67 - Understanding Light
a conversation with Katie Woodward.
Hello and welcome to the SneakyArt Post. In this issue, you will find -
🎙 | Episode 27 of the podcast
🖊 | Writing I’ve discovered on Substack
🚀 | Membership plans
⚡ | *NEW* Discord announcement!
🎙| Ep 27 Understanding Light with Katie Woodward
In the new episode, I speak with NYC-based artist and urban-sketcher Katie Woodward. Katie has made paintings that are both very large and very small. As a scenic artist for the theater she has worked on backdrops spanning several feet, and as an urban-sketcher she makes tiny watercolor cityscapes just a couple of inches wide.
What’s it like to make art for the theater? What is inherently different about painting big and small, and what is strangely similar to both?
Working in stage design demands a wide array of crafting skills, and Katie shares wonderful stories of some of her memorable work. We also talk about her upcoming book - Understanding Light - where she brings together the art and ideas of her favorite artists across different media.
Follow Katie's work on Instagram. To pre-order her book, visit here or find it on Amazon. Find a summarized transcript to this conversation on my website.
Listen to our conversation on your choice of streaming service below:
Spotify | Apple | PocketCasts | Google | Web | Gaana
📝| Do you use Reddit?
I believe Reddit is a crucial resource for both creators and consumers of content. But I know many people who hesitate to get into it, or have tried and gotten burnt for one reason or another. For the benefit of anyone that is curious, I wrote a FREE guide to using Reddit, based on my own experiences. Tap below to read it!
🖊| New Writing in my Orbit
I like newsletters. I like that they arrive in my inbox. I like the security they give to writers and artists - that their work will be seen by the people who have signed up - a promise that social media broke a long time ago. I think of newsletters as a personal equation between a writer and their audience.
Here is some new writing I’ve found that you may like:
YouTopian Journey by Shaun Gold
You have greatness within! YouTopian Journey is here to help you awaken it with life changing knowledge and unique artwork from our custom drawn comic book! YouTopian Journey provides weekly motivation and wisdom to help you become mentally stronger and realize your potential.
That’s Philosophical by Rufat Rassulov
Modern world is a mess. That’s Philosophical helps its readers become more mindful of their noisy lives. Get inspirational insights every week and allow your mind to relax!
Paper Dreams by Binu Sivan
Stories, some poems and me figuring my way over, around and through this whole writing business. I wish it were not a business. Here I will gather my stories and poems that deal with the beauty in the ordinary, with the joy, horror, ugliness and heroism hiding right under our noses.
🚀 | The Subscription Model!
Subscriptions are my path to creative freedom.
The philosopher Isaiah Berlin postulated that freedom is of two types. Positive freedom is freedom to do certain things, and negative freedom is freedom from certain constraints.
Subscriptions give me both. They give me the positive freedom to pursue my curiosity and continue to make ambitious new content. They give me negative freedom from having to appease faceless institutions and brands for financial support.
Subscriptions make me accountable to the only group that matters - the readership that enjoys and consumes my work.
Hit the button below to become a subscriber and support SneakyArt!
To learn more about what I offer to subscribers, check out the first subscriber-only post for details. It is currently free to read, but will go behind the paywall at the end of this month.
⚡| Building Community
This week, I started the SneakyArt Discord!
A Discord server is a step towards building a community with my top fans, readers, and listeners. It is a private space to chat about podcast episodes, share work, and talk about art.
The cost of entry is a cup of coffee. So if you want to start a conversation with me, grab an invite by hitting the button below!
That’s all from me this week. The next subscriber-only post goes out on Sunday. It is an updated bonus commentary (audio+text) for Episode 15 with George Butler, revisiting the subject of war reportage and illustration, using the recently concluded Afghanistan War as a historical leitmotif.
Thank you for your time and attention. See you next week!
Thanks for the feature, Nishant! Loved the line- “their work will be seen by the people who have signed up - a promise that social media broke a long time ago” So true!