Greetings. This week has been a bit all over the place, in my mind. It feels like it’s a lot of plates in the air [spinning, I mean]. It is. Lots of different projects on the go. You know what I’m like, my ADHD brain is starting lots of things. But it’s all good, because the things that I don’t finish, I’m okay not to finish. And I need to think about the positives of the way my mind works but have more processes to to keep it together.
So when I use Claude and I’m talking about different ideas and work streams, it will flip to the context of what we’ve discussed before. Say, for example, if I’m discussing something to do with Studio BRUT, it will read its previous context on that. And the same for my SLART website, and then YouTube as well, and I’ve got some other website clients too. So it’s kind of like having a web manager that knows the context of each website. And that really helps with my ADHD brain.
Making the art is THE thing
Like I always say, making the art is the thing. And it’s the absolute most manual process. And it’s the most enjoyable part of anything I do. But there are those peripheral things that need to happen these days.
This week I’ve been biting the bullet and recording more reels and short form videos, very short form videos. We’re talking under 10 seconds, which is crazy. But this is part of what it seems like an artist has to do these days to get noticed. In one way it’s sad, but in the other way, you have to adapt to the way things are, I feel anyway. Because things aren’t going to go back to the old ways. But we can choose what manual ways of working we take on in our practice. Like the making art part and choosing when to engage with our slot machine phone devices.
Half my age and making thousands
I don’t know how I found it, but on YouTube I’ve been getting loads of videos about YouTube Shorts. And I see all these young guys, like 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, half my age and more, making thousands per month for posting short form content. And it seems like a lot of them are doing reactions to content a lot of people have viewed already. So I thought I’d give it a go.
I generally don’t like talking to camera. When I feel relaxed I do enjoy it, but it doesn’t come naturally to me, let’s say that. So I posted my first three videos and I wanted to share the results with you. This is easy to do and anyone can do it if you feel inclined to.
What I did was look for a popular art video on a different platform like TikTok, Instagram or Facebook. Download that video to your phone or computer, there’s various online software you can do that with for free. This is not a tutorial, I just want to tell you a bit about what I’ve been doing. It has to be something you’re interested in. Something perhaps that you would comment on, or you would find engaging as an artist yourself.
Then there’s an app where you can upload a video and add your reaction to it. So it’s got a little bit of screen with your face on it and you talk over the video while it plays. And it is very simple. I’ll share the link to the app if you want to take a look Reacts, it’s called. I would recommend any artist to try it. That’s if you have YouTube as well, because there’s a bit more risk posting it on the same platform. But, I’ve been testing it on Instagram and TikTok too.
You have to try not to think that you’re talking to an audience. Just pretend you’re talking to yourself, or a friend, about what you’re seeing on the screen. And that takes practice as well. I feel like it’s coming to me after a few videos.
The three videos (Now Four)
The first video I posted was a reaction to a beautiful little painting. This woman was painting using some stencils and it was like a landscape scene, done in time lapse. So I was just talking for a while saying, oh what’s she going to do here, that’s very beautiful, look at the multi-coloured trees.
The second video was a guy using unconventional means to paint and I thought that was kind of interesting. I commented on how much I love artists and how they just use mad things to create art. There’s no other kind of industry like it. You could get a stick and paint on a carrier bag. Silly example, I know. You could use any material to paint, any medium, anything. I think that’s quite cool.
And the third one was a bit of a tongue in cheek one. This guy was doing the reveal of his painting as a kid, and then ‘here’s one today’. I was basically saying that his childhood painting was better than his realistic picture. It was of a shark. And I found that quite funny. Not to laugh at my own comments, but the idea behind it was, as an outsider artist, I thought the kid one was more interesting. So I thought that worked.
Here’s the latest one since writing, Ed Sheeran as Jackson Pollock… (Please subscribe if you’re on YouTube)
And for the numbers: the first one got a thousand views. The second one, 1,200. And the third one, 1,500. That’s the initial 48 hours from posting, and it could go up over time as well. (Below, they’ve increased since).
Below: Right to left in posting order:
Is it boiling down to actually selling my art? Not at the moment. But it’s doing something and it’s getting a lot more views than I have before. You can add video commentary on your own work as well if you want to do that. And you don’t have to show your face. You could just do a voiceover, or an avatar or something. So I’ll carry on with that and I’m sure I’ll update you again.
A time that you can use
There’s a simple way to upload videos. You can use the YouTube API, and say you had some videos on your computer, you put them in a certain folder and you can get them scheduled to YouTube without having to go into YouTube. That’s another little time saving thing you could do as an artist. Spend a day creating, I don’t know, 30 videos and then schedule them to go out. It’s just one of those time saving devices, and not worrying about having to post every day. I think that works quite well for me so far anyway.
And I’m quite pleased with how I’ve documented my artwork overall. I think there might be a few pieces missing, but I’ve found a way to take a photo, give it the dimensions, and it will put it on my website. So that is quite useful. Because in the past it’s taken a while to update, and that’s just another admin thing. Now I can do it in a couple of minutes.
Please comment below if you’d like to see how it all works.
The Salon of the Rejected
I have been preparing for the Salon of the Rejected. The open call is ready, and it was delayed a bit because we were trying to get a date. So it’s going to be early December for the exhibition.
The idea behind that, if you didn’t read the previous post, was Jean Dubuffet hosted an exhibition [I checked after recording this: the Salon des Refusés was 1863, long before Dubuffet. His thing was Art Brut, collecting outsider art in the 1940s. Same spirit, different bloke]. It was basically the exhibition of the rejects, outside art that was rejected by the traditional salon. I’m looking forward to that.
The other ‘secret’’ project
There’s lots going on and I can’t wait to tell you about the secret projects. Not the 25 canvases one, the other one. So I published a book under this other project name, and it feels weird me saying it because I don’t want to show it yet. But I do want to say it, I just want to express it. I feel like it looks really good. It’s quite a fun little project. And I don’t know why I don’t want to share it yet. I feel like I want to establish it a bit more. I’ll update you when it feels right to me.
A bird’s eye view
I kind of feel like I need to step back a little bit. I always say this, but I need a bird’s eye view of the things I’m working on, to be a bit clearer, because my ADHD brain thrives on taking action on things. And I can easily get caught in a loop of doing something. I get really hyper focused and I need to finish this thing, which has its strengths, doesn’t it? But sometimes I get a spare 10 minutes and I’m working on something and then I have to go and do something with family, and there’s still the feeling of unfinished work. So I need to work on that. If you have any tips, I’d really appreciate it, of course. Shagun Singh totally knows what I’m saying:
Looking after myself
Still getting over the ear infection, had to take some more antibiotics for that. But looking after myself, got back to the gym on Monday, feeling good.
My day job isn’t taxing me as much as it was six months ago. And I don’t feel the immediate urgency to leave now, which could be a good or a bad thing, because I’m not applying for other jobs. But my mindset has shifted and I’ve been given some more responsibilities at work which I enjoy doing, improving things, improving ways of working and stuff like that. So it’s keeping me occupied, and sometimes at lunch I do some drawing as well. I’ve been doing that quite regularly, which is good. It’s been really good.
But that’s it for now. Thank you so much for listening and or reading.
So that’s me for now, over and out,
SLART.