Important! August Art plans, Exhibitions, Patreon changes...

Hi everyone!

How are you all?

This post is going to be about what you can expect to see from me in the coming weeks, and includes some changes to some Patreon rewards, so make sure you read at least that section to know how these changes might affect you. 

Before we jump into the plans for this month, I want to welcome all the new people who recently joined us!
Thank you so much Holley, Silke, Ellen, Eunice, and Jacqueline, for supporting my work! Your helps means so much!

Now, let's jump into the bulk of this post!

Ⅰ.  AUGUST PLANS : Art, art, and more art

➛ Art, art, art.
Since I went on holiday in June, and had to work on my Strathmore Gouache Course in July, I haven't been able to do much art lately, and I feel positively starved creatively, so I have decided to dedicate as much of August as I can to creating. 

I have a list of pieces I want to start working on, all of them fairly big, and I will do a post about all of them very soon, with sketches and ideas, so that you can get an overview of what I currently have in the works. 

I also want to sketch a bunch and experiment, and basically get back into the groove of things, so hopefully, that will mean a bunch of new art for you all to peruse, and maybe some thumbnail polls and such things. 

➛ New Sticker Design
It has been a little while since I did a sticker, so expect a poll at some point this month to decide on our next design!

➛ Enamel Pins
I am starting to get a better idea of how to make those, and am working on a few designs. I don't know if I'll be able to share them and have a vote on them this month, but I'll aim to have some ready in the next couple of month's hopefully.
I am currently very low on funds so ordering pins might have to wait a little, but I want to start the designing process as soon as possible, so that you can get an idea of what to expect. 

Ⅱ. PATREON REWARD CHANGES  

This year has been quite trying so far, and I have realised that I need to reorganize and re-prioritize.
My art feels like it has taken a background role in my life, with Instagram, Youtube, Patreon and my shop taking the forefront and using up all my energy.
This isn't good, and is affecting my mental health, as I feel like I haven't been able to create much this last half a year. So I need to reorganize my tasks and priorities.
Plus, I want to start focusing on creating bigger paintings again, which obviously take more time to put together.

I have decided to upload only 2 or 3 three times a week on Instagram, usually Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays, which so far works quite well for me, and I have taken a step back with Youtube and resolved to not worry so much about uploading every week, and instead upload every other week, once I have content I am happy with.
I have also allocated one day of the week (Saturday) for dealing with orders and going to the post office. 

Patreon however, is trickier, as it is the main bulk of my income currently, and I am scared of implementing any changes that might push people away.
However, I think I have definitely put too much on my plate, and I need to reorganize some things.
I hope you will understand this, and I will always be so, so deeply grateful for your support, but I will also understand if those changes make supporting me less appealing and you need to stop pledging. Know that I will always be infinitely grateful for however long you were a patron!

So here's the plan : 

The 2 things that take up most of my energy and time, with a good 2 to 3 days each, are the Process PDFs and the Tutorials.
Process PDFs, no matter whether they take the shape of PDFs, Step-by-Step posts, or Real-time videos, are the most labour-intensive reward I currently offer. I don't want to get rid of them, as I enjoy making them, and I think a lot of you enjoy them too, but I am going to have to reduce their frequency.

▶ CHANGE 1 :
Process PDFs will now only be every two months.

I will have a poll very soon to ask what format you have been preferring for those (PDF, Patreon post or video), and depending on your answer, I will shift to that format in the future, every two months.
If the format voted on is a written one, I might look into uploading real-time videos every two months also. (So basically, you'd get a Process PDF for a painting one month, and the next month you'd get the real-time footage of me painting the piece). 

 ▶ CHANGE 2 :  
Tiny Tutorials will now only be every two months.

Tiny Tutorials are a reward I had initially implemented to force myself to learn more and train myself to put courses together.
However, they are now a source of pressure and, instead of helping me learn more, they are making me focus more on how to make them and less on the information I am trying to learn. They also mean that I have less time to focus on creating full courses for Skillshare, which is something I need to work on more, as I have been talking about it for a little while now.  
Once again, I don't want to get rid of them, as they have been received very well, and they are a great exercise for me too, but I need to reduce their frequency, so, like the PDFs, they will only happen every two months. Unless I have a Skillshare class to share, in which case, the class will replace the tutorial that month (Skillshare classes will be made available to my $10+ patrons on Patreon). 

  ▶ CHANGE 3 :
I am going to upgrade the postcard tiers to  small prints instead of postcards. 

I am having trouble with my printing paper for the postcards, and it is proving a challenge to get the printing and paper quality I strive for, so I want to upgrade the $15 tier reward to a better paper. This means that the welcome postcard for the $10 tier, and the postcards for the $15 tier will now be A6 (4x6") prints instead of postcards. That also applies to the $20 tier postcards.
They will remain prints of my sketches, but will be higher quality than the postcards were up to now.
I will have a poll regarding the back of the cards, and whether you guys would like to keep the postcard design on the back, or if you don't mind not having it anymore.
I will be experimenting with paper in the next couple of months, so I hope you won't mind if the paper varies a little from month to month. 

That's all for the changes for now.
I hope these are ok with you, and I'd love to hear in the comments what you think about it all. 

These changes will hopefully mean that I can focus a little more on creating more art to share with all of you!

WHAT DOES THAT MEAN FOR JUNE, JULY, AND AUGUST?

I still owe you all the Process PDF for June (of Moondust), and I am currently working on it, so that should hopefully go up either this month of the next (I am thinking of repainting Moondust). 

I also owe you the PDF of Kindling for July, which I am also in the process of creating. 

August will not have a PDF, but will have a Tiny Tutorial.
Then September will have a PDF, but no Tutorial.
And so on. 

Ⅲ. UPCOMING SHOWS AND EXHIBITIONS

One of my goals for this year was to have my first exhibition (as in group exhibition).
And I am now on my 4th show of the year! :)
That's definitely something I am proud of for 2019, and even though I don't feel like I have been creative enough, I at least feel like I am evolved and progressed in other ways. 

I had my first group show last April, another group show in May, my third one will be at the end of August, and my fourth, which I was actually invited to participate in, which is another milestone in itself, will be in September.
Most of them have been in the UK, but the September show will be in the US! 

If any of you feel like checking any of my two upcoming shows up, here are the details : 

➛ LONDON SHOW AT THE CRYPT GALLERY

I will be part of the FUBAR Collective show at The Crypt Gallery  in London  at the end of August.
Opening night will be on the  22nd, with a Private View from 6 to 9pm.
(I don't know how open to the public the private view is. I will update as I get more information).
The exhibition itself will then be open to the public from the 23rd to the 27th of August, from midday to 7pm. 

I will have the pieces below exhibited, and I will have prints of each of these available to buy at the venue. 

➛ US SHOW IN OREGON, AT THE OUT OF STEP BOOKS GALLERY

My 4th show of the year will be in the US, in Eugene, Oregon.
I was invited to be part of the Out of Step Books Gallery Coaster Show, which will be ongoing from September 7th 2019 to October 19th 2019.
My coasters will be available to purchase! 

I won't be there myself, but I'd love to see pictures if any of you guys go to the show!

These are my pieces for this exhibition: 

And I think that that is all the news for now!

Here's a quick TLDR : 

- I will be making as much art as possible this month, and I will be working on releasing a new sticker design. 

- Process PDFs and Tiny Tutorials will now happen every two months. 

- I have a show in London this month, and a show in the US next month. 

And that is it!

I hope you are all well lovely people, thank you so much for sticking with me, and I will see you very soon. 

All my love,
M