podcast

This week on Art Life Plan, we’re talking about the “ugly stage” of creative work, which is that deeply annoying part where the project looks wrong before it starts making sense.We’ll look at why this stage is so easy to misread, how to tell the difference between a failed project and an unfinished one, and a few ways to keep going without turning the whole thing into an identity crisis.

This week on Art Life Plan, we’re talking about the role of rest in creative work, and why rest is not separate from the practice.We’ll look at creative depletion, different kinds of tired, how to tell the difference between avoidance and needing a break, and why rest helps make a creative life more sustainable.

This week on Art Life Plan, we’re talking about why slow growth is still growth, especially when your art, shop, audience, studio practice, or creative business feels like it is taking longer than you hoped.We’ll look at how to notice progress that is easy to overlook, why sustainable growth matters, and how smaller steps can still move your practice forward.

Running an online shop is not just making products. It is also shipping, inventory, product photos, emails, marketing, packaging, website updates, and trying to figure out how all of that fits into your actual life and energy level. In this episode, I’m talking about building a shop around the way you naturally work instead of forcing yourself into a business structure that constantly burns you out. We’ll chat about launches, workflow, fulfillment, strengths, weaknesses, and how to make adjustments when your shop no longer fits the version of your life you currently have.Chat with me on instagram or on the website

No ideas? In this episode, I’m walking through what that looks like for me and how I find my way back into the work without overcomplicating it.

At some point, sharing your work can start to feel like a performance. In this episode, I talk through why that happens and how you can shift it so it feels more like documenting your process instead of presenting it. If posting your work has been feeling heavier than it should, this is a way to rethink it.

There’s a point where your taste shifts and suddenly your work doesn’t feel like it’s keeping up. In this episode, I talk through that gap between what you can see and what you can make, why it happens, and how to work through it without spiraling or shutting down.Ira Glass on CreativitySay hi on instagram or visit the website

There’s a point where selling your work starts to feel like it’s pulling you away from actually making it. In this episode, I talk through why that happens, why it’s not a personal failure, and how you can start to separate those two modes so they don’t compete with each other. If selling has been feeling heavy or off lately, this is a gentle reset.

At a certain point in your art life, experimentation starts to change. In the beginning it often means trying everything. Over time it becomes more intentional. In this episode I talk about what that next stage can look like, from working with constraints to experimenting with your process instead of just materials. If your work has been feeling a little restless lately, this might be a sign that your experimentation is ready to shift too.

Still trying to figure out your artistic style and wondering why it hasn’t “clicked” yet? In this episode, we talk about what style actually is, why it rarely shows up all at once, and how it quietly forms while you’re already doing the work. This isn’t about forcing a look or chasing visual consistency for social media. It’s about paying attention to patterns, process, and the decisions you make over time. If you’ve been questioning your style or feeling like it should be clearer by now, this episode is a reminder that clarity comes from working, not waiting.Reflection prompts:What shows up more than once, even when you weren’t trying to repeat yourself? What decisions feel familiar across different pieces? What parts of the work feel like they belong together, even if the surface details change?

If you’ve ever felt behind as an artist or like your path doesn’t look the way it’s “supposed” to, this episode is for you. We talk about why most creative lives aren’t linear, how detours and pauses are part of the process, and why progress isn’t always visible from the outside.This is a grounding conversation about letting go of comparison, moving at a pace that fits your real life, and trusting that your timeline doesn’t have to match anyone else’s to be valid.

It's still quiet in my art studio but....things are brewing. I sense a new series is coming and I've been having some fun with the "fig tree" challenge linked below. Ellbat: I have 365 Days to change my life (first video)and her video that follows the above on the system.

New year…new creative year. In this episode, I’m talking about where I’m actually at right now in my process, what’s feeling real, what’s feeling messy, and what I’m carrying into this next season. No resolutions. No pressure to reinvent myself. Just an honest check in on energy, time, capacity, and the kind of creative rhythm I want this year. Did you make a resolution? Do tell!The chat on Stefan Sagmeisters creative sabbaticals: https://timesensitive.fm/episode/graphic-designer-stefan-sagmeister-sabbatical/My article on substack: https://substack.com/home/post/p-183245977