I hadn’t planned on this being today’s blog. It’s important to capture the time we are living in though. So business as usual aside, here’s a Covid catch up blog.
How Covid affects creation
Lockdown has been such a huge time for me as an artist. I have never spent so much time on my art professionally. I haven’t had this much free time since becoming a professional artist is why. More than these extra hours though, the landscape has changed. We are experiencing something huge which we need to respond to. It creates strict confines in which we can create within. So much physical activity has leapt online and I can access commissions, exhibitions and opportunities from my own home. These are opportunities that geography could have closed to me any other time.
We are also all experiencing this together. I don’t feel like a newbie artist under Covid. I feel that everyone is being shaken out of their comfort zone. We are all relearning. Everyone is a newbie again, and so the youthfulness of my career feels less apparent.
Not all Rosy
Although I can embrace change quickly and find a way through it to strengthen my business, we are ultimately still in a difficult and dark time. We are combating this huge cloud over our creations. Of course we are all stressed. We miss people. We have multiple reasons to worry. It’s not even like we can even go to the pub to drown our sorrows with friends. The dream of all these hours to create is tarnished by our exhaustion. It’s not just the pandemic either. The political climate is hostile. The awful murder of George Floyd, British and US backwards steps in the face of trans rights, the phrase anti- anti fascists. It doesn’t away feel like sharing my art is the most appropriate use of the internet.
My business as a comfort
What I am really thankful for at the moment is the community attached to my business. The organisations and individuals I work with on commissions. The other artists I meet. My super lovely customers and social media followers. You guys make me feel connected is this time of great disconnect. You guys have supported me financially and emotionally throughout lockdown. I never realised before how much going into business by yourself can make you feel so connected to others.