Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Stacy McClanahan. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Stacy, appreciate you making time for us and sharing your wisdom with the community. So many of us go through similar pain points throughout our journeys and so hearing about how others overcame obstacles can be helpful. One of those struggles is keeping creativity alive despite all the stresses, challenges and problems we might be dealing with. How do you keep your creativity alive?
We’re living in a time when being an artist often means not just selling your art but selling a persona-your “brand”. Your lifestyle, your appearance, your social media feeds. It can feel like You are just as much a commodity as your work. Like so many artists I know, I find that curating photos, making updates on social media, planning events, doing administrative tasks- all the things we’re having to do to try and sell our artwork and get discovered can be so exhausting! It contributes to burnout. It staunches your creative flow. Ideally, you just want to make art and not spend time doing non-creative work like filling out a spreadsheet or updating a website. Maybe if you didn’t have to do those mundane things, you’d be more creative. But what if you don’t have that luxury? Or what if you do have plenty of time, but you’re still feeling stymied?
And life happens, and perhaps like me, you’ve got other things that you’ve got to take care of besides your art practice, maybe you have chronic illness, maybe you’re a caregiver.
So get on with it, what’s the secret sauce to juggling life and finding ways to keep your creativity alive, you ask?
For me, the simplest answer is this: Variety.
Switching it up. Finding ways to make something- anything- a poem, a painting, a card for a friend, crocheting something… it doesn’t matter what it is, as long as it’s a little different from what you normally do. Make what you love and what resonates with you, but try a different material.
This doesn’t need to be a thousand dollar investment in new art supplies, it could be switching to drawing in pen from pencil. going from black and white photography to color. Folding an origami paper crane. Just finding a different material to work with can help activate different parts of your brain and give you that little bit of fresh fuel for your creative fire.
The pandemic really helped me see the benefit of taking a shot at trying different mediums. Remember when we were stuck inside and washing off our bags of potato chips? Ok maybe you didn’t do that, but chances are you found something to help pass the time and soothe your anxiety a bit. Art does that for me. My pandemic craft of choice was latchhook. It was easy to learn, and the materials (yarn) easy to find, and by the end I had a tangible thing I could hang up and enjoy. I don’t know if I’ll get back into latchhook, but that’s alright.
If you picked up a new medium or project that you haven’t gone back to, that’s ok too. The beauty of trying new things is that you’re doing it first and foremost for yourself. You don’t owe anything, and you don’t need to validate stopping or taking a break. I may never do latchhook again, or maybe I will, but I enjoyed it when I was doing it, and it helped me with my anxiety, so I’ll count that as a win.
Speaking of anxiety, I believe that The challenge of using a new medium (no matter how simple) and trying to improve your skill with it, can take you away from that part of your mind that may otherwise be busy squishing your creativity with negative intrusive thinking, feelings of inadequacy or imposter syndrome.
Engaging in a new tool or medium, a different activity can help you be too busy ramping up and exploring new techniques to give space for that bummer record to play in your head!
The fabulous and self deprecating comedian Joan Rivers had to fight her way up the boys club ladder to make it in hollywood, and she had a lot to say about how she managed to persevere in that sexist environment, and come up with thousands of jokes. She worked more than many people half her age. Her secret, she said, was finding “Noble Distractions”. Finding positive ways to keep your mind out of it’s own doom loop and to hopefully help your community in some way. Joan was a big fan of volunteering with charity.
Volunteering is another great way to keep your creativity alive. It’s a win-win. You’re helping your community, and the work you do gives you a sense of calm and fulfillment that recharges your spirit as well as your artistic practice. Thanks to the internet, it’s easy to find one time and regular volunteering opportunities in your area, like beach or park clean ups, reading to kids, delivering meals, etc.
Another one of my favorite ways to keep my creativity rocking is to head over to my nearest museum. Enjoying art and learning about other peoples processes, especially works made by women, people of color, and other underrepresented folks inspires me. When I was a kid, I sometimes found great classical works of art intimidating. I’d never be able to be that good, I’d thought- so why try? However, learning that some artists spent YEARS making one painting, for example, actually helped me feel reassured. Seeing that some creators didn’t start until later in life, or didn’t have an expensive education, or worked with simple materials- all these things helped boost my confidence. IF you can, it’s also fun to go to a museum with a friend, or bonus, another creative friend. Talking to other artists about their struggles with the creative process is not only cathartic, but again can help you get back on track to productivity.
Another suggestion I’d give is to distance yourself physically from whatever you normally do; get up from your desk, get away from the painting you’re overworking, get out of your house, and get outside. Go for a walk. Keep your phone in your pocket and breathe in some fresh air. Really take in your neighborhood and just give yourself a break to be with your thoughts. Talk to a neighbor, pet a dog, interact with other humans. As artists it’s very easy to have your head down alone in your workspace for hours and forget to eat, stretch, take a shower, feel the sun. As cliche as it is, all that advice is given repeatedly for a reason. You’re not going to get a medal for suffering for your art, but you’re art could suffer if you neglect your body and mind. Set alarms on your phone if you have to, but take breaks!
Lastly, I’d say my biggest bit of advice for keeping that creative flame burning is to find a subject you enjoy or a process that’s just plain fun to do- having fun is the object and the goal. Treat your art tools as toys in a virtual sandbox. The ACT of making something is what’s important, and that you are having fun. Yes making something is still work and I believe you do need a bit of challenge to grow and improve, but if you’re in a creative rut, it shouldn’t be about struggle. It should be about DELIGHT.
What delights you?
Is it the tactile sensation of running your hands over a textile that you’re sewing? Is it the color palette you’re painting with? Is it knowing the card you’re creating will make the recipient smile? Is it the subject you’re rendering? For me, I often paint my favorite cartoon characters, the sillier the better. I guess I’m easily amused, but sometimes I actually giggle to myself when I’m working on them. Coincidentally, I’ve found that when I really love my subject, when I really connect with it, more often that not, other people do too. I’m not saying you should try to make things just for other people, but when you make things for yourself, that bring you genuine delight, often others will connect with it too and that’s a big bonus.
-Stacy AKA Fog Den
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
Hello out there, My name is Stacy McClanahan and I’m an artist specializing in painting on black velvet fabric. It’s a very niche medium haha! My art studio and business is called The Fog Den, as I live and work in Foggy San Francisco. My backyard studio is a great little converted shed that’s tiki themed, as I love tropical escapism and am a sucker for themed spaces. I started painting black velvet paintings after I tried to find some to decorate my studio with and couldn’t find ones that suited my tastes (or budget). Black velvet painting has strong ties to tiki bars as they were at the forefront of popularizing the exotic island culture and scenery that western people started having access to after many folks visited polynesia for the first time and people like my grandparents relocated there post world War 2. Velvet painting itself goes back hundreds and hundreds of years, but it exploded into modern pop culture in the 1950’s through the 1980’s when Painters living in hawaii, tahiti and mexico started using the fabric as a painting material when other materials were scarce, and visiting gI’s and tourists brought the paintings home. Eventually black velvet artwork became so common and popular it was getting mass produced in factories, and the market was saturated with cheap paintings. By the 1980’s, velvets became victims of their own popularity and the cheap paintings that flooded the landscape were seen as tacky. After many decades, velvet paintings, like the tiki bars they’re now associated with, have became popular again. People are collecting them, and because most of the original mid century velvet master painters have passed away, their secrets and techniques have died with them. Noone documented their process, and there’s no legit instructions online for painting on velvet. Since I have degrees in fine art and videogame art and animation, I figured “How hard can this be?” when I decided to try and paint my own velvets. HaHa! I thought I was going to paint a couple paintings to decorate my shed with- I had no idea the rabbit hole I was about to go down into! But despite all of the challenges, I’ve fallen in love with black velvet and since I’ve taught a history class on velvet, I’ve done painting demos and painting classes, and live painting sessions in tiki bars.
I primarily do commission work and vend my art in person. I just painted some videogame characters for an arcade taproom called Pixels thats opening up in San Rafael, and I’m very proud of some portraits I’ve been making of members of a rum club at a place in Burbank called The Broken Compass. I did my first Mai Tai paint and sip class at the Historic Trader Vic’s recently and that was a hoot- Trader Vic’s was one of the birthplaces of velvet becoming associated with tiki bars, so I feel like I’ve come full circle!
As a mom of a young kid, it’s tricky finding time to work and balance family and the household. I am privileged in that I have a very supportive partner and I know I wouldn’t be able to do what I do without their help and support. That said, for now I tend to vend art as close to home as possible, usually around SF and The Bay area. It’s a lot of work, packing up framed paintings and setting up a booth, but I love selling my art at events as I get to interact with the public and it’s so validating to get compliments from strangers and to see your work bringing joy to others!
Right Now I’m working on updating my website TheFogDen.com, and selling on Etsy for the first time at TheFogDen.Esty.Com. I’m really excited to be branching out and offering merch like T-Shirts for the first time. I’m also happy to find ways to get more efficient. I don’t have time to be running back and forth to the post office every time I sell a fine art print, so my primary goal right now is to have more print on demand items for sale that can generate passive income for me, without the need for me to worry about order fulfillment. Wish me luck!
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Tenacity. I got into a medium that lacks documentation, or instructions. It took lots of investigation, research, and asking around to find the answers I needed. I had to be stubborn.
Making connections. Reaching out and making new friends has helped me tremendously! Friends and connections referred me here! You never know when an opportunity may arise and a friend could be your “in”. Never be afraid to hit folks up!
Make a list of Goals. I know, sounds cliche, but succesfull people have this in common. The goals can be very very small. They can be grand. Visualize where you want to go, what you want to do, and list it. Starting out, I made very easily achievable goals for myself. Some were :1) build a website 2) vend art at an event 3) design business cards 4) design a logo , find a printer etc. Years later, my goals ramped up to 1) get interviewed on this magazine I like 2) design a shirt 3) teach a class. Looking back, I have achieved all of my original goals- they were modest, but I did them! It sets me up to see that maybe things that I was intimidated by are totally doable and to keep it up.
Okay, so before we go, is there anyone you’d like to shoutout for the role they’ve played in helping you develop the essential skills or overcome challenges along the way?
I’m very fortunate in that I have a friend I consider a mentor and a role model in my life. Her name is Rhonda Johnson, and we worked together selling furniture when I was attending a community college many moons ago. Rhonda is a single mother, and a businesswomen. She managed the store we worked at and eventually purchased it herself. She passed on a lot of wisdom to me about running a business, and being a good human being in general. Rhonda also really encouraged me in following my dream of becoming a professional artist, and when I wanted to go attend a first of it’s kind videogame school, she was a huge advocate for me. The school was in Canada and I struggled to find a way to afford to attend. I couldn’t get a loan for a school outside of the country. Rhonda paid for a professional photographer to take pictures of my artwork that I used to apply for the only scholarship available. I was awarded that scholarship and I wouldn’t have been able to get it if it wasn’t for Rhonda’s help and support.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.TheFogDen.com
- Instagram: FogDenSF
- Facebook: The Fog Den
- Other: thefogden.etsy.com
Image Credits
The Fog Den
