Growing an Art Account Without Losing Yourself Along the Way
Growing an Art Account
Without Losing Yourself Along the Way
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about social media.Not just about how to grow an account—although, yes, I would very much like mine to grow.
I’ve been thinking about what I want people to find when they get here.
Because I don't want this little corner of the internet to become nothing but finished-painting, finished-painting, buy-my-painting, finished-painting.
That's so sales-y and that isn't really me.
I paint, of course. Painting is a huge part of who I am. But there is also my faith, my darling husband, my kids, grandkids, my dog and coffee in my favorite mug. Flowers growing outside that I have to stop and inspect a couple times a day. Paint-covered clothes. Laundry. Chickens. Wine. Faith. So much work and very un-beautiful messes.
And somewhere in the middle of all of that is what I actually want my work—and my social media—to say:
There is beauty – take a moment - pay attention.
I Don't Want to Become a "Brand" Per Se
At least not in the sense that every photograph needs the same preset and every sentence needs to sound as though it came from a marketing department.
I want people to know me, the one, making the paintings, the wine, the home and often the mess!
I want you to see the peony that made me stop and just stare at it for awhile...
I want you to know that sometimes I paint in something lovely (the compulsion to get paint on the canvas is real), and sometimes (usually) I look like I've been wearing the same paint-covered pajamas for three days.
I want there to be room for both.
Maybe that's what I'm learning about sharing my world, it’s often lovely, but truth be told, it’s often chaos (haha). It isn't about making everything sexy or precious or perfectly styled, it’s about taking a moment…
It's about connection.
Beauty. Pleasure. Color. Emotion. Gratitude. Paying attention.
And loving ordinary things enough to really see them.
A few thoughts:
1. In My Perfect World I Want Every Post to Make You Feel Something
I'm trying to ask myself a new question before I post:
What do I want someone to feel when they sees this?
Maybe I want them to smile.
Maybe I want them to remember her grandmother's garden.
Maybe to laugh because creating art is considerably less glamorous than Instagram sometimes makes it look.
Maybe I want her to stop scrolling for five seconds and notice the way light falls across a flower.
A painting can be beautiful, the why behind a painting can be beautiful, and sometimes the mess is beautiful too.
But beauty becomes much more powerful when there is a feeling attached to it.
2. I've Been Told I Need To Be Vulnerable and Let You Know Me Too...
This one has taken some getting used to.
It is much easier to hold up a painting than to hold up a piece of yourself.
But if I'm asking you to follow along with my work, you should probably know something about me, and why - why you should follow...
That doesn't mean sharing every private detail of my life.
It simply means letting you into the room.
My hands mixing paint.
My coffee next to the sketchbook.
A walk through the flowers.
The studio before I clean it.
The painting that isn't working.
The thing that made me laugh.
The reason I decided to paint something in the first place.
The art matters, but *why I'm painting what I'm painting matters too - maybe even more.
3. Ordinary Things May Be My Favorite Things
I've realized that one of the stories I want to tell over and over again is this:
ordinary = beautiful
A pile of wet towels looks like a mess. But sometimes that pile of wet towels means grandchildren were in the pool all afternoon.
Muddy shoes aren't particularly lovely. Unless they mean you spent the morning walking through the garden.
A dying flower could be something to throw away. Or it could be the beginning of next year's seeds.
None of this requires pretending that chores are magical or that every moment of life is wonderful.
It simply means looking twice, choose to see what your seeing and why. Choose!
There is often something worth loving underneath what initially looks ordinary.
4. The Art Still Has to Be the Center
I don't want to become a lifestyle account that occasionally remembers I paint.The coffee, garden, family, faith, winery and everyday life are part of the story because they're part of what shapes what I see.
Eventually, I want the road to lead back to the canvas.
A flower in the garden becomes a sketch.
A feeling becomes a color.
A difficult season becomes a painting.
A perfectly ordinary Tuesday somehow becomes part of the work.
That's the connection I want to keep making.
This is what I noticed.
This is what it made me feel.
And this is what I made from it.
5. I Want to Sound Like Me – I’m just Becky
This may be the hardest rule of all.
The internet is full of advice about hooks and captions and keywords and calls to action.
Some of it is very useful, however… I don't ever want to get so good at "content creation" that I stop sounding like myself.
I can love beautiful words without making every sentence poetic. I can talk about meaningful things and still be funny. I can show a romantic painting and then show myself looking decidedly unromantic while painting it.
Maybe the combination is actually the point. Are you seeing the laundry and sandy floor or the joy the little felt digging in the sang?!
A beautiful world and a very real woman living in it.
6. I Want My World to Feel Recognizable
Not identical.
Recognizable. (I’m guessing your world is a beautiful mess in many places as well!)
There will probably always be flowers around here.
And saturated color.
Coffee.
Paint palettes.
Golden light.
Gardens.
Wine.
Books.
Hands making things.
Little corners of home.
Things slightly past their prime that are somehow even more interesting because of it.
I don't need every image to match.
I want the thread connecting them to be the way I see them.
7. I'm Leaving the Mess In
This one might be important. Wait. This one IS important…
The world of social media can become awfully polished if you aren't careful.
Everything beautiful. Everything romantic. Everything arranged just so.
But that's not how real life works.
There are half-finished paintings.
Laundry piles.
Muddy shoes.
Dishes.
Dead flowers.
Bad sketches.
Days when nothing goes according to plan.
And I'm beginning to understand those things don't interrupt the message.
They are the message.
Life doesn't have to be perfect before it can be beautiful. Let me repeat that:
Life doesn't have to be perfect
before it can be beautiful!
8. A Reel Needs a Thought, Not Just Pretty Footage
I've made plenty of videos where the basic idea was:
Look! I'm painting, there's nothing wrong with that. But I'm trying to go one step further.
Why am I showing you this?
Maybe the reel starts with: **“I think we've confused an ordinary life with an uninteresting one.” **And then you watch me paint.
Or:
“Things I notice when I paint flowers…”
Or:
“This flower was already dying when I decided to paint it.”
Now the painting process isn't just something to watch.
It's helping me tell you something.
9. I Want to Create Familiar Little Rituals Here
Not every post needs a completely new idea.
In fact, I'm beginning to think some repetition is good.
You may see things like:
Romancing the Day to Day
A Glimpse at My Today
Things Worth Noticing
From Garden to Canvas
What I'm Painting and Why
Artist Reality
Take a Moment
The stories will change.
The invitation stays the same.
Come look with me.
10. I Want to Make Things Worth Sharing
Likes are lovely. (Hey, this *is* social media right?! Like and follow for more!)
But I think the more interesting question is:
Would someone send this to someone she loves?
A pretty flower might get a heart.
But this—
The wet towels aren't the beautiful part. The grandchildren who left them there are.
—that might make someone think of her daughter. Or her mother. Or a season of life she misses.
That's the kind of connection I'm after.
Not viral for the sake of viral.
Human for the sake of human.
So This Is What I'm Trying to Remember
I don't want to post simply because I have something to show. I want to post because I have something to say.Sometimes the painting will be the thing I'm saying. Sometimes it will be the evidence.
And sometimes it may just be the excuse to talk about flowers, beauty, grief, joy, faith, getting older, making things, loving people and trying to pay attention while this life goes racing by.
I'm still figuring all of this out.
But perhaps that's what Romancing the Day to Day has been about all along.
Not creating a prettier life.
Not pretending everything is lovely.
Just becoming better at noticing the beauty that was already there.
If you're still here reading this with me - thanks! If you're trying to do the same, stay awhile. Let me know your thoughts, or even something you noticed that’s mundane and yet beautiful in the comments…
