Episode 9: Starting to Sell, Losing Interest and Studio Block

In this episode of The Creative Couch, I respond to three thoughtful creative dilemmas from Becky, Emeline and Addy – exploring how to start selling your work, what to do when interest fades after success, and how to navigate creative block in a studio space that no longer feels supportive.

Becky is ready to start selling her hand printed cards and watercolour sketches, but feels overwhelmed by the number of decisions involved. From choosing what to sell to setting up an online shop, she finds herself stuck in the thinking stage and unsure how to begin. How do you move from intention into action without getting paralysed by trying to do everything “properly” from the start?

Emeline describes a pattern in her work where she becomes deeply engaged in the early stages of an idea, experimenting and discovering something new, only to lose interest once the work becomes successful and repeatable. As she moves between different ideas and mediums, she’s left feeling as though she’s not fully invested in any one direction. How do you stay with your work without losing the sense of energy and discovery that made it exciting in the first place?

Addy has recently rented a studio so she can create away from her small flat, but instead of feeling motivated, she finds herself avoiding the space altogether. Without the structure she’s used to from courses, and with the added pressure of the cost, the studio has started to feel more like a burden than a support. How do you begin again when a space meant to help you feels intimidating, and how do you know if it’s actually the right setup for you?

In this episode, I explore:

• Why overwhelm often appears at the point of starting something new, and how to move through it
 • How to take small, practical steps towards selling your work without overthinking the process
 • The natural rhythms of a creative practice, and why repetition can drain energy from your work
 • How to build continuity in your practice even when your ideas and mediums change
 • What I call “studio shackles” and how a studio can sometimes create pressure rather than freedom
 • Ways to reintroduce structure, rebuild momentum, and make a creative space feel usable again

Each dilemma is explored with both emotional insight and practical steps you can try in your own creative life.

If you have a creative dilemma you’d like me to explore, please email me at:

thecreativecouchpod@gmail.com

Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello and welcome to the Creative Couch. I'm Sam Marshall, artist and creative coach. This is a podcast about creativity, confidence, and living a creative life. Good afternoon. Welcome to the Creative Couch. We are back from France. Well, she's back from uh London and I'm back from France. Got back late last night. Quite a long day, quite a long journey. Well, it's not actually that long, but there was lots of delays, and anyway, we are back. And my new studio is um yeah, looking bigger than I thought. It's taking a while to uh get adjusted to seeing this new structure in my garden. Anyway, it's all good. So I hope that you're all well and I hope you all had a lovely Easter. Um, I was in France during Easter. Um, so I've just come back from a week of teaching sketching and printmaking at this wonderful place called Closse Clomie Clemurabelle. I think I've been saying it wrong for the past year. Anyway, it was an amazing, um beautiful big house in the Pyrenees. Um wonderful hosts, amazing foods, and just the loveliest participants. A group of nine amazing women came along and we just had the best time talking, drawing, printing. It was just magic, and uh yeah, I've come away feeling very fulfilled, um, very tired, very tired, a lot of talking, and I'm not used to socializing so much. So there was a lot of um, yeah, there was a lot of really intense but supportive, warm, reflective chat, but a lot of it, a lot of fun, a lot of laughs. Uh, we had two um two lovely ladies from Sweden. Uh, we had three participants from America, uh, two from the UK, and uh one from Canada. Yeah, it was great, it was amazing. Anyway, I'm back now, and I've got my uh my Italy trip coming up at the end of May, so I'm busy preparing for that. So it's all go. It's all go. Anyway, so today I'm answering Becky's dilemma, Emmeline's dilemma, and Addy's dilemma. So again, thank you for sending in your dilemmas. Do keep sending them in. I'm running out of dilemmas to solve, so it'd be great if you wouldn't mind sending it them into the creative couchpod at gmail.com and uh I can get busy answering those. Um, anyway, on to today's uh today's problems. Let me solve some problems. I'm good at solving problems. Not like good at solving my own problems though. Anyway, you know what? It's always it's always easier to give advice than it is to actually take advice yourself, isn't it? Or advise yourself, if that makes sense. Anyway, so Becky wrote in and she said that um she wants to start selling her work, um, particularly a hand printed cards and watercolour sketches, but she's feeling completely overwhelmed by everything. Um, and everything that seems to be involved with setting up an online platform. You know, there's so many decisions to make from what to sell, how to sell it, to setting up an online shop that she finds herself just stuck in the thinking uh phase. And she knows she needs to start somewhere, but she's struggling to take the first step from move to move from intention to action. Oh goodness, I really hear you here, Becky. It's a really big one, isn't it? You you you want to yeah, you want to start sharing your work and um you know you want to start selling your work, but there is an abundance of ways to do that. Um, when I first started, our options were really limited. I mean, I started off with a very simple Etsy shop um my early 30s, so it's probably 20 odd years ago. Um, and I mean I'm gonna talk about that later, but I hear you, even then it was overwhelming, and you know, there's lots of steps involved. And I think it's what's happening here is that because you're stuck in this thinking phase, all of the um all of the kind of challenges are just kind of keep heaping up, don't they? So you're just kind of stuck in this sort of pit of indecision, and I think that changes the emotional weight of everything because up until now your work has been yours and it's been personal, it's been low stakes, and you're shifting into something whereby you're going to be sharing your work and it suddenly feels like feel like it matters more. Uh, you know, it's about what if people, um, what if people don't like it, what if people don't buy it, uh, what if what if I get it all wrong? So all of this comes into it, all of this extra layer comes onto just making work. And then I think that what happens is that these decisions start to feel much bigger than they actually are. Um, so I think you know, you're you're kind of stuck in this procrastination mode because it's almost like, well, I need to prepare a bit more, I need to do a bit more research, I need to get it all right before I start. And actually, what you need to do is just start. That is my main idea for you, my main suggestion. It's just because I think what's happening is this overwhelm is acting as almost like a kind of protection because if you don't start, nothing can go wrong. And I think um it's it's very tempting to stay in this, you know, this kind of space. I mean, it's a bit like me with the podcast, you know, and and the YouTube channel. I've been thinking about it for a while, um, but I kept thinking, oh, I need to do a bit more research, I need to do this, that, and the other. And eventually I just started it. And I'm learning as I go, and I think that's the best way. Just start and see what happens. But underneath this, all of this is really positive. You know, you've got something to sell and you want to sell it and you want to do it, you want to do it well. You care about your work. But I think what's happening is that care is slipping over into hesitation. Um, so I think it's not about building the perfect shop, it's just about doing a few steps and doing something now so that you can get into the habit and it bec it'll become easier the more you do it. Um, so I think the key is to reduce the scale of what it is that you're trying to do, because I think you're trying to solve the whole picture at once here. And actually, you know, the shop, the products, the pricing, the platform, it's just too much. No wonder you're feeling overwhelmed. So I think we shrink it down into something much more manageable. Sort of not start a business, you know, not start a whole new Shopify account, website, etc. Let's just start on selling a few things once. So I would choose maybe your cards for a start rather than your watercolors, or all your watercolours or or not your cards. Just concentrate on selling one thing now, not a range, just one thing. So select maybe six of your cards or eight of your cards, just something quite limited and quite doable. And then choose the simplest way to sell it. Now that might be via Instagram shop. Some people sell it via the Instagram shop if you've got an Instagram account. You could set up an Etsy shop. I mean, Etsy in a is I always do advise something like Etsy or Folksy or something like that when people come to me and they want to start selling their work because it's a big, and I know there's lots of there's lots of issues with Etsy, there's lots of things about them taking a lot of money, etc., etc. But the at least you will get your work seen. If you don't have an online platform or an online presence at the moment, it's very hard to get people to come to your website. If you're on something like Etsy, they're doing a bit of the heavy work for you. So I would just choose something really simple and think about this as a starting point. It's not permanent, you know. You could do Etsy or Foxy or something like that for six months and then decide that you want to set up your own online shop, but at least you'll have some experience with using their templates, using how they advise you to get you started. Um, because I think the aim isn't here to build a perfect system, it's just to create that first experience of selling, because I think that will teach you more than you think. Um and I think the final piece here is actually selling the work to people, isn't it? Um, which is most often the most uncomfortable part. But this doesn't need to be a big launch, you just keep it really simple, you know, just keep it really simple. And and if online, I mean from what from your your dilemma, I got the sense that it was definitely online you wanted to go for rather than perhaps trying to sell it in um, you know, uh local craft fairs or something like that. But that's always a quite a nice way to do it to start off with maybe just having a stall somewhere, just maybe starting off getting used to selling your work, to showing your work. You know, that could be perhaps if that's something you're interested in, or maybe you've done that before, but that could be the first step, perhaps, before you go online. But from what I can sense, your question was about how do I start an online shop. Um, and and just kind of or send that if you've got an email, if you've got you know, you've got a list of friends or family that you could send an email out to. You know, obviously people that have given you your their email address and they don't mind you emailing them, just sort of say, look, I've made a small batch of these. You know, if you'd like one, here's how you buy it. So I think that's enough for the time being. Keep it really contained, decide on the one thing you're gonna sell. So this is your homework. Decide on one thing you're gonna sell, not three ideas, just one. Keep it contained, keep it simple, and then decide how many you're gonna make, keep it small. If you've got all them already, you know, say let's choose five or ten that you're going to sell, and then choose how you're gonna sell it. So, thirdly, choose how you're gonna sell it. Pick the easiest option, don't overwhelm yourself with research, just choose the easiest option. So, how I did it, I went from Etsy to Big Cartel. I used the Big Cartel shop. So that was my own shop that I had to direct people towards, and I I, you know, I did okay, not great for many years. Um, and then I sort of felt like I'd outgrown Big Cartel. It was limited in terms of what it could do for me. So then I moved to Shopify. Um, so I did it step by step, and that took me 15, 16 years. No big, you know, no big push there, just very small and steady. Um, and then fourthly, set a date within the next few weeks where you're gonna actually put them online, offer them for sale. And then I think the most important piece of advice is you're allowed to feel unsure, you're allowed to feel like you're doing this before you're ready. All of that is absolutely fine, but you're at least you're doing something. At least you're in there, you're in the water, you're having a swim, and you're seeing how it feels. But the most important thing, I think, is to get out of that sort of space where you're, you know, you're adding more and more stuff, and you're kind of swimming around in all of these things that you possibly might be able to do. The most important thing I think is to kind of just activate something and get it going, and then learn from that and then move on. Learn from that, move on. I hope that helps, Becky. Um, but keep it simple, keep it focused, and just do it. Right, okay, moving on. We have Emmeline. So Emmeline is um uh one of my lovely coaching creatives. Um, I've been coaching Emmeline now for I think over a year and a bit. So Emmeline is a French artist, and um her work is mixed media, she works with painting, she works with print, she works with um paper. So it's a very rich, multidisciplinary multidisciplinary way of working. And she has written in to say um she feels she has a pattern in her work where she becomes deeply engaged in the early stages of an idea, experimenting, researching, and solving problems. And this often leads to work that feels exciting and receives a strong response. So I'm guessing when she says strong response, she means it leads to sales, it leads to interest from other people. Um, but what once something is successful, she finds herself trying to repeat it, and both her own interest and her audience engagement begins to fade. And then she moves on to something completely entirely new, she says, often changing mediums, and is left feeling as though she's not fully invested in any one direction. So I think this is a really interesting one, and I think it almost reflects what we were talking about last week with the dilemma about going viral and about trying to placate your audience, you know, you give them something, and then there's that responsibility that you feel to keep giving them something, the same kind of thing again and again and again. So I think there's something that is runs parallel here for Emily. So it might be uh worthwhile, uh Emily, going have going back and having a listen to last week, last week's um episode here as well. Because I think what's happening here isn't it isn't that you're inconsistent, that's not at all, and I know that from you. I know that you're not inconsistent, but I think what's happening is that you have a very strong attachment to the energy of making, uh, very strong relationship. Let's not say attachment, you have got a very strong relationship for you. That's where it gets really exciting, that kind of early stage. And you know, when you're figuring it out, it becomes alive, and that you know, there's curiosity and risk and all of that. And I think that is then sensed in the work, you know, your sense of playfulness, your sense of discovery, that's where your work has life, and I think that's where people respond to it. You know, it's new, you're excited, you want to share it. That energy comes across in the work, and and then when you suddenly think, oh, well, this works because I'm getting responses from people, then it becomes about them rather than you, and you start to make work for other people, you start to make work for the audience. And I think when when that happens, people notice, people kind of, I mean, people kind of sense it almost, you know. I think, especially with your work, which is so, you know, it's so varied, it's so rich. Um, and I think the thing is here is to is to kind of you're recreating a result, aren't you? You're kind of recreating a sub a result, and I think that then brings in pressure, and the pressure possibly flattens the work. Um, and of course, you know, your interest wanes, you know, if you're respond repeating the same thing again and again, let's say somebody wants a picture of a, I don't know, let's say, for example, somebody wants a picture of a cat, and you know, um, you keep getting asked to produce pictures of cats, you know, after after a while, you're gonna be absolutely sick and tired of producing pictures of cats. And I think what's happen what would happen is that the the thing that made it interesting has been replaced by repetition. Um, so I don't think it's sort of I don't think it's it's not I think overall what's happening here again is this focus on the audience rather than yourself because I think you know the best way to feed your art and the best way to feed yourself, and I think that what you're trying to do is get back to that feeling of aliveness. So I think it's I don't think it's a problem. I I don't think it's a problem. It's not that you're not consistent enough or not that you're committed enough. I think it's just what you have is a pattern that just needs shaping a bit, and I think you need to reframe how you think about it because actually what I what I'm hearing isn't really a problem. It's like you do one thing, you flesh it out, you repeat it enough, and you get people's interest, and then naturally you want to move on. So I think that for me, what I'm hearing isn't necessarily a problem. I think that you're considering it a problem and you're thinking that you're becoming a master of many things, you're becoming a um, you know, you're you're becoming sort of skilled in many things, but not really skilled in one thing. And I think you think that's a problem, but actually I don't. So I think maybe it is about you reframing your practice and thinking that actually this is the way I work and this isn't a problem. I am curious, I will keep making work. And the thing is, the more you keep making work, the more you will get an audience who's interested in certain things. Like for me, you know, I think I see my practice as a whole. Some people might see my drawings and my etchings or my print, my lino cuts as really separate. I can see the thread of me running through all of those works totally, and I don't think that they need to be separated, I just see them as a under the big umbrella of Sam. And I think with you, that's what you need to see. And I think the more that you um kind of embrace this diversity in your work, the more comfortable you will feel. So I think it's about taking ownership a bit more, isn't it, really? So I think you don't move on too quickly, but I think that there's a natural rhythm to your work, this exploration breakthrough, and then a period where you try to hold on to that break breakthrough. But I think what you need to ask is, you know, how do I stay consistent with what I make? And sorry, no, that's not right. I don't I don't think it's that question, is it? It's not um, it's a bit like how how long do I stay with this before I move on, and trusting your own instinct with it. Because not every idea has to have a long-term direction. It doesn't mean that you just have to keep painting. You know, you can um you you you absolutely have the strength to move on and trust that the fact that there is a continuity that runs through your work. I can see it, I can see it really clearly. I can see it in your sculptural pieces, I can see it in your prints, and I can see it in your paintings. But don't think of them as as separate, think of them as under the umbrella of of Emily. So my homework is framed around that is really I want you to go back and really look for that pattern in your work, look for what it is that holds all of your work together. Because I think once you've noticed that, you will feel a lot happier. And that identifying what it is that feels consistent about your work, and then that becomes your thread, and that is something we can talk about in our next in your next session because I think you've identified something really um interesting here, and I think that's something that's been bubbling along with you know with you for a while, but it's suddenly like you've had this moment of clarity, you've written to me, I've had an opportunity to kind of reflect back and feed it back to you. So I just think it's it's almost like changing the way that you think about your work, and then perhaps changing the way that you talk about your work and send it out in the future. I hope that helped, Emily. Right, so got a great one here from Addy, um, and this is all about studio block and avoidance. So Addy writes that she has recently rented a studio where she can have space to create because she hasn't had opportunities to do that in her small flat at home. But instead of feeling motivated, she finds herself avoiding the space altogether, and despite having ideas, she feels intimidated when it comes to starting. And without the structure she's had in her previous courses, she feels lost. And on top of that, the cost of the studio is adding pressure, making her feel like she's wasting money and making it even harder to go in and use it. Oof, I hear you on this one, I really hear you on this one, Addy. When I was in London, I I just finished my class at my courses at the Royal Drawing School, and I thought that I needed a studio space because everybody else was getting studio spaces, and I thought that would be ideal for me to have a studio space. So I ended up renting a space which was a good cycle, a good 45-cycle ride, because I used to cycle when I was in London at that point. A good 45-cycle ride from my flat in Stoke Newington. And you know, I'd get the I'd have all the intentions of going in. I would get in and realise I'd left all this the stuff that I needed to work on at home. So I was in this problem whereby half my stuff was at home, half my stuff was at my studio. When I went to my studio, it wasn't a particularly welcoming place. I didn't really know what I was doing there. I felt really lost, and I felt like yeah, it just, I don't know. I I felt like I'd got these studio shackles. I think that's a really good word way to describe it. You know, it didn't, it didn't really work for me. I think primarily because it was so far away from where I lived, and it just felt like a real hassle because I'd get there and realise that oh, I'd left a book that I wanted to reference. So I would just stay there and it just felt really, really unproductive. So in the end, what I ended up doing was I had a spare room in my flat in um Stone Newton that was used for like just like a spare room that I had stuff in there. So basically I turned it into a little studio. And actually, I made more work in that spare room than I did in the two years that I have my own studio space. I'm just adding that as a bit of context because I want to give, I want to say that I hear you, I think it's very common. Um, because I think what happens is as soon as you have a studio, it carries a weight there, you know, and it becomes somewhere that you feel you should be going, and that should create the pressure. Um, and I think also it sounds like you've gone from a place that had, you know, as a course, it had structured briefs, you were told what to do, you had deadlines, and then you're just going in and it's like, oh, make what I want, but actually, make what you want feels really, really intimidating. Um, so I think let's think about this in really really practical terms as to what you can do. So, my suggestion would be to kind of say to yourself, I'm going to build the habit of turning up, showing up, and that can be just going 30 minutes every week, and I think it's and then just go with curiosity and see what happens rather than going to make something meaningful, meaningful, just go and just spend a small amount of time there, you know, go rearrange the space, maybe pick put some images up on the wall, you know, sort of nestle in a bit, organise things, you know, make it feel like your space, make it feel like it's a space that you want to spend time with. You know, draw what's in front of you, draw the space. I mean, you know what I'm like about drawing. I'd be drawing the whole space. I would be familiarizing myself what's in there, I'd be drawing the chairs, I'd be drawing, you know, what's on the walls, I'd be, I'd be just getting a sense of what the space is like through investigating with my drawing. And that's me, because I that's what I love to do. But it could, you know, whatever you want to do, just keep it simple, you know, go back to basics. And I think so. Give yourself an intent, give yourself a goal before you go in there and say, right, I'm going to stay for an hour, I'm going to stay for 30 minutes, and I'm going to draw what's in front of me. Okay. The other option, which I think would be really helpful for you, is to actually sign up to an online class while you're there. Take your computer, you know, look at the Royal Drawing School website, they've got loads of kind of evening classes perhaps that you could do. They've often have lunchtime classes, depending on your schedule. Sign up to a class or sign up to a class that, you know, maybe has pre-recorded sessions whereby you can go and you do an online session while you're there, so that actually you're recreating that sense of a course, but in your environment. Because I think as soon as you start acting making stuff in the space, it will become a space that you feel you have made work. And I think it'll become much easier. So I think you'll change this, you'll you'll change the feeling of the space, it will become active again, and I think it will be something somewhere that hopefully you will want to start going back to. And I also want to throw in a third thing to say that you know, studios don't work for everybody. It's as simple as that. It's as simple as that. You know, it could be that actually, you know, it it isn't right for you at this point in time, you know, it it is creating too much pressure, you're not utilizing enough. It could just be that you have to rethink where you live and actually maybe changing the layout of your flat and actually just a simple desk space might work best for you at the moment. I think that that's absolutely fine. Just because you don't have a studio doesn't mean that you're not an artist. It's as simple as that. You know, like I say, I made more work in my tiny small spare room in my flat in Stoke Newton than I ever did of two years of having a studio that I never really went into that I felt bad about. So I just think give yourself a trial period with it. You know, if after six months it's not working out and it's a draining money, that's okay. You can let it go. Doesn't mean that you failed. Right, so your homework, Addy, for the next two weeks, go into the studio, I don't know, twice a week and just stay for 30 minutes for an hour. But make sure before you go that you decide what it is that you're going to do. It could be just be right, the first 30 minutes, I'm just going to go and tidy the space up, make it, you know, take some stuff from home, make it feel a space that I want to go into. And then go in and do a structured online session. Do some, sign something, sign up something that's a live session or it's a pre-recorded session, something whereby you're being told what to do, but you're doing it within your environment. And then at the end of a month or so, really reflect honestly about whether this studio space is a space that you feel you want to spend time in. And, you know, do you feel like it's supporting you? Do you feel like it's helping your practice? Or does it feel like pressure? Because if it does, then it is okay to say, you know, I've tried it, it's not for me at this point, it might be for you in the future. But like I say again, just because you don't have a studio doesn't mean that you're not an artist. And just because you uh give up a studio doesn't mean that you failed as an artist. Okay, so I just really want to reassure you with that one because it's something that I've heard a lot over many, many years. I mean, I've you know, like I say, I've had my own experience with it, I've seen my friends with who've had the same issues. How we make work is very personal to us, you know. How I make work is is very different to how you will make work, and what I need is very different to what you need. So anyway, so I hope that's helpful, guys. Um I've really enjoyed answering those questions. I feel like it's grounded me a bit being back because you know, returning from a week away with lots of people being in a space where yeah, I've been with people all week. You know, there's never been a I mean, I've had moments obviously when I'm sleeping that I'm not with anybody, but um yeah, and suddenly you come back to a quiet house and just got a small brown dog, which is great, don't get me wrong. Look at her beautiful new collar. So I did buy this pink collar for her before I went away and realised it was a bit too small. So I've got another slightly larger size. Sorry for those of you who are listening to the podcast app, you might have to go onto YouTube and just check out this beautiful dusky pink collar. She just looks glorious in, don't you? Anyway, lovelies, listen, thank you again for tuning in to the Creative Couch. Please send your dilemmas in. I'm running short of dilemmas. I need some dilemmas to solve. So do send them in and um I will endeavour to answer, I would endeavour to answer them the best I can. So I'll see you next week for more problems to solve. As always, I'm recording. I am recording. It's all good, it is all good.