The Creative Couch with Sam Marshall

Sam Marshall

The Creative Couch is a podcast about creativity, doubt, and finding your own way of making work. Hosted by artist and coach Sam Marshall, it’s a place to talk honestly about making work, staying connected to creativity, and building confidence over time.

  1. 3d ago

    Episode 33: Reclaiming Confidence, Creative Fatigue & Working Independently

    In this episode of The Creative Couch, I respond to three thoughtful creative dilemmas from Suzanne, Ella and Jane, exploring how to rebuild creative confidence after it has been badly damaged, why observational drawing can feel so mentally exhausting, and how to move from constantly taking courses to developing a creative practice of your own. My Loving Lately this week is Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth. I really enjoyed this one. Hepworth is brilliant at combining darker psychological suspense with sharp, funny writing, and I loved spending time with Mabel as a character. The Mother-in-Law is probably still my favourite of hers, but this was a really enjoyable read. Suzanne returned to art around four years ago after more than twenty years away from making. Her creative confidence was badly damaged when she was younger by comments from an art teacher and later by a boyfriend, despite the fact that she had flourished on her foundation course and been offered a place at a prestigious London art school. She has gradually found her way back through drawing, painting and sketchbook work, and recently entered three drawings into a local exhibition. But rather than feeling proud, she found herself comparing the achievement with the creative life she might have had and questioning whether her varied body of work means she still hasn’t found her artistic identity. We explore the power we continue to give old voices, why imagined alternative lives can become such damaging points of comparison, and why cohesion often emerges through making rather than being something we have to decide in advance. Ella works a day job to support her family and loves drawing and painting from observation, but finds that the intense concentration involved can leave her mentally drained. While other people describe art as relaxing, Ella often finishes a drawing session feeling even more tired than when she began, which makes her wonder whether she is doing something wrong or simply needs more practice. We explore the difference between something being restful and something being restorative, why observational drawing genuinely requires a huge amount of concentration, and why creativity doesn’t have to give you more energy than you started with in order to be worthwhile. Jane loves a creative course and has taken many over the years, from online classes and retreats to workshops at West Dean and other venues. But she is beginning to feel that she wants to move away from constantly being a student and develop a more independent creative practice at home. She has plenty of skills and ideas, but without the structure and accountability of a course, her own practice can become very stop-start. We explore why being the student can sometimes feel safer than directing your own work, how courses can quietly become a form of creative procrastination, and why developing an independent practice involves learning to make your own decisions and turn up for yourself. In this episode, we explore: • How to rebuild creative confidence after it has been badly damaged • Why old voices can continue to shape the way we see our own work • How to stop comparing your current creative life with the one you might have had • Why cohesion often emerges through making rather than being forced • Why observational drawing can be mentally exhausting • The difference between something being restful and restorative • How to work with your natural energy rather than against it • Why being taught can sometimes feel safer than directing your own work • How creative courses can become a form of procrastination • How to build more structure and accountability into an independent creative practice Each dilemma is explored through both its emotional and practical layers, with ideas and exercises you can apply to your own creative practice. If you have a creative dilemma you'd like me to explore in a future episode, I'd love to hear from you. You can email me at: thecreativecouchpod@gmail.com If you're feeling stuck in your own creative practice and would like support, you can find out more about my creative coaching, workshops and artwork at: www.sammarshallart.com You can also find me on Instagram at @sammarshallart.

  2. Sep 29

    Episode 32: Growing Slowly, Starting Again & Finding Your Creative Language

    In this episode of The Creative Couch, I respond to three thoughtful creative dilemmas from Meg, Kathy and Taura, exploring how to grow a creative business when time is limited, how to make peace with returning to art later in life, and what happens when you're trying to find your own creative language rather than simply follow someone else's process. My Loving Lately this week is The Golden Hours by Louisa Young, the new continuation of The Cazalet Chronicles, written by Elizabeth Jane Howard's niece. I've really enjoyed returning to the world of the Cazalet family and spending time with these characters again. I also mention my Super Seconds Sale, which goes live on Saturday at 11am and runs until Monday at 10pm. I'll have a large selection of prints, test prints, seconds and older pieces available at reduced prices, including work from deep in my archives that hasn't been available for years. Meg has built a substantial creative practice around watercolour and linocut while home educating three children, renovating a house and running a smallholding in rural Ireland. She sells her work, exhibits regularly, teaches monthly linocut workshops and produces a wildlife calendar each year, but she is beginning to think about what the next chapter might look like. She would eventually love to have her own studio and teach more, and is wondering whether online teaching could be part of that future. We explore the difference between ambition and urgency, why growth doesn't always mean adding more, and how to build towards a long-term creative vision without overwhelming the life you already have. Kathy is 67 and returned to drawing after retiring from a 40-year career in healthcare. She originally studied art, but damaging comments from her professors destroyed her confidence and she moved away from creativity for decades. Now she draws for hours, works with fabric, builds things and always has a project underway, but sometimes feels she missed out on a lifetime of making art. We explore grief for the creative life you might have had, the danger of idealising the path you didn't take, and how to stop regret about the past from taking away from the creative life available to you now. Taura has moved between sewing, craft, painting and digital art and has a long-standing dream of designing her own knitwear. She enjoys learning through tutorials, but finds it much harder to take those skills and apply them to her own ideas. She often has plenty of ideas while doing other things, but draws a blank when she sits down to work and can become frustrated before a design feels resolved. We explore the difference between learning a technique and developing your own creative language, why the messy middle can feel so uncomfortable, and how experimentation can help take the pressure off the finished outcome. In this episode, we explore: • How to grow a creative business without simply adding more • The difference between ambition and urgency • Why comparing your capacity with other artists can be so unhelpful • How to test online teaching without building an entire course • What it means to grieve an unlived creative life • How to make peace with returning to art later in life • Why someone else's judgment doesn't have to remain your verdict • The difference between learning techniques and developing your own creative language • Why the messy middle is an essential part of making original work • How to experiment without putting pressure on every idea to become a finished piece Each dilemma is explored through both its emotional and practical layers, with ideas and exercises you can apply to your own creative practice. If you have a creative dilemma you'd like me to explore in a future episode, I'd love to hear from you. You can email me at: thecreativecouchpod@gmail.com If you're feeling stuck in your own creative practice and would like support, you can find out more about my creative coaching, workshops and artwork at: www.sammarshallart.com You can also find me on Instagram at @sammarshallart.

  3. Sep 22

    Episode 31: Privacy, Artistic Ethics & Trusting Your Style

    A quick note before we start: I accidentally recorded this week’s episode without my usual microphone, so the sound is slightly more echoey than normal. Everything is clear, though, and I decided it was better to share the episode than record the whole thing again! In this episode of The Creative Couch, I respond to three thoughtful creative dilemmas from Hope, Kathy and Gina, exploring privacy and openness online, the ethics of using other people’s images as artistic reference, and whether improving your technical skills can sometimes interfere with the very qualities that make your work your own. Hope has been making work inspired by landmarks in the village where she lives and running community workshops locally, but she has been reluctant to share much of this online because she worries about giving away too much information about where she lives. She knows this caution may now be holding her back from making local connections and sharing her work more authentically. We talk about the difference between choosing privacy and allowing fear to make those decisions for you, and how an ‘openness audit’ might help her work out what she genuinely feels comfortable sharing. Kathy is a tapestry designer and weaver who has used the Sktchy app for many years as a source of photographs to draw and paint from. One particular photograph inspired a large tapestry that became deeply connected to the time of her parents’ deaths. She would now like to exhibit it, but the original image is still recognisable and she has been unable to contact the person who uploaded the photograph. We explore permission, acknowledgement and artistic reference, and whether being transparent about where a piece began can allow her to exhibit it without feeling she has ignored the contribution of the original image. Finally, Gina is self taught and wonders whether her lack of formal training is actually part of what gives her work its particular character. She would like to understand perspective and colour better, but worries that learning the ‘correct’ way to do things might interfere with the slightly unconventional way she currently works. She is also questioning whether making bright, idyllic work feels frivolous when there is so much difficulty in the world. We talk about learning selectively, trusting the visual language you already have and whether choosing to notice beauty means ignoring everything else. My Loving Lately this week is The Land and Its People, the new book by David Sedaris. I’ve loved his writing for years, particularly the way he finds humour and absurdity in ordinary life while still allowing something much more poignant to sit underneath it. I also mention two upcoming workshops here at my new studio. There are currently two spaces available on my Multi-block Linocut Workshop on 10 and 11 October, and one space available on my one-day Etching Workshop on Saturday 24 October. All the details and booking information are on my website. If you have a creative dilemma you’d like me to explore on the podcast, you can send it to thecreativecouchpod@gmail.com.

  4. Sep 15

    Episode 30: An Honest Q&A About Art, Life, Choosing to Be Child-Free & Single, and the Story Behind My Positivity

    In this week’s episode of The Creative Couch, I’m doing something a little different. While I waited for some new creative dilemmas to come in, I asked you to send me your questions instead, and you certainly did. Questions came in through Instagram DMs and the Creative Couch email, and there were far more than I could possibly answer in one episode, so apologies if I didn’t get to yours. I’ll definitely do another Q&A in the future. This is probably one of the most open and personal episodes I’ve recorded. I talk about my early life, the jobs I had before becoming an artist, studying at the Slade and the Royal Drawing School, and my years working in the advertising industry. I also answer some much more personal questions, including my relationship with food and being overweight as a child, my decision not to have children, why I’m happy being single, and some of the experiences that have shaped the person I am now. Quite a few of you asked about my positivity and how I manage to stay so joyful and optimistic. I talk honestly about where that comes from too, because my life certainly hasn’t always felt positive or easy, and that outlook has been something I’ve developed over time. There are questions about art, life, work, confidence, relationships, choices, ageing and all sorts of things in between. It’s a very candid, slightly sprawling Q&A, and probably a chance to get to know me a little better beyond the usual creative dilemmas. And thank you, because the dilemmas have started arriving again! Normal Creative Couch service will resume next week. If you have a creative dilemma you’d like me to answer on the podcast, please send it to thecreativecouchpod@gmail.com.

  5. Sep 8

    Episode 29: Imposter Syndrome, Pushing Your Work Further & Selling Your Art

    ⭐ I’m desperate for more dilemmas! ⭐ I’ve now reached the end of the dilemmas currently sitting in my inbox, so if there is something you are struggling with in your creative life, however big, small, specific or strange it might seem, please send it in to: thecreativecouchpod@gmail.com While I wait for some new dilemmas to arrive, next week’s episode will be a Q&A. So if there is anything you would like to ask me about my own creative practice, running an art business, teaching, printmaking, sketching, travel, creativity, or anything else you are curious about, please send your questions to the same email address. In this episode of The Creative Couch, I respond to three thoughtful creative dilemmas from Donna, Anna and Jill, exploring imposter syndrome, how to push a body of work further and the pressure to monetise creativity. Donna is 52 and has spent much of her adult life raising four children, fitting her art around school runs, holidays and family life. Over the last couple of years she has been building her practice back up and has already run workshops, exhibited her work and tutored people one-to-one. Despite all of that, she constantly feels as though she is behind and worries that she is an imposter who will eventually be caught out. We explore the imaginary timelines we create for ourselves, the difference between being behind and simply having taken a different route, and what Donna might actually be waiting for before she allows herself to feel like a legitimate artist. Anna returned to a creative practice after retirement, having originally trained in textiles, and has since become increasingly interested in printmaking. Over the past year she has been developing a body of work called Fragments, based on decaying wreaths, and has now completed eight pieces ready for exhibition. But unlike previous projects, she does not feel ready to move on. She senses that the subject still has more to give and wants to know how to push the work further without simply repeating herself. We explore how to identify what is really underneath a subject, why staying with an idea for longer can lead to richer work, and how changing scale, process, materials and constraints can open up new directions. Jill has recently returned to painting after many years of raising children and working and is loving the experience of making art purely as a hobby. But whenever people see her work, they immediately tell her she should sell it or turn it into a business. She wonders why visual art attracts this reaction when nobody would necessarily ask someone learning a language, playing guitar or taking dance classes how they planned to monetise it. We discuss why people often use money as a shorthand for artistic value, how selling can introduce a very different set of pressures into a creative practice, and why you are allowed to be very good at something without needing to turn it into a business. Also in this episode, I share this week’s Loving Lately recommendation: Marks & Spencer croissants, which were absolutely delicious and have been a very simple but very welcome highlight of my week. In this episode, we explore: • Why feeling behind is often tied to an imaginary creative timeline • What imposter syndrome might actually be asking us to prove • Why external validation does not always make us feel more legitimate • How to identify the deeper subject underneath a body of work • Why staying with a theme for longer can lead to richer and more surprising work • How scale, process, materials and restrictions can help push work further • Why visual art so often attracts pressure to be monetised • The difference between enjoying making art and wanting to run an art business • Why selling your work can change the way you think about what you make • Why creative work does not need to earn money in order to have value Each dilemma is explored through both its emotional and practical layers, with ideas and exercises you can apply to your own creative practice. If you're feeling stuck in your own creative practice and would like support, you can find out more about my creative coaching, workshops and artwork at: www.sammarshallart.com You can also find me on Instagram at @sammarshallart.

  6. Sep 1

    Episode 28: Finding Coherence, Making Art Responsibly & Fear of Criticism

    In this episode of The Creative Couch, I respond to three thoughtful creative dilemmas from Amandine, Jen and Michelle, exploring artistic identity, environmental responsibility, creative guilt and the lasting impact of criticism. Amandine lives in France with her husband and four-year-old daughter and works full-time, so her creative practice has to fit into the small pockets of time she can find. She sketches in the evenings, draws alongside her daughter and keeps a bag of materials ready in the living room, but she worries that her practice feels fragmented and lacks a coherent artistic identity. Longer term, she would love to share her work with a community and perhaps sell some prints. We explore why style is not something you need to manufacture in advance, how coherence often emerges through repeated interests and ways of working, and why stepping away from the pressure to sell can create space for a more authentic body of work to develop. Jen is increasingly conscious of the environmental impact of making art, particularly while living somewhere where the effects of climate change feel very immediate. She tries to use what she already has, avoid unnecessary waste and steer away from toxic materials where possible, but still feels uneasy about the resources involved in making art. We discuss the difference between environmental awareness and environmental guilt, why trying to make art with no impact at all is probably an impossible standard, and how small, thoughtful choices can make a meaningful difference. I also reflect on how becoming clearer about my own artistic practice has made me much more selective about the materials I buy and use. Michelle returned to oil painting after many years away from art and built up a serious practice alongside a full-time job and family life. She rented a studio, entered competitions, sold work and completed a series of fifteen paintings she was incredibly proud of. Then a relative made a passing comment suggesting that all those paintings were a waste of materials. The remark affected Michelle far more deeply than she expected and led her to stop sharing her work, give up her studio, change mediums, work under a pseudonym and even try to give up art altogether. We explore why one seemingly small comment can become so powerful when it connects with an existing belief about ourselves, the difference between being an artist and earning your living from art, and why creative work does not have to justify its existence through sales or usefulness. Also in this episode, I share a recent Loving Lately recommendation: the novelist Mary Lawson, and in particular her novel Crow Lake. Her writing is quiet, thoughtful and beautifully observed, with a wonderful sense of place and complicated family relationships. I’ve only recently discovered her work and absolutely loved this one. In this episode, we explore: • Why artistic identity often emerges through making rather than being decided in advance • How temporary constraints can help bring coherence to a fragmented creative practice • Why selling your work too early can sometimes distort what you actually want to make • The difference between environmental awareness and creative guilt • How small, realistic changes can make an art practice more sustainable • Why knowing which materials you genuinely use can reduce unnecessary consumption • How one passing comment can trigger much deeper beliefs about creative worth • Why being an artist is not the same as making your living from art • What happens when we try to make our work impossible for other people to criticise • Why creative work does not always need to justify its existence Each dilemma is explored through both its emotional and practical layers, with ideas and exercises you can apply to your own creative practice. If you have a creative dilemma you'd like me to explore in a future episode, I'd love to hear from you. You can email me at: thecreativecouchpod@gmail.com If you're feeling stuck in your own creative practice and would like support, you can find out more about my creative coaching, workshops and artwork at: www.sammarshallart.com You can also find me on Instagram at @sammarshallart.

  7. Aug 18

    Episode 27: Retiring as an Artist, Marketing Your Work & Finding Time to Create

    A little podcast note: there won’t be an episode of The Creative Couch next week as I’m away for ten days and taking a short break. I’ll be back the following week with another three creative dilemmas. In this episode of The Creative Couch, I respond to three thoughtful creative dilemmas exploring what it means to retire as an artist, how to market your work when you really don’t enjoy marketing, and what happens when a demanding working life leaves very little energy for your own creative practice. The first dilemma asks a question we perhaps don’t talk about enough: can you retire from being an artist? When making art has been such a significant part of your identity, what happens if you no longer feel the same drive to keep producing, exhibiting or pursuing opportunities? We explore the difference between retiring from the professional machinery around being an artist and actually stopping being creative, why our relationship with our work is allowed to change as we get older, and whether stepping away might sometimes be an evolution rather than an ending. Sophie wants to get her artwork out into the world, but there’s one fairly significant problem: she really doesn’t want to spend her time marketing herself. Like so many artists, she would much rather be making the work than continually thinking about Instagram, promotion and selling. We explore whether being a working artist really does mean becoming a full-time marketer, how to find forms of promotion that feel sustainable and natural, and why marketing doesn’t necessarily have to mean constantly shouting about yourself online. Anne-Maree works full-time as a teacher and desperately wants to make more of her own artwork, but by the time she has finished giving her energy to her job, she often feels she has very little left for herself. She is questioning whether she is genuinely too tired to make work or whether, somewhere along the way, she has started getting in her own way. We look at the reality of creative exhaustion, the danger of waiting for the perfect conditions to make art, and how small, protected pockets of creative time can help rebuild a practice without turning it into yet another obligation. Also in this episode, I share this week’s Loving Lately: The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett, which I listened to on Audible and absolutely loved. It’s funny, heartfelt and quite dark, full of wonderfully flawed and complicated people, and I found it completely absorbing. In this episode, we explore: • What it might actually mean to retire as an artist • Why our creative identity is allowed to change over time • The difference between stepping away from an art career and giving up creativity • How to market your artwork when you really dislike marketing • Why promotion doesn’t have to mean constantly posting on social media • Finding ways of sharing your work that actually suit your personality • The difficulty of maintaining a creative practice alongside full-time teaching • The difference between genuine exhaustion and creative avoidance • Why waiting until you have more time or energy can keep a practice permanently on hold • How very small amounts of regular studio time can begin to rebuild momentum • Why our creative lives need to be able to change alongside the rest of our lives Each dilemma is explored through both its emotional and practical layers, with ideas you can apply to your own creative practice. A little podcast note: there won’t be an episode of The Creative Couch next week as I’m away for ten days and taking a short break. I’ll be back the following week with another three creative dilemmas. If you have a creative dilemma you'd like me to explore in a future episode, I'd love to hear from you. You can email me at: thecreativecouchpod@gmail.com If you're feeling stuck in your own creative practice and would like support, you can find out more about my creative coaching, workshops and artwork at: www.sammarshallart.com You can also find me on Instagram at @sammarshallart.

  8. Aug 11

    Episode 26: Rejection, Finding Your Style & Protecting Studio Time

    In this episode of The Creative Couch, I respond to three thoughtful creative dilemmas from Kate, Anabelle and Ruth, exploring rejection, artistic identity, finding your style, rebuilding confidence and learning to protect your creative time. Kate has spent the last six months trying to turn her lino printing into something more professional. She has created an Etsy shop and website, approached stockists and applied to craft and print fairs, but so far has had very little response. At the same time, she has accepted a well-paid corporate job, despite knowing that what she really wants is to become a full-time artist. The lack of sales and opportunities has begun to feel like evidence that perhaps nobody wants her work, while visiting galleries and exhibitions leaves her longing to be part of an art world that can feel frustratingly exclusive. We explore the difference between rejection and information, why six months is such a short period in the life of an artistic practice, and why sometimes the next step after making work is not selling it, but simply making more work. Anabelle studied art when she was younger but walked away from it twenty years ago after a difficult experience at university left her questioning her creativity. More recently, she has begun drawing again and challenging the story she has told herself for years that she is simply not a creative person. But after one drawing failed to live up to her expectations, she stopped working in her sketchbook altogether and is now questioning what she should draw, whether she should pursue realism or something looser, and how she is supposed to develop her own artistic style. We discuss why style is something that emerges through practice rather than something we choose in advance, how one disappointing drawing can reactivate very old beliefs, and why having a structure to follow can help us stop overthinking and simply keep turning up. Ruth has spent years teaching and supporting other people creatively and is now consciously trying to create more space for her own artistic practice. She wants to protect regular studio time, but struggles with how to describe that time to family and to herself. Calling it “work” feels uncomfortable when she is not currently exhibiting or selling, yet calling it anything softer seems to make it feel negotiable. We explore imposter syndrome, why unpaid studio practice is still work, the importance of treating creative time with the same seriousness as any other professional commitment, and how the boundaries we create around our practice teach other people how to respect it too. Also in this episode, I share this week’s Loving Lately: Finland Airport. After travelling through Helsinki recently, I was struck by how calm, considered and genuinely enjoyable the whole experience felt. It was one of those places that made travelling feel surprisingly easy, and I absolutely loved it. In this episode, we explore: • What rejection can and cannot tell us about our artwork • Why six months is a very short time to judge a creative career • The difference between being an artist and earning your entire income from art • Why the art world can feel exclusive when you're standing on the outside looking in • How old creative criticism can continue to shape the stories we tell ourselves • Why one unsuccessful drawing is not evidence that you should stop • How artistic style develops through practice rather than being chosen in advance • Why structure can help when you feel directionless in your creative practice • Why studio time is still work, even when nobody is paying you for it • How protecting your creative time helps other people learn to respect it • Why consistency often matters more than waiting for inspiration Each dilemma is explored through both its emotional and practical layers, with ideas and exercises you can apply to your own creative practice. If you have a creative dilemma you'd like me to explore in a future episode, I'd love to hear from you. You can email me at: thecreativecouchpod@gmail.com If you're feeling stuck in your own creative practice and would like support, you can find out more about my creative coaching, workshops and artwork at: www.sammarshallart.com You can also find me on Instagram at @sammarshallart.

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The Creative Couch is a podcast about creativity, doubt, and finding your own way of making work. Hosted by artist and coach Sam Marshall, it’s a place to talk honestly about making work, staying connected to creativity, and building confidence over time.

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