The Creative Couch with Sam Marshall

Sam Marshall
  • 5.0 (8)
  • Arts

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. 5d ago

    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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. 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.

  6. Aug 4

    Episode 25: Creative Chat with Sarah Jane Moon | Portraiture, Teaching & Creativity

    In this episode of The Creative Couch, I sit down with the wonderful artist and portrait painter Sarah Jane Moon for a relaxed and thoughtful conversation about creativity, portraiture and building a life as an artist. Originally from Wellington, New Zealand, Sarah Jane shares the story of how she moved to the UK, found her way into painting without a traditional Fine Art degree, and gradually established herself as one of today's leading contemporary portrait painters. Along the way, we talk about the realities of balancing a professional painting practice with teaching, the importance of finding your creative community, and how a creative career is often built through curiosity, persistence and a willingness to keep learning. We also discuss what portraiture can reveal about the people we paint, how teaching can both support and challenge your own creative practice, and why there is no single route into becoming a successful artist. In this episode, we explore: • Sarah Jane's journey from New Zealand to London • Finding your way into painting without a Fine Art degree • Building a creative career one step at a time • Balancing teaching with your own artistic practice • The importance of creative community and surrounding yourself with other artists • Portraiture, observation and painting people with honesty and sensitivity • How an artist's practice naturally evolves over time • The realities of making a sustainable living as a professional artist Whether you're just beginning your creative journey or have been making work for years, this conversation is full of thoughtful reflections on creativity, artistic growth and what it really means to build a life around making art. You can find Sarah Jane on Instagram at: @sarah_jane_moon You can also find her work at: www.sarahjanemoon.com If you'd like to submit a creative dilemma for 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. Jul 28

    Episode 24: Success, Grief & Creative Overwhelm

    In this episode of The Creative Couch, I respond to three thoughtful creative dilemmas from Kate, Susan and Coralie, exploring creative success, grief, burnout, overwhelm and how to protect the joy of making when life and work begin placing too many demands upon it. Kate returned to painting during lockdown after a twenty-year break from creativity. What began as a joyful, private practice gradually became a successful full-time career, with books, products, licensing opportunities and a large online audience. From the outside, she appears to be living the dream, but success has started to feel more like pressure than pleasure. We explore what happens when the artist and the brand become almost indistinguishable, why every launch can begin to feel like a verdict on your entire career, and how to create space for experimentation when creativity has become responsible for your income, identity and public success. Susan has spent approximately seven years caring for her parents while holding onto plans to develop her art practice and create a small business. Following the sudden death of her mother in May, she now has more time but feels lost, guilty and unable to enter her studio. At 64, she is telling herself there is no time to waste, but the urgency is leaving her frozen. We discuss why caring responsibilities were never an excuse, how grief can make new freedom feel more like absence, and why returning to creativity may need to happen gently, through the back door rather than the front. Coralie works digitally in animation, is developing a personal game project with her husband and is also caring for a very young baby. After revisiting The Artist’s Way, she has rediscovered her love of charcoal, coloured pencil, graphite, plein-air painting and paper miniatures. The excitement feels wonderful, but it quickly becomes overwhelming as she tries to turn every interest into a project or connect it to her professional work. We explore the difference between enthusiasm and capacity, why renewed creative energy after burnout needs to be protected, and how traditional materials might become a small place for play rather than another demanding part of her working life. Also in this episode, I share a recent Loving Lately recommendation: Languages of Loss by Sasha Bates. The book follows Bates as she navigates the sudden death of her husband, drawing on both her personal experience of grief and her work as a psychotherapist. I’ve been reading it partly to educate myself about grief, but it has also been helping me process the recent death of my friend Frances and think about how I can best support her wife Carly, who is one of my closest friends. In this episode, we explore: • Why success can begin to feel like pressure rather than pleasure • What happens when the artist and the creative brand become difficult to separate • Why every launch does not need to become a verdict on your entire career • How people pleasing can shape the work we make and the opportunities we accept • Why caring for somebody is never simply an excuse for not progressing • How grief can make newly available time feel like absence rather than freedom • Why telling yourself there is no time to waste can leave you unable to begin • How to return to the studio gently after loss • The difference between creative excitement and genuine capacity • Why every new interest does not need to become a project • How to protect renewed creative energy after burnout • Why creativity sometimes needs to remain private, playful and deliberately unproductive 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.

  8. Jul 21

    Episode 23: Solo Exhibitions, Returning to Art & Creative Uncertainty

    In this episode of The Creative Couch, I respond to three thoughtful creative dilemmas from Craig, Anouk and Linda, exploring artistic permission, returning to creativity after a long absence and building a creative life alongside chronic illness. Craig is a collage artist from Philadelphia who has completed an ambitious series of fifty bird collages. Although collectors are eager to buy the work, he's holding back because he dreams of exhibiting the entire collection in a solo exhibition. After approaching galleries without success, he's wondering whether organising his own exhibition would somehow make it less legitimate. We explore who gets to decide when an artist is ready, the difference between external validation and creative agency, and why sometimes the opportunities we wait for are the ones we're capable of creating ourselves. Anouk studied Fine Art after discovering a love of printmaking during her foundation course. But after feeling pressure at university to move away from work that seemed too illustrative, she gradually lost confidence and drifted away from making art altogether. Twenty years later she's rediscovering drawing and feels torn between returning to drypoint or embracing linocut. We discuss learning to trust your creative instincts again, why creativity rarely disappears completely, and whether becoming an artist is less about finding the perfect medium and more about consistently returning to the work. Linda has been living with chronic illness for more than a decade. Art has become a source of purpose, friendship and identity after having to step away from her previous career, but an uncertain benefits reassessment means she's unsure how to move her creative practice forwards without risking the financial support she relies upon. We explore what it means to build a creative life during seasons of uncertainty, how to balance security with ambition, and why laying creative foundations is never the same as standing still. Also in this episode, I share a recent Loving Lately recommendation: Clearabee. With all the building work and studio renovations happening here recently, they've made clearing bulky waste remarkably easy. I also really appreciate their commitment to recycling and diverting as much waste as possible from landfill. In this episode, we explore: • Why waiting for permission can hold us back creatively  • Whether organising your own exhibition makes it any less legitimate  • The difference between external validation and creative agency  • How to rebuild confidence after stepping away from art for many years  • Why creativity often finds different outlets, even when we're not making art  • Whether you really need to choose one artistic medium over another  • How chronic illness can reshape identity and creative purpose  • Why it's impossible to plan for every uncertain future  • The importance of laying creative foundations, even when life feels on hold  • Why becoming an artist is something we do through making, not something we're eventually allowed to call ourselves 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.

See All (31)

Trailer

5
out of 5
8 Ratings

About

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.

Information

You Might Also Like