For the past several months I’ve been obsessed with clearing out my home.

I’ve made numerous trips to charity shops {thrift stores} and the recycling centre, sorted through my wardrobe more than once, decluttered my bookshelves, committed to reading all the unread books before I buy more, and become mildly addicted to Vinted, an app for selling your unwanted things.

This decluttering is something I’ve done on and off over the years, but recently it’s ramped up to a whole new level.

I don’t know if I’m going to eventually become a minimalist, but I can’t even begin to tell you the pleasure, peace, satisfaction, and full body ‘yes’ I get from looking at my kitchen surfaces with almost nothing on them.

And of course, the more I do it, the more I find myself looking for places I can scale back, create more space and peace around and within me.

I’ve discovered that I’m not alone in this; it seems everyone I talk to lately is doing a clear out of some sort.

My personal theory is that the crazier, more intense, and frankly more scary the world becomes, the more we crave space, quiet, and peace around and within us.

Especially as artists.

An artist with no space in their life for quiet introspection, idea noodling, and simply tuning in, is not a happy or thriving – or often practising – artist.

The world is noisy.

Your art needs quiet.

Two kinds of noise

The quieter my home, life – and headspace – have become, the easier it’s been for me to notice that there are two kinds of noise we have to contend with as artists.

🌎 One is the noise of the world ‘out there’.

The 24/7 news cycles, the endless scroll, the commitments, the meetings, the daily tasks; even the things we love, like relationships with friends and family, hobbies, holidays, and all the other things that make up a full life.

Whether it’s things we love or things we really don’t, it all adds up to a lot of static, which can be hard to step away from to make our art.

🧠 The second kind of noise comes from inside the house, aka our brains.

This can be even harder to manage than the outer world noise, especially if we’re struggling with mental health challenges.

I’ve had my fair share of this kind of noise and it can absolutely take over your life to the point where you barely remember what art is, let alone that it was something you used to love to make.

So what can we do?

How can we find or create the quiet we need to make more art, with packed schedules, phone addiction, commitments we really can’t escape just now, and all the fun stuff we actually want to keep doing?

I spent many months pondering how I might offer something for artists that could support this need, and then it dawned on me.

{Must’ve been all that space I created.}

My membership for artists, The Happy Artist Studio, had the potential to be such a space, it just needed a bit of a reimagining and a good declutter.

It’s still The Happy Artist Studio.

But now its purpose and focus is you, getting the quiet and space you need to make your most meaningful, joyful art, more often, with more ease.

Inside, we give attention to both the practicalities of making your art, and the more thinky, mindset aspect.

{Do not underestimate the enormous role your brain is playing regarding when and how often you get to make your art, and how you feel when you’re doing it. Making adjustments there can literally change everything. I’ll help you do that inside the Studio!}

👩🏼‍🎨 You’ll get to explore a curated selection of my best courses for uncovering and developing your artist voice – in other words, you’ll start making art that feels and looks like YOU, not your favourite artist du jour, or the last artist you learned from.

👩🏼‍🎨 You’ll receive thoughtful materials in a gentle monthly rhythm, which build on each other month by month, to create a practice that supports who you actually are as an artist and human, in the life you have now, with its limitations and opportunities.

👩🏼‍🎨 You’ll get some behind the scenes materials that you can dip in and out of as you wish – follow me as I share the ups and downs of building a collection; find answers to your questions in the Q&A Library; and download any of the planners that are there to help you stay on track, at your own pace and without pressure.

👩🏼‍🎨 And instead of a noisy community, you’ll get a direct line to me to ask your questions and get thoughtful, constructive responses, tailored to your unique situation.

It’s quiet, its spacious, and there’s no pressure to attend Zoom calls, try to navigate group setting {they can be lovely, but also a distraction, and for some of us, quite overwhelming}, or do anything that doesn’t feel aligned for you.

Together we’ll clear out what you don’t need, and build an artist practice and life that fits who you are, within the context of your life right now, with a view to making shifts when and where you can.

It’s a membership, but peaceful, and focused on your unique journey.

If you’d like to find out more – or simply feel the calming vibes of the info page! – click here to discover how The Happy Artist Studio can help you find your quiet in this very noisy world we live in.

I’d love to support you on your artist path.

If more artists were getting to make more art, the world could become a very different place.

Let’s declutter your artist life and help you make more art!