ORIGINALLY, Ballarat artist Susan Nethercote had planned to be in Paris about now, running a retreat in partnership with an American company.
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In many ways, her painting is a solitary role and working from her home in Soldiers Hill was where Ms Nethercote based herself.
The pandemic has opened her eyes to a new perspective on how interconnected her work is as a global business and the ripple effects this creates.
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Most of Ms Nethercote's market is overseas and this has presented basic logistical hurdles. A lot of postage to the United States has backed up in large storage sheds. There is a parcel Ms Nethercote cannot yet send to Kuwait.
Instead, Ms Nethercote is holding the pieces until they are safe to send but this also requires constant, reassuring email updates to clients.
Paris was one for the early business pivots Ms Nethercote had to make. While disappointed to miss the immersive experience, Ms Nethercote has been able to take more time to develop other avenues to share her skills and expertise on abstract floral art.
When Ballarat Open Studios was cancelled for April, Ms Nethercote delved into honing her video-making skills to offer people a look inside her space, including her historic home and garden inspiration.
The funny thing is for artists, in many ways not much has changed for us but still it is more about communication.
- Susan Nethercote
"I made it on iMovie, that suited my skills, but I was surprised actually. It's amazing what you can do with more time on your hands," Ms Nethercote said.
"I'm at home, not running around everywhere. I could focus on technology tasks and things that were previously hard for me.
"...The funny thing is for artists, in many ways not much has changed for us but still it is more about communication. My time is taken up more with home-schooling as well as work. For many artists not much has changed."
Ms Nethercote said while the foundations of her work had not changed, in painting, there was little doubt the pandemic had impacted her business and work.
A chance to fine-tune video skills has allowed Ms Nethercote to launch her online course Painting as a Practice, soon to be available via the platform Teachable.
Ms Nethercote had already a well-established studio-insider art podcast and this online project was in a way, building on that reach.
Video is also a way to add to Ms Nethercote's vibrant social media channels.
"In some ways artists have an added advantage on social media because we're constantly making beautiful art," Ms Nethercote said.
"My business is visual, so it's important to communicate well through photographs."
Ms Nethercote said the global situation had also reinforced the importance of focusing business and support in her own region and finding ways to connect more Ballarat people with her art.
These are all challenges facing artists worldwide and all at the same time but Ms Nethercote said this had in turn strengthened the bonds of of the global arts community.
English artist Matthew Burrows launched the Artists Support Pledge Campaign in March to help emerging artists worldwide who were struggling amid the pandemic with exhibitions shut down and teaching and technical support limited.
His campaign was for artists to pledge to post images of work for sale for no more than £200 (almost $AU400) and every time their sales reached £1000 (almost $AU2000) that artists would buy another artist's work for £200.
Ms Nethercote said campaigns like this were a beautiful thing coming out of the art community in such difficult times.
Adapting has been important to Ms Nethercote whose focus remains on reaching people with beautiful art and her visual stories.
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