art journal Blog

Want to make art but have no clue how to get started? Perhaps you know these symptoms all too well: You have the aching feeling inside of you that comes from not making, but it’s accompanied that pesky voice that tells you that there’s no point. You have zero ideas...

Stop trying to find your style

As artists and creatives, we can become obsessed by the notion of style. Style defines our work and gives us a way of describing our art to others. We are told invariably that style is everything: that having a recognisable style will help us to sell more work and gain more followers on Instagram. Despite the tempting potential upshots of having a neatly definable style, however, I want to propose that style is not the be all and end all. Here’s why you should stop trying to find your style…or at least flip the idea on its head a little bit.

It’s time for us to go back to our roots.

My dear beautiful, beautiful Messy Artist It’s time for us to go back to our roots. Get Messy has always been a place that evolves and adapts and fits around your life rather than the other way around. It’s never been a place where you have to change to be a part of...

Artist Dates: Everything you need to know

Floating around in the art world, you may have heard of the term Artist Date. Maybe more than once. Maybe only about one-hundred-and-thirty-seven times. Stemming from Julia Cameron's seminal book, The Artist’s Way, artist dates are a tried and tested way of connecting...

6 Lessons from ‘Do the Work’ by Steven Pressfield – and how to apply them to your art making

If you’re part of the Get Messy community, you have almost definitely heard of Steven Pressfield. His book, Do the Work, lays out the nuts and bolts of getting creative work done. I was recently lent the book by a friend and rocketed through it in about two hours…. Yes, it’s only a short book, but yes, it’s also that good. And yes, I would highly recommend that you read it. But in order to pass on some of its wisdom before it’s in your hot little hands, here are 6 important lessons that I learned from Do the Work – and how to apply them to your art-making.

A Spa for Your Creative Soul with Shay Kent

Shay is so full of wisdom and kindness, and she encourages that you create the same within yourself too. After hearing a testimonial about her class, that it was “like a spa for your creative soul”, I knew I had to pick her brain. Grab your supplies and listen while...

How to Create a Scraps Diary

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In this video, Autumn Moon shares what exactly a Scraps Diary is about. She pages through her Diary and shares the spirit behind it, the guidelines, the essence, and what it means to her. Video Transcript Please note that this transcript has been automagically...

Creating Authentic Art from the Inbetween with Rachael Helmore

Rachael is my friend in real life. Not only is this episode proof that I have friends, it's also an exploration into what creating art in the "in-between" looks like. Rach is someone who says things that are so profound that I have to whip out my notebook in real life...

Feeling stuck? Use repetition to get out of a creative funk

Creative funks are never welcome. They have a nasty habit of either sneaking up on us when we least expect it, or rolling in like a slow storm over the horizon, so we can see them coming a mile away. The following symptoms of being in a creative funk may sound...

Follow Your Curiosity with Pete DeMarco

I had never thought of photography as art. I had always thought it was just for logical people following a very precise way of doing things. It felt like the opposite of creativity to me. Enter Pete. Pete sees creativity in a way not unlike my own - as a looping...

The Joy of Ripping Paper

Type “ripped paper” into Google and you’ll be delivered almost 65 million results, with the first few pages pretty much solely taken up by Pinterest pics and downloadable ripped paper PNGs. Ok, we got it, the world is pretty into it. And so am I: ever since I can...

How to Deal with Artistic Block with Tricia Poulos-Leonard

Today I sat down with Tricia. Tricia is wise and someone that you wanna have in your corner because she's very zen about art making, very knowledgeable and plays between the right and left side of your brain so well. She's a great encourager and wise mentor. We talk...