artchatter with Gaynor Leverett-Jaques & Karen George

Holy heck, it’s been five whole years of mixing up friendship and art. Thank you.  What’s changed? Hair cuts, glasses, we’ve had exhibitions, photo shoots, attended art fairs, been nominated (came second!) for a women’s business award and started a club (<- @karengeorgeart, @gaynorljart wouldn’t ever!).  What has never changed - always at the heart of the artchatter pod is sharing our successes...

It’s six months into the year, we’re all doing things and chasing our tails. It’s time to see what else needs doing and what we need to tweak to make life easier on ourselves.  Karen has a club, Gaynor is in new galleries, but both are still turning up to do the other things that are important to them. Still making mistakes, still learning, still having minor disasters… still laughing (mostly!) an...

About the podcast Artchatter: Podcast of the Year Award Runner Up Women’s Business Awards 2025  https://womensbusiness.club/awards ⁠Gaynor Leverett-Jaques⁠  and  ⁠Karen George⁠  are both full time artists, living and working in South West of the UK, sharing lessons and experiences of the ups and downs of living their best artist lives. You can find more about them and their work on their websites...

It can be isolated, isolating and a bit lonely being an artist. Running a business completely alone can also be a bit daunting, tricky to navigate, and overwhelming at times.  What to do? Well, it may be time to find some support, other art friends, make connections, find your online tribe or an actual real life community.  Both Karen and Gaynor have benefited from widening their circles and consi...

Right time, right place… sunshine, food and the perfect drop of water, add in the ideal companion or two… violà, success! Plants and humans are the same in that respect.  What fires your imagination? Are you grabbing the right things to help yourself flourish, chatting to those who encourage growth? What helps you to get where you’re going. Today Karen and Gaynor are giddy about the paths they’re...

Today is our editor’s birthday 🎈 sending him giant love, thanks and a big fat squishy mummy hug 😉  Now let’s get on with episode 122 of the pod…  Procrastination, manifesting, dancing around, considering it all, planning and everything else eventually needs to turn into action.  Let’s get on with it, shall we?  So do hit the subscribe button on whichever platform you listen to Artchatter on, it’...

Episode 121 - our approaches to being artists My goodness... We've talked about what being an artist means, and how labels like "artist" might (or might not!) be useful. Now it's time to focus in on our own practices. What makes the two of us artists? And what does the practice of art mean to us? Do hit the subscribe button on whichever platform you listen to Artchatter on, it’s...

Episode 120 - what makes you an artist? Holy heck, this is a BIG topic… we have lots to say and would love to hear what you think. Here’s a quick dictionary definition: ‘Ultimately, being an artist is a personal journey and identity, defined by the act of creating and expressing, making it a fundamental way of living for many, not just a job title’ Well that sounds great, but what does it even mea...

We all wear many hats, class ourselves as this or that. But who are we and which label do we claim first? Which title are we most proud of?  Clumsy, funny, shy, outgoing, mother, father, child or friend?  Here’s the big question for today though… How do you label yourself - which labels limit you, which enable you, and which labels make you glow with happiness?  Do hit the subscribe button on whic...

"Whether you think you can, or you think you can't—you're right" Henry Ford  Karen and Gaynor are delving in to how we much inner strength, self belief and hope we all need as artists. How do we brave social media, public opinion or our own self doubt? How do we get brave enough to put our souls (not dramatic at all!) out on display. Obviously, we have thoughts…  So do hit the su...

Oh heck we’re a bit rusty. Where’s Gaynor’s microphone? Has Karen got her podcast cough back? We’re having a bit of a jiggle up, here; diving deeper into things… slightly more structured schedule, making time for little breaks throughout the year.  So do hit the subscribe button on whichever platform you listen to Artchatter on, it’s easier than marking your calendar!  January for Karen and Gaynor...

We made it through another year together! How wonderful. Now to consider our dreams, create a wish list and send everyone love for a beautiful and peaceful 2026  Now, as always, we invite you to tell us what your plan for finding your way is, there’s lots more to chat about.  Thank you, too, to all who listen, DM, send messages and have made the last four years so much fun with #artchatterpodcast...

Ugh. Are you people pleasing in your art? Do you do what YOU love or do what you think others will love and approve of?  Karen and Gaynor explore coming back to themselves and the work they want to create. Maybe you feel the same way about your work too. It’s time to stop playing safe, find our way to ourselves. Let’s start working as we want to, showing up how we want to and really enjoying it! ...

Hands up who’s created a pattern to their year that’s become a dull routine of “but I always do this”?  When do we need just stop our old routines of turning up at the same place and hoping this time it’s different? Have we created our own annual merry-go-round, showing up out of habit without purpose?  Is it time for a change where we jump off the ride and make positive changes rather than repeat...

Well, holy heck… our cheeky little podcast, artchatter, hasbeen nominated for a Women’s Business Club Award https://womensbusiness.club/awards WHAT? We are so very grateful to the listener(s) who nominated us. Unfortunately we can’t attend the awards ceremony in person on 3rd December, but we’ll be live online…holding our breath, obviously! This is a big deal for us. We’re not famous, we don’t hav...

It’s that time again! Prepping for the selling season, getting everything planned, staying up late to ensure our organisation is tip top. Packing boxes, unpacking boxes, hanging work, wrapping work. Is your payment machine up to date and charged? ;)  That’s all well and good, but let’s calm down for a second and remember why we’re doing this, and where we need to be. Let’s get a plan (of sorts) so...

Humans and artists alike face many disappointments. Things don’t go as we’d hoped. Rejection. Lack of sales. Paintings not behaving. However, it’s not the event that defines us, it’s how we deal with it.  Yeah, sounds great, right? Sounds easy too. But hoooooow? Wellllll we could journal (@karengeorgeart pales at this idea) or talk it through (now she’s slightly green) or we could face it, relegat...

It’s all been done before. There’s nothing new. We just can’t find anything original to present to the world. Everyone else has got a great offering. Everyone else has got it sussed. They’re doing all the things. Are we just copying? Are we offering the same old, same old?  So why do it at all?  Hang on though, let’s consider this, maybe doing it our way IS the original part.  We’ve seen a million...

Righty-ho, we’ve reviewed allllll the things we’ve been doing. What do we work on now? What are we carrying forward and what are we gently expelling from our lives?  Let’s get specific, grab some details and prioritise how we move forward. Break steps down rather than plunging in to the deep end and make sure we’re aligned with big ideas we’re swimming towards. Do you have small and large rewards...

We often overlook appreciating how far we have developed, but in order to consider what we want to take forward it’s a good idea to think about how much we have achieved, what we want to progress and what to let go. Which habits just aren’t cutting it any more. What did you commit to, but didn’t do-is that because it was someone else’s idea and just doesn’t fit you? Who distracted you? Why did you...

Summer is lovely; blissful long days and warm evenings, holidays, playing on the beach, in the park, visiting places and visitors making memories. But what about our art? How can we integrate the absolute need to create with fully living, engaging and making the most of the welcome distractions we face daily? What can we do that provides a creative fix while still meeting the needs of the people a...

Artists.  Let’s free up our brains and shake off the constraints of painting or producing work for a reason. Developing our work, our skills and our practices comes in so many forms. @gaynorljart is finding freedom in actually using a sketchbook after years of envy and frustration-and @karengeorgeart is sharing her love of outdoor sketching with others, which is fun and freeing too.  Same, Same Bu...

Recently several instagram posts sparked a conversation between @karengeorgeart and @gaynorljart - all around the reasons why people buy art. @emuplops @carriescottcurates @iamfrancebrunel and @lorimirabelli fired our chat (specific posts linked below) and gave us pause for thought. We asked listeners if they’d like a chat around the subject and received an overwhelming yes.  How do we want to liv...

Episode 104 Are we who we show up as on social media? What does authentic really mean… what do we care about what people think of us? Does it matter? As we’ve grown older and into ourselves, we find it easier to accept who we are and why we do what we do. Maybe it’s partly because we know what doesn’t work and we don’t want to just fit in any more. Authenticity may be an overused word in social me...

What is the simple definition of marketing? “Marketing, in its simplest form, is about letting people know about a product or service that might meet their needs or wants. It's the process of communicating the value of a product or service to potential customers and persuading them to buy.” Do we have answers? Not necessarily, but we do have thoughts and we’re trying to make sense of it all to...