Author’s Note: Every Saturday, I share my art practice over the past 7 days. I'm fascinated by artistic practice – it's not just about creating art but the entire process. From influences and ideas to materials and skills, each artist's unique approach shapes their work, making it more than a finished piece. Just imagine having a weekly update from your favourite living artist. How cool would that be?
If this piece is too long for email, you can read it here in Substack. Or download the app.
This week…
Crypt Gallery Proposal Submission
Whilst working on my initial proposal for my September 2025 art exhibition, I realised that my issue of the past was that I’d work on too many things at once, like the Signal Point Mural Project which is still ticking away in the background, but my full focus hasn’t been on it, and when the focus isn’t on something, it doesn’t gain momentum.
My point here is that as I am part of
coaching group, my prime focus IS the Crypt Exhibition, and I purposely planned the date in a year, so it coincides with the course (Sep 24 - Aug 25). I intend for it to be a huge success, and I guess I need to define what that means! The abstract idea is that people enjoy it and it gets my name out there in the art world, leading to other opportunities. I will refine this.Focus is so underrated these days, we’re all so distrac… Ooh, a notification. Where was I? I'm joking, but it's really frustrating when you just want to immerse yourself in your Art, your work or whatever you want to achieve and distractions are rife.
So, my initial task is to get my proposal accepted and the date booked, then I can work on everything else. Please feel free to view and comment on my proposal before I send it off. It will be submitted before Weekly Art Practice 31 gets published.
In summary:
Exhibition Title:
MEMENTO ES VIVERE
Artist:
SLART
(Draft) Synopsis:
SLART and Gabriel Fine Arts present an extensive collection of artworks created over the past five years. These pieces, painted in an authentic Art Brut, Naïve style, explore the relationship between life, death, illness and the journey of self-discovery. Each painting serves as a wake-up call, reminding the viewer that time is precious. Memento es Vivere, roughly translated from Latin, means ‘Remember you are alive’.
Virtual Exhibition Acceptance
I applied to this via Zealous and got accepted! I’m not sure of the Gravitas of the exhibition but for a $5 submission fee, I felt it was worth the entry.
Plus it looks good on my Art CV.
I’ll keep you posted and share the link when it’s live.
My last Instagram ad for a while
I’ve realised that using hope as a marketing strategy isn’t the best idea. So many of my ads have been created on a whim.
This was the Ad I left off throughout July:
The image above reads: “I write about my art practice each week,
I'm not the best writer but I'm sharing candidly about my difficulties in trying to make it”
It’s not terrible, but let’s look at the numbers.
Cost: I paid 25.7 dollars ($1 per day but it ended early).
Audience: People interested in Art in London and New York.
Instagram Stats: Clicks [visits] to my Substack = 85. Cost-per-click = 30¢.
Substack stats: Some could’ve come from organic traffic clicking on my profile link to Substack. 99 views. 0 subscriptions.
Conclusion: I can only learn from this and improve moving forward. I won’t pay again to advertise my Substack, but I will advertise to go to my new website, I will devise a proper plan and test it out with a set budget, then once it works, and I get sales, I can tweak it so it works ongoing. It’s easy for me to say this, and it makes me anxious, but it’s something I’d like to get working.
It’s a short one this week, but there’ll be more to share next week. Once the Crpyt proposal is accepted, I will create more paintings for the exhibit.
Have a great week!
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