The courage to be creative: Q&A with Jamila Rizvi

Courage is something creatives grapple with on a daily basis. Taking a leap, putting yourself out there, choosing the path less traveled: no one said it was easy! How can we worry less—and leap more?

Jamila Rizvi is someone who knows how to leap. In 2017, Jamila was one of the Weekly Review’s top ten young rising stars in Melbourne. And no wonder: she’s a columnist for News Limited; a radio host; a commentator on such shows as Today, ABC News Breakfast and Q&A; a published author (of Not Just Lucky, published by Penguin, and an anthology of letters called The Motherhood to be released this year); even an ambassador for CARE Australia. And that’s just the short version.

We asked Jamila for her thoughts and advice about being courageous. Here’s what she had to say.

In your upcoming event ‘Tea with Jam and Clare’, you and Clare Bowditch will celebrate creativity and courage. Why did you decide to focus on these themes?

Creativity is at the heart of what both Clare and I do. While many of us foolishly associate creativity only with the arts, the truth is creativity lies at the center of all that is beautiful and all that is innovative. And yet, as powerful and glorious as creativity is, many of us fear we’re not made for it, that we can’t do it, that it’s not for us. It takes courage to be creative, but if we’re able to find and harness that courage? That’s where brilliance begins.

Clare Bowditch (left) and Jamila (center) welcome Zoë Foster Blake as a special guest at their upcoming event, Tea with Jam and Clare.

You have pursued many creative ventures, from writing to television. Which venture has taken the most courage?

Both Clare and I have pursued creativity in many ventures: Clare in the more classical realms of music, performance, and more recently in writing, and myself in journalism, business and yes, government policy. The truth is that creativity is important and relevant to every sphere of work and human endeavour. For me, the venture that required the most courage was leaving the safety and financial security of full-time work for the independence of freelancing.

Have you ever taken a creative risk that failed?

Oh so many times! Creativity requires risks and also requires of us the courage to get it disastrously wrong and begin again. This sounds rather roundabout, but for me the biggest failures have come from not taking creative risks. They’ve come from being afraid to take the leap and trust my instincts and let creativity take its course. Creativity is stifled by a fear of ‘what others may think’ and that’s where my failures tend to eventuate.

How do you gear yourself up to take a creative risk?

I am not an impulsive person; I am a natural planner. However, I tend to spend a long time thinking about a creative risk or a new endeavour before I begin. I think, and think, and think and think again—and often appear disastrously unproductive. But when I do take action at the end of it I am decisive and fast.

In her book Big Magic, Elizabeth Gilbert says that although fear is something all creatives must learn to live with—that it will always be ‘in the backseat’ of our car—the important thing is to not let it drive (or touch the road maps, suggest detours, fiddle with the temperature or touch the radio). Do you find this a helpful way to think about dealing with fear?

I found Elizabeth Gilbert’s book tremendously helpful in this regard. Sometimes we can get so caught up in our own heads that it inhibits the purity of a creative idea. It stifles it, suffocates it and eventually, it kills it. The key is to just ‘do the thing’. There always comes a point when the planning or thinking or worrying comes to an end and you Get. On. With. It. Never let the fear of being less-than-perfect stop you from doing what’s important.

How can you tell if fear is simply ‘fear of failure’ versus a gut instinct that should be listened to?

I write about fear of failure in my book, Not Just Lucky. I think it’s always important to determine the genuine cause of fear because for most of us, fear of failure is actually fear of public failure; we fear failing in the eyes of others. If we were allowed to fail quietly and privately then we probably wouldn’t be fussed. Ultimately you have to ask yourself: is the opinion of others more important than the creative work you want to do? Probably not…

Do you have people you rely on for support when considering a creative risk?

Clare and I certainly rely on one another because we’re close friends as well as professional collaborators. I always use my husband as the commonsense check and my father as the strategic check. They reign in my freewheeling creativity and excitement when necessary. They also know me better than anyone else, so I trust their judgment implicitly. Often they help create a framework I can use to analyse a decision, or point out the flaws in my logic or plan.

What is the next big creative risk you have planned for 2018?

We launch Tea with Jam and Clare in March and I have high hopes that this won’t be a one-off event but the start of something extremely special.

Is there something you would love to do but haven’t quite got the courage?

I would love to write fiction. I’ll let you know when—or if—I ever tackle that fear.

Any final words of advice for readers struggling with fear about taking a creative leap?

Stop worrying about what other people might think. Nobody is paying as close attention to you as you are, so do what makes you happy.

Jamila Rizvi’s new event series with Clare Bowditch—Tea with Jam and Clare—launches on Tuesday 20 March at the Melbourne Town Hall, with special guest Zoë Foster Blake. Tickets are available at trybooking.com. For your chance to win a double pass, pop over to the CWC Instagram and/or Facebook accounts!

Julie Mazur Tribe is the CWC blog editor and a book-publishing consultant who loves working with authors, books, and creative ideas. She can be found at BrooklynBookStudio.com and on Instagram at @brooklynbookstudio.

EVENT RECAP: How to maintain longevity in the arts

Inspiration was in full supply at last week’s CWC Sydney panel event—‘Longevity in the Arts’—presented by CWC members Fiona Chandler and Saffron Craig to a full room at the Manly Art Gallery & Museum in Sydney.

Amanda Penrose Hart had everyone laughing with tales of her journey as a visual artist, from its rocky beginning—‘I had to get a taxi to my [art school] interview because my parents refused to drive me’—to her current status as a respected contemporary painter.

Amanda shared a wealth of practical tips, from reinvesting half of all earnings into materials so you can always ‘keep going’ to setting aside enough money for GST; having your work ‘gallery ready’ 2–3 months before a show to allow for photography and publicity; and always working with more than one gallery. ‘Don’t be satisfied with one space,’ she advised. ‘Always try to get more. Remember, the gallery is working for you—you’re not working for the gallery.’

Much of Amanda’s work is inspired by trips around the world with a group of other artists. Her favourite way to travel with wet oil paintings? Stack them in back-to-back pairs with sticks used as spacers to prop up each pair, then wrap the whole stack in cling wrap, secure it with masking tape, and pack it in a suitcase.

Next up was actor, coach, and visual artist Amy Kersey, who kept the laughter going with tips for sustaining yourself in a creative career, including working other jobs, having variety in your work, and, most importantly, learning from mistakes and flukes. ‘You have to create the optimal environment for mistakes,’ she laughed. ‘Really go for something on your own terms and let yourself make a really big mistake.’

Amy talked about balancing the fine line between making work your client needs and honoring your creativity, sharing her version of the serenity prayer: ‘May the universe grant me the discipline to deliver the work as it needs to be, the courage to let it be what it wants to be, and the presence in the moment to know the difference.’

The last speaker was Katherine Roberts, curator of the Manly Art Gallery & Museum (MAGM), who exuded enthusiasm for her work enabling artists and developing and managing exhibitions. ‘My work provides a genuine creative outlet, even though I’m not an artist,’ she said. Having known from the age of 17 that she wanted to work with artists, she landed early at the MAGM and expressed great gratitude for her long tenure there. ‘I love it every day,’ she smiled.

Fiona Chandler, Amy Kersey, Saffron Craig and Amanda Penrose

Closing the evening, Fiona Chandler looked back on the past couple years of organising speakers for this panel. ‘The crux of the message is that it’s all about opportunities, saying “yes” to things, and being brave.’

For more about Amanda Penrose Hart, visit her website or follow her on Instagram (@amanda_penrose_hart). Amy Kersey can be found at her coaching website, on Facebook, and on Instagram (@kerseyink). To learn more about Katherine Roberts, check out her profile on LinkedIn.

Julie Mazur Tribe is an editor and book-publishing consultant who loves working with authors, books, and creative ideas. She can be found at BrooklynBookStudio.com and on Instagram at @brooklynbookstudio.

Photos by Saffron Craig.

Creative Women at Work: Pip Smith, author of Half Wild

Eugenia Falleni, whose multiple identities are the subject of Half Wild

Pip Smith is a Sydney-based writer and poet. Her debut novel, Half Wild, draws on extensive research to reimagine the life of Eugenia Falleni, the so-called “man-woman” convicted of murder in Sydney in 1920. Published in July by Allen & Unwin, the book has been praised as “impressive” (The Australian) and “imaginative and adventurous” (The Sydney Morning Herald). I chatted with Pip about how she came to write her first novel, the importance of failure, and why the only risks worth taking are the scary ones.

What was your inspiration for Half Wild?

I found out about Eugenia Falleni when I went to see the “City of Shadows” exhibition at the Justice and Police Museum. These were police photographs from the early twentieth century. Most of the subjects were hamming it up, trying to look tough with a scowl and their hats cocked to the side. But then there was this one photo of a man who looked the opposite: he was trying very hard to look normal but something in his eyes looked like he was about to come apart. The description said this was “actually” an Italian woman and mother. When I looked at the photo, I could see how it could be two people: a woman as well as a man. What interested me was that these were equally true identities—Eugenia lived in Double Bay as a woman who wore trousers and had a daughter, but [also lived] in Drummoyne as Harry Crawford, a Scotsman who grew up in New Zealand and had a wife and stepson. I was intrigued that one body could maintain two different identities in the same city at the same time, and never the twain shall meet—until, of course, they did, in the horrible court case of 1920.

These days, there’s vehement discussion about “truthiness” and fake news. While I passionately defend scientific truth, I was intrigued by the idea that multiple truths could coexist for different people at the same time.

Also, the places in Eugenia’s story are places I have lived. Once you become obsessed with something, you start seeing it everywhere. I almost felt stalked by the story. This was a story about my city that called into question things I both love and hate about it.

Did you know right away that you wanted to turn Eugenia’s story into a novel?

When I saw the exhibition, I was interested in making theatre. We pitched a show based on Eugenia to the Melbourne Fringe Festival. But collaboration can be unpredictable. The show somehow ended up being about Michael Jackson and I was naked in a Perspex box filled with plastic plants! It was pretty terrible. Then I thought, maybe I’d turn it into a collection of prose poems. But when I started writing, it came out as a novel. That’s just the way the project evolved.

Everyone’s artistic process is different. I have to go the long way to get anywhere, and that’s okay. I think it’s important to get distracted, go down rabbit holes, and procrastinate by researching something strange, because it all ends up being swept back in the project in some way.

So you give yourself the freedom to explore?

Yes, and to fail. That’s important. A lot of the stuff I wrote [in the first couple years] didn’t work. It felt phony. I was scared of writing from Harry Crawford’s point of view because I’m not a man or a trans man. It was a voice experiment that went on forever. I finally just shelved it. It wasn’t until years later that I went back and looked at what I’d written. I cut thousands of words and some of it survived. It’s amazing how things can come back like that.

Given that this was your first novel, did you struggle with self-doubt? Did you ever want to give up?

Self-doubt is a big thing for me. I took about a year to get going, just trying to convince myself I could do it. One of the things that pulled me through was that it was a true story, and that Eugenia’s life—or lives—are still relevant now. With all this debate about gender fluidity and identity politics, it’s still an important idea. Also, I was on a scholarship and felt like I had a commitment to the government to finish. As a writer, you’ve got to jump at these opportunities.

What does your writing day look like?

I need to write first thing in the morning because it’s really easy to get distracted. The hardest thing for me is getting raw material on the page. It’s the most important part of writing and the scariest—and also the most fun. I feel great if I can get three hours of writing done. I leave editing until the afternoon, when that creative energy has burned up.

The thing that keeps me going is reading. If I don’t know what I’m doing, I often at least know what energy I want on the page. In the first part of the book, I wanted a larger-than-life energy, as if time was racing ahead. I was also exploring the idea of your imagination making things real. So I read a lot of books written from the point of view of children. I’d read until I got excited by a spark of an idea, then start writing.

Different kinds of writing require different processes. The third part of the novel, which is based on the court transcript, had a lot more facts to include. I made a spreadsheet of all the witnesses’ names, what they had seen, and so on. Each week I would write one person’s scenes to make sure I kept the voices consistent.

A lot of the work is trying to find the process that works for you at a given point in time. Whenever there’s a big life change it takes ages to find the way of organizing your life that’s the most effective.

What’s the best advice you’ve received about writing?

The most important thing is to do it every day, to keep a regular practice even when you’re feeling lost. You never know when it’s going to work or how it’s going to work. If I know that I’m going to be at my desk for three hours every day, then any ideas I have will be caught, like in a fishing net. If you turn up, something’s going to make it. Being disciplined in that way has been really valuable for me.

Kate Grenville recommended writing the most difficult part first, the part you’re most afraid of. I think that’s really wise, because otherwise you spend so long circling around it, you end up with tens of thousands of words on stuff that isn’t quite the thing that scares you.

Any advice about taking creative risks?

My big fear about taking a risk is that if it’s a failure, I’ll have wasted my time. But it’s only a risk not worth taking if it doesn’t address something genuinely, deeply inside you. If it is a genuine question you have, it’s never going to be a waste of time.

Then the important thing is to ask yourself: is the question big enough? Is what I’m attempting scary enough? If the question doesn’t rattle you, it’s probably not worth asking. So it’s probably not, “Is this too much of a risk?” but rather, “Is this a big enough risk to warrant committing years of my life to?”

Julie Mazur Tribe is an editor and book-publishing consultant who loves working with authors, books, and creative ideas. She can be found at BrooklynBookStudio.com or on Instagram at @brooklynbookstudio.

Author photo by Joshua Morris

Creative women at work: Rachel Devine, visual storyteller

Rachel Devine is an award-winning photoblogger and professional children’s and lifestyle photographer. Her blog, SesameEllis.com, and Instagram feed attract fans from around the world with candid, compelling images of family life. She has authored and co-authored three books on photography, and last year, her project Within the Keep, featuring portraits of tween girls paired with words each girl chose to define herself, won both an Olympus Vision grant and a 2016 Bupa Blog Award. A native of Los Angeles, Rachel moved to Melbourne nine years ago and calls Australia home.

 Can you tell us about your background and how you fell in love with photography?

I started when I was a teenager—self-taught, on film. I couldn’t draw well, so photography was my creative outlet. In 1995, I opened my business in Los Angeles, photographing kid modeling portfolios and headshots. My claim to fame was photographing Miley Cyrus! After moving to Melbourne, I met a woman named Simone Ryan, who represents kids’ clothing brands. That was my entry into the kids’ clothing world in Melbourne.

How would you describe your work and creative inspiration?

I take pride in the fact that you can look back at images I shot twenty years ago, even on film, and it’s hard to date them. With the clean lighting, true colours, and classic style, you would think I shot them yesterday. I love that.

Light inspires me. I am such a fan of light—and dark. When the light comes into my bedroom in the afternoon—especially fall light, the stripes of light through the blinds on the white wall—it’s just so pretty. I can see a photo just by looking at the light. That’s how I’m constantly looking at the world.

Do you have any simple advice about taking better photos, whether for social media or to sell products?

Learn how to photograph in balanced, flat light without it being dull, and also avoid “hot spots,” which are overly bright areas (as opposed to dark areas). You can find flat, filtered light in a doorway, just underneath a porch, or by placing your items next to a window with a sheer white curtain. Or, coat your windows with yogurt! If you use a roller to paint your windows with sugar-free low-fat yogurt (not no-fat, which is too milky), it becomes sort of a frosted window. You get light through it but you can’t see out. It’s amazing. When you don’t want the yogurt on there anymore, spray the window with water and wipe it down.

If you want to show something simply and beautifully on Instagram, there’s that slightly unsaturated look with lots of white—white backgrounds with one simple object in the photo—that works well. Just keep everything simple and have a clean, consistent look, whether it’s slightly unsaturated or neon coloured.

Which social media channel has been the most effective for you, and why?

Instagram. For me, it has been about interacting with people. It’s not just putting my stuff up there and hoping they’ll show up. I find hashtags that I like and then click on them and “like” pictures that appeal to me. I just like what I like and engage as if nobody was looking. If you think of it as a community and not an audience, you build respect by actually interacting as a human being with other people in the community.

Do you have help running your business?

I don’t have physical assistants, but I have upgraded to systems. I pay for a program called Studio Ninja that I highly recommend. It’s a Melbourne-based customer management back-end service that does quotes and invoices, job tracking, all that. It makes my life so much easier. I also use CoSchedule for my blogging stuff.

Like many of us, you are juggling a creative business and a family. What is your favourite tip for “making it work”?

The best decision I made was saying that I work from 10–2, drawing the line at school hours. I’m lucky in that I can do the school run and be here in the evenings. I don’t feel that I’m working all the time when the kids are around.

Have you ever taken a risk or tried a strategy that didn’t turn out as you’d hoped? If so, what did you learn from the experience?

There are tons. Everything has a learning curve. What I try to remember is that every bad thing will pass—and the good stuff will as well. When something goes wrong, I take those moments in just as I do when something’s going awesome; I know it won’t last and I want to get everything I can from it. As painful as some of it might be, I can still learn from it and absorb life lessons.

You’re American but have lived in Australia for nine years. Has being an ex-pat shaped your art?

Being an ex-pat has had a huge impact on my art. While everyone here speaks English, it’s a different world. It’s similar to home but it’s not home. I’m always looking at things slightly left of center. Also, I have a slight sense of longing all the time, being far from friends. There’s a Japanese word for that bittersweet appreciation of time passing, and I’m constantly aware of that. It seeps into my images.

Probably the biggest issue I struggle with is that I’m not considered an Australian blogger photographer, but I’m not an American one, either. I consider myself more Australian than American—at least politically. I enjoy and celebrate the opportunities people have here.

What are you looking forward to doing in your business this year?

I’d like to take my Within the Keep project to a larger audience. I’m also working on a visual storytelling journal for kids to help them tell their own stories. I love how photography crosses nationalities, language barriers, intellectual barriers—all those things. It’s universal.

Rachel’s Quick Picks:

• Favorite read: the Brain Pickings e-newsletter and the book A Man Called Ove
• Favorite podcast: I have yet to find a podcast I can listen to!
• Favorite Instagram feeds: Recent finds are @EstherHollywood and @Adele_Miranda
• Designers, creatives, or brands: the kids’ clothing brand Minti; illustrator Bianca Cash; the landscapes of photographer Bill Henson
• Favorite place to go for inspiration: the beach
• Most inspiring friend or family member: My father, who passed away in 1999. He was the one who said, “Photograph. I’ll pay for the lab bills”—and look what he’s done. I think about him all the time, every time I pick up a camera.

Photographs by Rachel Devine

For more about Rachel, visit her blog, Facebook feed, or follow her on Instagram at @sesameellis. To join Rachel’s Photographing Happiness group, where she helps members document their daily moments of happiness, visit the group’s Facebook page.

Julie Mazur Tribe is an editor and book publishing consultant who loves working with authors, books, and creative ideas. She can be found at BrooklynBookStudio.com or on Instagram at @brooklynbookstudio.

Creative women at work: Maryanne Moodie, fibre artist

Creative women at work Maryanne Moodie, fibre artist

Maryanne Moodie is an Australian fibre artist, teacher, and business owner who splits her time between her home in Brunswick, Victoria, and her studio in Brooklyn, New York. Known for using unexpected colours in vintage-inspired woven pieces, she has re-energised weaving with her innovative designs and passion for the craft. Maryanne teaches workshops locally and around the world, runs a thriving Etsy shop, and has been featured on everything from The Design Files and Design*Sponge to New York Magazine. Her book, On the Loom, was published late last year by Thames and Hudson. I caught up with Maryanne to chat about weaving, community-building, and the surprising perks of not having a plan.

Can you tell us about your background and how you fell in love with weaving?

I’ve always had an entrepreneurial spirit. Even during high school I used to make toffees and sell them during recess. I spent most of my time being an art teacher, but I also had a business on the side, sourcing and selling vintage fashion.

I got pregnant, and during my maternity leave, as I was cleaning out the art storeroom with another teacher, we found this old loom. I took it home and loved it immediately. I’d tried other crafts before—macramé, ceramics, jewellery making—but nothing fit until I started weaving.

I had a little social media following from my vintage company and put up a photo of my first piece. Everyone went bananas! People started asking, ‘Can I buy that?’ ‘Can you make me something?’ It was my husband who said I shouldn’t sell anything for a year. I was still learning, and wanted to be proud of what I sold. So I waited.

When did you turn weaving into a business, and what did that evolution look like?

During that first year, I kept sharing my weaves on social media but didn’t sell anything. I gave all of my pieces away. I would ask my friends, ‘Can I make something for your shop?’ And they would say yes and hang them. Lucy from the Design Files walked into a florist where I had one hanging and asked if she could feature me on the blog. I didn’t even have anything for sale yet. I actually asked her, ‘If I’m going to sell one of those, how much should it be?’

By the time I was ready to sell, I had a huge market of people wanting to buy my stuff. Soon, people wanted to learn how to weave. That was when Megan Morton from the School found me. She taught me how to do this elegant way of teaching, turning a class into a beautiful treat: have a glass of champagne, be fulfilled, chat with someone. She made me love teaching again.

People saw my photos of teaching and said, ‘I can’t make it to the classes, but could you sell me a kit?’ So I started making kits. And then people were like, ‘What book should I buy? I can’t find a good book.’ So I thought, okay, time to write a book. Then people said they liked the book, but did I have an online course? So we’ve been filming online courses. It’s really been about listening to what my customers want.

Social media has been a big part of building your brand. Which channel has been the most effective for you?

Instagram. I love the community-making side of it. I love how if someone writes something, I can look at their feed and message them. If I really liked what someone was doing, I would say, hey, do you want to do a swap? I would take a photo of their work and share it with my community, and they’d do the same. You end up sharing what you love.

There was a bittersweet moment when I hit about 25,000 followers. I used to reply to every comment, but it got to the point that every time my child looked away, I’d whip out my phone to respond to people. Then he’d turn back and see me. I realised, I need to respond to my child. Now I post only once or twice a day. I read the comments to know what’s going on, but I allow the community in my platform to help each other.

How do you gear yourself up to take risks in your business?

When I think up my own ideas, they’re sometimes right. But when the ideas come from what my customers are asking for—they’re the most successful. It’s about not having a plan and just listening. If I had a plan, I would miss opportunities to the left and right because I’d be so focused on what’s ahead. If you’re open to listening, you’ll always have a market for your product because it’s what people are asking for. It doesn’t feel like a risk.

You work between Melbourne and New York City. How does that work?

We moved to the U.S. because [my husband] Aaron got a job with Etsy. At the time, I thought I was taking one for the team, but I got to meet other artists and set up my business. We were there for 3-1/2 years. We decided to move back because we wanted the kids to do their schooling in Australia. So I came back but kept my studio there. My studio manager, Kaelyn, and I Skype every week and I prattle back once a season. I don’t know how long I’ll go on doing it like this, but I’m just going to jam it out and see how it goes.

How did being Australian affect your time in New York? And how did your time in New York affect you as an Australian?

Australians are very self-deprecating. We’ve got the whole “tall poppy” syndrome. You never big yourself up, talk about your achievements or how wonderful your work is. I have a little of that, but I’m also able to push forward and take risks and grow unselfconsciously, which is a bit more American. I have a balance of both. I try to push myself forward by pushing other people forward, too. Rather than saying, ‘Look how amazing I am,’ I want to bring people along so we can make weaving amazing together.

What are you looking forward to doing with your business in 2017?

I did Vogue Knitting Live in January and there were yarn stores looking at what I do and saying, wow, we want to stock your looms. It’s a new wholesale part of my business where manufacturers can make the looms and send them to shops. For the first time, I won’t have to include my energy in things to push the business forward.

Any advice for other women running creative businesses?

Make a community of people interested in what you do—on social media, through a newsletter, however you can talk to people and they can talk to you—and then listen to them. Ask them: what do you think about this? Would you buy this? You might know how to make a product, but unless you ask your customers, you might be making the wrong thing, or doing it the wrong way.

Maryanne’s Quick Picks:

Favorite read:Apartamento magazine

Favorite podcasts:Two Dope Queens, On the Media, Lore

Favorite Instagram feeds:@popandscott, @jordi_pordi, @tanyaauiniga

Designers, creatives, or brands: Pop and Scott, Jordana Joan, Tanya Aguiniga, Cindy Zell

Favorite places to go for inspiration: In New York, the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD). In Australia, anywhere near the water.

Most inspiring friend or family member: My female friends and family. We’re doing everything—running businesses, taking care of our families, taking care of ourselves (when we can)—with grace, tenacity, and grit. Females are my inspiration.

For more about Maryanne, visit her website and Etsy shop. You can also follow her on Instagram at @maryannemoodie. Her book, On the Loom, is available wherever books are sold.

Julie Mazur Tribe is an editor and book publishing consultant with a lifelong addiction to paper stores. She can be found at BrooklynBookStudio.com or on Instagram at @brooklynbookstudio.

Tips on Live Painting

by Júlia Both

“Live painting"—when an artist is commissioned to create something in front of an audience—is quickly becoming a popular entertainment option at events such as corporate dinners, award nights, underground parties, exhibitions, and cultural festivals. Painting live at an event is an interesting and non-intrusive way to entertain an audience. Most people never get the chance to see a piece of art unfold, and find it fascinating to watch it progress.

If you are an artist, live painting can be a great opportunity to network and get your art seen, though it is completely different than creating something alone in the peace and quiet of your studio. Here are some tips to help you paint live in front of an audience.

Plan a piece that suits the event. When choosing what to paint, think about how you will paint it and whether it will be both interesting to watch and achievable in the duration of the event. Choose a theme and style with which you are very comfortable.

Pick materials suitable for the space. If you are painting indoors or near people eating, do not use aerosols or paints with strong fumes. If you are painting in a pristine environment with expensive carpet, don’t plan to create a piece that will involve splashing lots of paint around.

Go big. The point of live painting is for people to watch it happening. Your piece needs to be big enough so your body won’t block it, and should require you to move your arms and body, not just your hands. Unless it is a very small event, don’t go smaller than one square meter.

Prepare as much as possible. If you are feeling nervous, why not do a practice run? You can paint the same painting or something similar the day before, perhaps on a smaller surface, to check your process and palette. This will help you build confidence and plan your timing.

Depending on your style, it might be a good idea to sketch the painting on the surface before the event to save time. If you use light chalk or pencil, the audience won’t be able to see the sketch; it will look as if you are creating something completely from scratch.

Keep in mind that while you’re painting, you will be seen and photographed as much as the artwork. Think about how your choice of clothes can complement the art.

Get an efficient setup. Visit the venue beforehand so you can plan how to arrange your materials and tackle any problems with lighting, space, etc. Set up your materials within easy reach. Consider getting a small table for your supplies so you won’t have to lay them on the floor.

Use a limited colour palette. If you have to mix specific colours, mix them before the event. It will make the painting go a lot more smoothly if you have all the right colours and can just focus on applying them to the piece.

If you are using reference materials, don’t spend the event looking at them on your smartphone. Print out the images and have them somewhere accessible. I like to stick mine with tape to the floor in front of the painting, so my hands are free and I can check them easily, without detracting from the piece.

Consider movement and timing. While you are painting, think about your body as part of the performance. Can you make your movements more dramatic and interesting to watch? If possible, position yourself in a way that allows people to see your hands and the brushstrokes you make.

Guests will want to photograph your finished work and talk to you about your art. Finish your painting before the event ends to leave enough time to network. To make sure you are not going too quickly or slowly, divide your process in stages and set milestones for certain times. Keep a watch or phone handy so you can check your progress.

Remember: no one is judging you. It’s easy to feel nervous when you have an audience behind you, and to think people are judging your every move. Don’t let your mind go down that path. Remind yourself that people are there to have fun; they are busy interacting with each other, not staring at you constantly. Most people don’t understand the process behind a painting and won’t even notice if you do something wrong. If you make a mistake or spill paint, don’t panic: stop, take a deep breath, and just follow the steps to fix it. 

Júlia Both is a visual artist from Brazil. Since moving to Melbourne in 2013, she has run Mayfield Palace, a partnership that creates art for businesses and organisations all over Australia. She shares her work regularly on Instagram (@artofboth) and at artofboth.com.

Australian Women in Art: Lily Mae Martin

by Annette Wagner

If you know me, you know that I’m passionate about art. All kinds of art. I love being floored by work that conveys an emotive response or inspires me to think beyond my world of possibilities.

Lily Mae Martin’s work does just that. When viewing her incredible, highly technical drawings, I become both lost in the detail and enamoured by their complex totality. For this last “Australian Women in Art” post of 2016, Lily Mae was kind enough to answer a few burning questions, uncovering that, for her, it’s all about drawing, drawing, and drawing.

What in your personal life influenced you to pursue a creative career?

A timely question as this has been on my mind of late. I think there were a few things that led me here. I’ve always drawn, always written, always been interested in the dexterous arts. I think drawing outdid the rest because it allows me to be expressive but also hide a lot within it. There are a lot of things I try to work through with my art, and drawing is very safe for me. It keeps the hands and mind busy.

It’s also very accessible. I’ve been making my way through this world largely on my own since I was just sixteen, so I never had much opportunity in the way of money or support. I work with pen and paper, and although now it’s fancy hot-pressed paper and Micron fine-liner pens, I was also happy with the backs of forms and cheap ballpoint pens.

Your work is incredibly fine, detailed drawings. How did you arrive at this medium? Have you, or do you, explore other media for your creativity?

Drawing is (mostly) immediate. I just want to sit down and make work. I have other passions, such as printmaking and oil painting, but these require a lot more build-up and planning and space and time, and I don’t have that space and time. I'll get to those things one day, but for now, drawing is what works for me. I’ve been working for so long creating my style and setting little challenges for myself within this medium. And there is still so much to explore!

Harkening back to my admiration of printmaking, and especially etching—that’s what I try to replicate within my drawings. Building up shape and tone with tiny little lines is so very captivating for me. Of course, I see this as an ever evolving thing. Once I feel I have mastered drawing and detail, I’ll probably undo it all and get abstract and expressionist. My thinking is, if you know all the rules, you can break them. Being skillful and disciplined has always been very important to me.

Seated Nude, by Lily Mae Martin, 2016. Ink on paper, 75 x 105 cm.

Were you ever discouraged or have you had setbacks that derailed your creative passions? What are five favorite things that keep you focused, optimistic, and motivated?

Yes, very much so. Five things that keep me focused, in no particular order of preference, are:

1. I love drawing.
2. I feel good when I’m drawing.
3. I want to master drawing.
4. Drawing makes me happy.
5. Drawing.

How do you manage your time and creative output with children and all that entails? Do you think having children has contributed to your work?

Not very well, but I keep trying! I have to prioritise it. If I don’t, I am not a very nice person—and then I start baking too much and it all gets very upsetting! But honestly, I don’t have a social life and I don’t make it out to events much. I just can’t do it all. It took me a few years to accept this, but once I did, I became a much happier and more productive person.

There is a lot of pressure to do and be everything for everyone, especially as a woman. But stuff that, I say. I love, love, spending time with my kid and my husband, and I love drawing. Beyond that, there isn’t much time for anything or anyone else at the moment. It may change one day, but childhood only happens once for my little one, and I intend on enjoying it and making it as magical as I can. The world can wait.

Having my child has contributed to my work in that she’s reminded me of the wonder and joy in the world. She stands in my studio and says things like, “Mummy, no one can draw like you,” and it’s the best. She was drawing before she could walk. I wouldn’t wish the art life on her, but I definitely think that the joy and problem-solving that come with creating are powerful things for humans to have in their lives, regardless of whether it becomes a career or hobby.

Lily Mae Martin in her studio. Photo by Gene Hammond-Lewis.

Do you think there is a gender imbalance in Australia’s current contemporary art system? Have you ever felt discriminated against as a female artist? If so, what was the scenario?

For sure. There’s a gender imbalance across all aspects of life, so of course there is in art as well. I feel it keenly. I think the most obvious thing is that male artists get all the air-time, the wall space, the praise. It just does my head in when men—and women—do not check their unconscious bias. Sometimes I want to jump up and down and yell, “WHERE ARE THE WOMEN? WHAT ABOUT THE WOMEN?”

Do you feel that Australian female artists have fewer resources and lack crucial financial support to go into making and producing art? 

Most likely. I mean, my experience is that the few residencies I would have considered won’t allow children to go. The reason generally given is that they want the artist to have alone time to create something. That’s all fine and great if said artist has a wife, or family support. But considering that I am the wife with no family support, it isn’t very helpful.

One time I did apply for a grant—and even paid someone to help me put it all together—but the weekend before we were going to submit it, the grant was cut and no longer existed. So, really, are there any resources for anyone?

Where do you find inspiration? Do you have advice for other creatives on how to be inspired?

I find inspiration everywhere. I find it on long, long walks, and while traveling, reading, and learning about history and science. I like to watch animals and birds, and the way kids negotiate their conflicts. People-watching at the supermarket or the gym, or on long train rides and in cafes, also inspires me. Looking at art is inspiring, but I tend to draw from other things in life to bring into my work.

I think to get inspired you need to find the joy, and you need to want to explore and enjoy the process. If you don’t enjoy it, why do it? Fame and glory are the wrong reasons to commit your mind and time to anything.

Lastly, what is the best advice you have ever been given?

When I announced that I wouldn’t be drawing again, my grandmother—may she rest in peace—said, “Well, that’s just silly. You have a talent; don’t waste it.”

She also berated me for getting stuck on what was trendy, and praised my skill, though she noted that some of what I make is “repugnant.” She was a true gem of a woman.

Lily is represented by Scott Livesey Galleries in Melbourne.

Annette Wagner is a designer, marketer, creative consultant, artist, and writer. She is also on the board of the Creative Women’s Circle. Obsessively passionate about the arts and the creative process, she is determined to not talk art-speak and instead focus on supporting and sharing concepts and insights most creative types crave to know.