The Making Practice

There's a lot of debate about what art is. But perhaps an equally interesting question is: what shouldn't it become? The Making Practice exists because I believe creativity has an important place in everyday life. Art isn't simply about producing beautiful objects or becoming technically skilled. It is a deeply human activity that helps us explore ideas, solve problems, connect with others and understand ourselves. Like many creative people, my views have evolved over time. T

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, remote working was the exception rather than the rule. Today, many more people work from home for at least part of the week. While home working certainly has its downsides, it also creates opportunities that simply didn't exist before – including more opportunities to bring creativity into everyday life. The power of fifteen minutes One of the biggest advantages of working from home is what can be achieved during a lunch break. Life is still busy

Most people find a brand new sketchbook or a blank canvas intimidating. There are several techniques for overcoming this e.g. scribble all over the paper to create a background to work into, or avoid using the first page of a sketchbook. Another way, that I have been exploring recently, is to make a junk journal. This is essentially making a sketchbook using different kinds of paper from different places. You end up with a sketchbook that isn’t perfectly created to begin with

Last year I decided that I wanted to be involved in more collaborative art activities. Why? Well, I have had several years to explore and develop my own art practice and have concluded that creating art should not be solitary experience; it should be shared with others. I believe that art has developed through the need for community and the outcome is not more important than the benefit from sharing the process from others. I also think that art has an important purpose in ke

Somewhere in the midst of thinking about the many creative endeavours I wanted to explore further, I decided I wanted to try urban sketching this year. What's urban sketching? The term initially made me think of drawing streets and buildings but really it's drawing anything from life, usually outside. The challenge is that the scene will often change as you are drawing it - maybe just the light will change, or perhaps your sketch will also include moving elements like cars an