The Weekly Artistic Endeavours of SLART, the Outsider Artist

📌 NEW HERE? WHAT’S THIS WEEKLY ART PRACTICE ALL ABOUT?

Every Saturday, I share my weekly art practice journey. I’m captivated by the process – not just the finished pieces but everything from influences to materials. It’s like getting a behind-the-scenes peek at an artist’s world.

[If this masterpiece is too long for email, you can read Cream of the Crop in Substack. Or download the Substack app.]

I went to an informal meeting about Exhibition Patronage (for Memento Vivere) this week, and what started as a casual chat ended up being a really energising conversation. We were on the same page from the get-go—both of us averse to the snobbery of the art world and more interested in real, meaningful creative work. They seemed genuinely intrigued by my ambition to go full-time as an artist, especially since one of them had done something similar. They left a corporate career to build their own company, which is now highly successful. That kind of leap is exactly what I want to take, so it was inspiring to hear from someone who has actually done it.

Naturally, I shared my frustrations with corporate life. As much as I appreciate the security of my job, the idea of spending the next 25 years in a similar role feels unbearable. They understood immediately. One of them, refreshingly blunt but in a good way, cut straight to the point: “I’m a direct person, so let’s get to it—what do you want?” That kind of honesty put me at ease straight away.

I laid it out clearly: “We’ve got £5K left to cover the essential budget, and if we want the ‘bells and whistles’—PR, extra marketing, the kind of exposure that could actually make a difference—it’s another £10K on top.” They listened carefully, nodding as they took it in. It’s funny how what feels like a huge budget to one person can seem completely reasonable to another. We talked for nearly an hour, and by the end of it, they said they’d have a think and get back to me with ways they might be able to help. That feels like a really positive outcome to me. More on that next week.

On the other hand, I heard back from the Arts Council, and unfortunately, my application was unsuccessful. I won’t lie—I’m gutted. I put everything into that application, so to receive a fairly generic rejection stung. The main reason given was that “other applications were preferred,” along with some feedback suggesting that I could have included more detail about the development opportunity and what I hoped to gain from it.

Rejection is never easy, especially when you’ve invested so much time and energy into something, but I’m not going to let it go to waste. If anything, this just fuels me to push harder. I might even take a look at the successful applications (since they’re public) to see what got through. Either way, I’ll use this to my advantage—you wait and see.

We moved house this week and finally settled in. I took the week off work, and so did my wife. I painted a rainbow sun mural for my daughter, and in the process, I noticed something about how I approach both painting and life: completely disorderly, but it gets done. Instead of mixing the different sunbeam colours in advance, I did it on the fly, which made a huge mess and wasted a lot of paint. I knew I should mix them beforehand, but it never happened. I’m okay with that, but I can also see how being a little more organised would have saved me some stress. And mess.

I spilled paint on the white parts of the wall (had to go back and fix that), used brushes at first and then realised rollers gave a much cleaner finish. But here’s the thing—because of that, I discovered how great mini rollers are for priming canvases. These so-called “mistakes” almost always lead to something new. That’s how I see it anyway.

A big shoutout to all of the amazing new creators who have just started writing. Please check out their work in this thread!

And that, my friends, is all for now.

Have a great Saturday.

Best wishes,

SLART.

P.S. One more thing, could you please leave a 4 or 5-star (Hopefully not 1,2 or 3) review on my SLART Google page? I’m looking to enhance my online presence as an artist, and this small, straightforward, and swift action would be immensely beneficial. Cheers!

Hi, I’m SLART, an Outsider Artist based in Swindon, UK.

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