Squiggly does oz
Mural Nomad, Thriving Artist Retreat, Brisbane, Australia 2024
G’day folks!
If you’ve read my previous blog post about self-development, you’ll know I signed up for a business mentorship program in January 2024. I also mentioned that it brought me a very unexpected opportunity!
So, picture this. It’s April 2024. I’m 4 months into my 12-month mentorship program with Mural Nomad, 1 month off turning 40, and 3 months off leaving a corporate design job of nearly 20 years! *insert scary face emoji
PJ casually drops into conversation on one of our group calls, that she’s going to be running an Artist retreat in August and she’s just trying to find an awesome location to host it all from. Then, she says, “For any international artists who are interested in attending the retreat, I’m also going to offer to extend your stay by another week so you can come to paint a mural with me”.
Now, anyone that knows me, knows I don’t ‘do’ spontaneity. Even with 4 months' notice, that is still spontaneous, for me! However, this was a year of change after all, so I decided to just investigate options. Could I really make this work?!
Skip ahead 2 months, I’d had my big birthday, I’m wrapping up my career at Kohler Co. and I’ve gone and booked a return flight to Brisbane! Eeekkk!
Skip ahead another 2 months and I’m at Heathrow airport (alone!) about to board a plane to Australia via Dubai (alone!) and go and live with 15 strangers for 2 weeks, (alone!) Yep, I was as scared as you think I was! The only thing keeping me remotely calm was the fact that another artist Lisa, from The Mural Lisa was also going. She’s an awesome artist based in ‘tut north here in the UK, and we met up briefly before going to Oz so we would have a friendly face on our trip.
Lisa and I arranged to meet a few of the other artists at a local café not far from Brisbane airport so we could travel to the location together. We then met up at the property with the rest of the group.
The first week was spent in a beautiful location on Moogerah Lake, Queensland. The group of artists, hosted by PJ got to spend the week immersed in creative activities and talking all things business.
The insane accommodation waiting for us!
We delved into the world of pattern design with Binx, had a stab at Calligraphy writing with Whimsical Twist, and revisited the basics of colour theory, the week was jam-packed from morning till night.
In between the learning, we had some downtime to enjoy the house spa and pool, as well as the array of art tools available. It’s amazing when you’re in the rat run of ‘life’ how little time you give yourself to be creative and play around with new mediums. We were encouraged to fill our sketchbooks and showcase as many different styles as we could.
I’d spent each week on Zoom calls with these artists, but to finally meet in person and have time getting to know them, was fantastic. We were all at different stages of our careers, and all had very different journeys, but it was wonderful to be surrounded by other people who have the same love for art, creativity, and murals, as you!
As you can imagine our first week flew by, and it was time to say goodbye to those artists who were Australia-based. I knew I’d met some amazing people that week, some I knew, would be friends for life!
Off to practice spray painting with the group!
Jess, from MLynn Creative and Lisa, from The Mural Lisa
The second week was the group of international artists.
We had the absolute pleasure of painting a 100m2+ mural for a local primary school in Brisbane. This week was very much a hands-on the tools kinda week and we got to learn all about spray painting with a sprayer as well as cans. This was the first time I’d properly used a spray gun and cans, so I was hesitant about my capabilities to deliver this mural for the client. However, I needn’t have worried, as PJ was on hand every day to help guide us. She spent time with each of us on a section of the wall explaining processes, techniques, quick tips, and more.
Learning about spray cans on exposed brickwork
Adding the background before the animal details were painted
It was so educational to work through such a large-scale mural project under the guidance of an expert. Especially an external mural, on exposed brick walls, which needed cleaning, priming, painting, and sealing. The full works! I should have created a timelapse of just how much effort goes into something of that scale!
Day one learning all about the step-by-step process of how this mural would unfold.
Although the days were long, I had so much fun with the gang! We laughed (sometimes through hysteria, and sometimes perhaps through being high on fumes) We chatted about our lives back home, similarities, differences, and even how ‘pants’ in Australia/USA, does not mean ‘pants’ in the UK! (You had to be there!) But one thing we did do is bond! We got to chill back at the Airbnb each evening and get to know each other as people, not just artists.
Once again, the second week flew by, but not before we got to do some exploring of the beautiful country we were in. PJ and Ben were kind enough to take us out for some day trips in between painting, to explore.
I even got to see a real-life Koala and Roo!
I had the best time in Australia meeting such wonderful people and trying things I never thought I would, especially so early in my career. I’m so glad I pushed myself to get out of my comfort zone!
I can’t thank PJ and Ben enough for making it all happen and I highly recommend to anyone that if life throws you an opportunity that you aren’t quite sure about, say YES anyway!
Catch you all next week,
Kate & Norm x