I couldn't have known

Reflections on my Patreon journey

Welcome to my wee corner of Substack. I am a seasonal artist living on the Isle of Arran, off the west coast of Scotland. I am the custodian of approximately two acres of land that includes a woodland, a meadow and my wee garden. I offer a seasonal book arts project for paid subscribers if you are interested and you can read more about that HERE. Grab a cuppa and lets delve into our relationship with the shifting seasons…..

Please note this is part one of a two part series looking at online platforms and the concept of a community. Part two is next week when I will be talking about my experience of Substack.

I was always against subscription offerings. I used to moan about them to anyone who would listen to me. However, at the same time, folk that knew my work well used to say that I was well suited to Patreon and, more recently, Substack. In September 2022 I decided to dip my toe in this problematic water by launching a Patreon page with the intention of hosting a seasonal creativity community. This was despite the fact that those, more up to speed than me, said that Patreon didn’t do well in the community stakes. I remember the day I pressed the button for my page to go live. I felt a bit sick, if I am honest. That moment when you are waiting to be picked for a school sports team came flooding back. That was wasted energy because within minutes folk had jumped aboard and we had enough people by the end of the first day to call ourselves a community.

I got the debate quite quickly as the Patreon site does not naturally lead you down a community project pathway. But I didn't seem to care about that because I wanted to build a community and set about doing just that. My clever daughter

Molly Ella

filmed an introductory video that captured, so well, what I wanted to achieve. I wanted us to come together to wander through the seasons on creative journeys but with the ability to work at our own pace and in our own time.

That was over two years ago and feedback suggests that I have acheived that and I am delighted. We come together regularly in zoomland and work on a range of creative projects across a wide range of media. These sessions are supported by vlogs and bloga. I have called this piece ‘I couldn’t have known’ as there is so much more to this wee seasonal creativity Patreon community so I thought I would share some of my findings -

I couldn’t have known…..

That so many people would join and stay with me for over two years.

That folk felt there was a real need for this type of community in a world that often turns too fast.

That so much high quality work would be created as a result of this project.

That we would laugh as much as we have.

That a simple handmade artist book would deliver such creative freedom for so many.

That I would love hosting this community as much as I have.

That the community would deepen my relatiohship with the seasons.

That boxes destined for the recycling could turn into so many wonderful pieces of art.

That the members of this community could become friends for life so quickly.

That Zoom would update as much as it seems to need to do so and just ahead of a scheduled class.

That we would become quite so interested in the different seasonal shifts within the UK.

That I would ever remember to wish our Australian members ‘good evening’ rather than ‘good morning.’

That a winter contemporary art quilt project could produce such remarkable results.

That spending the Equinoxes and Solstices with kindred spirits would mean so much to us all.

I could go on and on but I will rest here a while…….

This is a photo from my studio after I completed the autumn project this year which was to turn a tourist map into a mixed media piece refelecting out love of the season.

I couldn’t have known just how important this seasonal creativity community could become in my life and the lives of others. There is no doubt that you can run a community on Patreon and it is a place to bring folk together. That said, it is far from perfect as a platform but it is learning all the time and the improvements are obvious over the time I have been on it. More needs to be done to make the whole Patreon site more accessible and user friendly. Patreon was set up as a place for many things to happen. In terms of artists it was a place folk could support their favourite artists and get some insider information. Our community has gone beyond that because we want to create art together within a community context that really cares. I think I speak for all of us when I say that we are all invested in each other’s creative journeys. That is not always the case in online communities. It takes work and consistency and an approach that starts from a humble starting point. I have been honoured to have witnessed such truly special creative journeys and we have our own dedicated chat space away from social media. This is important. I often feel that I want to wrap this wee community up in a cosy blanket and keep us all away from the white noise of social media.

I have run many, many face-to-face community arts projects but the pandemic shifted me into a new universe. An online space that seemed to offer up new possibilities as well as many limitations. Out the other side of the pandemic I knew I was no longer a fan of social media and have spent the last couple of years gently removing myself. Only Facebook remains as that is where a lot of my regular Etsy customers hang out. Patreon and now Substack have beautifully replaced the noisy social media spaces with quieter, more thoughtful places to hang out online. Deep within me is a hermit who lives on a small Scottish island seeing no-one. I do actually live on a small Scottish island and do venture out now and again but in my Patreon community I have found kinship that I never thought was possible and I feel blessed. There is something quite magical about wandering through the seasons creating art with other folk…..

As promised this is part of a two piece series and the second piece will be published next week. I will then be focusing on exactly why I chose NOT to set up a community on Substack and how that is turning out. I will leave you with a gallery of just some of the projects we have worked on during the past two years.

This piece is dedicated to my lovely patrons, thank you for being you.