Ep#16 - Nostalgia, longing, and landscapes - with artist & curator Victoria J. Fry
In this episode, Victoria J. Fry opens up about her journey from art school graduate to successful multi-passionate creative entrepreneur. Based in New York City, Victoria is not only a talented landscape painter but also the founder of Visionary Art Collective, New Visionary Magazine, and Warnes Contemporary Gallery. She shares candidly about the post-graduation depression that many artists experience when the supportive bubble of art school suddenly disappears, and how it took her nearly a decade to find her artistic confidence again.Victoria's landscapes are infused with a profound sense of longing and nostalgia, rooted in her childhood experience of leaving the English countryside at age seven. Her dreamlike paintings, dominated by blues and greens, capture what she describes as an eternal yearning for something just out of reach - a feeling that resonates with the Welsh concept of "Hiraeth," a homesickness for a place that may not even exist. Through her intuitive painting process, she transforms these deep emotional experiences into work that speaks to universal feelings of displacement and the search for home, both literal and metaphorical.Our conversation also explores the practical realities of balancing multiple creative pursuits with running a business. Victoria shares her strategies for maintaining both her studio practice and her various enterprises, including setting firm boundaries around weekends and evening hours, embracing the cyclical nature of creativity, and allowing herself the freedom to experiment across different mediums. Her advice for aspiring full-time artists is refreshingly practical: develop multiple income streams, transition gradually from full-time employment, and most importantly, allow the journey to unfold organically rather than forcing overnight transformation.✍ Read the full show notes here: https://zuzushausofcats.com/journal/ep16-victoria-j-fry💌 Never miss an episode - sign up here: https://zuzushausofcats.com/keepintouch🎶 Music by the incredible Caspar Riis: https://soundcloud.com/caspar-riis. Used with permission.
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Ep#15 - Deliberately seeking out joy - with illustrator Helen C. Stark
I'm absolutely delighted to share my conversation with Helen C. Stark, the brilliant artist behind The Time Foragers Club on Substack. Helen's journey from postnatal depression to successful artist is both inspiring and deeply moving - she discovered her love of creating again through a local art group that literally kept her alive during her darkest moments. From there, she built an illustration career that included creating the first Edinburgh colouring book, before eventually moving to Yorkshire where she stripped everything back to focus on what truly mattered to her: colour, joy, and the practice of noticing beauty in everyday life.What I find most captivating about Helen's work is how she's created this entire world around the concept of ‘time foraging’ - gathering moments of beauty and meaning from both the past and present. Her weekly visual journals are like love letters to the ordinary magic that surrounds us, from blackberry picking rituals inspired by her childhood in France to creating watercolours from earth pigments collected on beaches where the Brontës once walked. Her recent Ode to Charlotte collection, which sold out incredibly quickly, perfectly demonstrates how she weaves together historical inspiration, personal ritual, and artistic practice into something truly special.Helen's approach to creativity feels revolutionary in its simplicity - she's chosen to look for joy as a deliberate act of resistance against the darkness in the world. Through The Time Foragers Club, she's building a community of people who want to carve out time for creativity and noticing. Her story reminds us that being an artist is a lifelong practice of curiosity, play, and finding beauty in the most unexpected places.✍ Read the full show notes here: https://zuzushausofcats.com/journal/ep15-helen-c-stark💌 Never miss an episode - sign up here: https://zuzushausofcats.com/keepintouch🎶 Music by the incredible Caspar Riis: https://soundcloud.com/caspar-riis. Used with permission.
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Ep#14 - Comedy, criticism, & the politics of drag - with drag queen Annie Rection
In one of my favourite episodes of the pod to date, I sit down with Copenhagen drag legend Annie Rection for a conversation that had me in stitches from start to finish. Annie is a comedy drag queen known for her sharp wit, high-energy performances, and incredible hosting skills. In 2025, she even toured Europe opening for Bob the Drag Queen after impressing him with an impromptu comedy set!We dive deep into the art of drag comedy, exploring how Annie balances multiple creative disciplines - from makeup artistry to joke writing to lip-syncing. She shares brilliant insights about her creative process, including how she approaches structuring a show, and how she manages to translates her material between Danish and English.Our conversation touches on some heavier topics too - the responsibility of being many people's first introduction to drag, the reality of running a creative business, and the recent protests against drag performances in Denmark. Annie's perspective on art as activism and the inherent political nature of drag is both moving and inspiring.What struck me most about Annie is her incredible warmth and vulnerability. She's the perfect gentle entry point for drag newcomers whilst still being razor-sharp in her comedy. Her advice for aspiring creatives is honest and practical - it's hard work, you'll make sacrifices, but if it's truly important to you, it will make you happier than you can imagine.If you've never been to a drag show, Annie's infectious enthusiasm will have you booking tickets immediately. And if you're a fellow creative navigating the challenges of turning your art into your livelihood, you'll find wisdom and solidarity in abundance.✍ Read the full show notes here: https://zuzushausofcats.com/journal/ep14-annie-rection💌 Never miss an episode - sign up here: https://zuzushausofcats.com/keepintouch🎶 Music by the incredible Caspar Riis: https://soundcloud.com/caspar-riis. Used with permission.
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Ep#13 - Building an art career without social media - with artist Louise Stigell
In this episode, I sit down with Swedish watercolour artist, educator, and creative business coach Louise Stigell for an honest conversation about building a sustainable creative practice on your own terms.Louise's journey is one of transformation and intentional choice-making. After burning out from her career as a freelance writer and web designer in 2020, she rediscovered art as therapy and never looked back. What started as painting birds for healing became a thriving multi-faceted creative business that includes original artwork, YouTube content creation, online courses, and voice coaching for fellow creatives.Louise doesn't mince words about what she calls the "pornification of art" on social media platforms. We dive deep into why Instagram's highlight reel culture creates unrealistic expectations and how she's built her business primarily through YouTube and email marketing instead.From her game design background, Louise brings a fascinating perspective on gradually "levelling up" your comfort zone. We explore how she overcame social anxiety to start a YouTube channel and how that confidence translates across all areas of her creative practice.Finally, Louise offers invaluable advice about the tension between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation when you turn your art into your livelihood. She's refreshingly honest about the challenges of maintaining your love for your craft when it becomes your income source.✍ Read the full show notes here: https://zuzushausofcats.com/journal/ep13-louise-stigell💌 Never miss an episode - sign up here: https://zuzushausofcats.com/keepintouch🎶 Music by the incredible Caspar Riis: https://soundcloud.com/caspar-riis. Used with permission.
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Ep#12 - Capturing emotional landscapes - with artist Orla Stevens
In this delightful episode, the wonderful Orla Stevens takes us on a journey through the Scottish landscapes that have shaped her artistic vision - from the mists of the Trossachs to the wild beauty of Orkney. We delve into how she transforms the often grey and green Scottish countryside into explosively colourful works that capture not just what she sees, but how these places make her feel.Orla also shares her unique practice of incorporating sound into her visual work, drawing what she hears in the landscape and translating music into colour palettes. We chat about the reality of being a full-time artist, and how you're really juggling two full-time jobs. One of my favourite insights from our conversation is Orla's approach to business and art as mutually supportive rather than competing forces. Her teaching and community-building work creates space for her personal painting practice, showing how both sides of an art business can feed each other.✍ Read the full show notes here: https://zuzushausofcats.com/journal/ep12-orla-stevens💌 Never miss an episode - sign up here: https://zuzushausofcats.com/keepintouch🎶 Music by the incredible Caspar Riis: https://soundcloud.com/caspar-riis. Used with permission.
Join AuDHD artist Elinor Trier aka Zuzu (who might possibly be a pile of cats in a sparkly trench coat) as she talks to her fellow artists and creatives about the magic of the creative process - what they make and, in particular, how they make it - their rituals and workflows, inspirations and disenchantments, ebbs and flows. If you enjoy conversations about art, creativity, neurodivergence, and business, then you’re in the right place.Find out more at https://zuzushausofcats.com/
UK