The past year for me has meant a slight distance from painting for the best reason.
In 2018 I spent a vast majority of the year working on something that in the end, I didn’t feel was good enough to release as a collection. This work has stayed private and ongoing, and hopefully one day I will be able to call it complete. For now, it is one of the first times I have felt that I couldn’t quite meet the challenge that I had set for myself. I took this quite hard, as I have always stepped up to my own personal goals with painting, however it is good to know there is still so much to improve upon and aspire towards. I did manage to work on a collection named Dawn Chorus based on bird species from around the world, this made my heart glow and reinstalled my love for painting. Just after finishing this collection, I had my son Reuben. I continued to paint in small doses to ease myself back into work, from just a week after he was born. I did this not only because I can’t seem to go too long without picking up a paint brush, but I had also spent the better part of a year working on a project that never made it to the end product. I am lucky enough to call my passion a job, and also lucky enough to work from home and be with Reuben. However my time has been split and limited!
During my pregnancy I had moved home, “gave up” for the moment on one body of work and started/completed another, and therefore distanced ever so slightly from social media. Social media has been an important outlet for my work since 2013, when I made the majority of my sales online. I worked hard to research how to use social media, as well as gathering a lovely, like minded following for my work and its progression. On returning to social media, it had changed. A lot.
When talking to people about Instagram’s new algorithm which took the timeline from chronological, to a new format, these conversations seemed heated and annoyed. Why would these social media sites stop showing us the posts of the accounts we have followed? For anyone unaware of the change, the algorithm detects posts that you have previously engaged with (comments/likes) and shows you more of this material. If you clicked ‘like’ on a photo of a poison dart frog, you will see more poison dart frogs… I personally like a poison dart frog from time to time, but it doesn’t mean I want to see a stream of them as I scroll. This is all in the name of profit. Instagram/Facebook can then ask you to pay for adverts to have your post seen by the very people who initially chose to follow you.
As someone who profited from these platforms, I can wholeheartedly understand why Instagram and Facebook would chose to charge, and profit from the apps they created, which have previously helped many people build lucrative and profitable business profiles.
I am choosing to continue writing blog posts to reach my original audience, and hopefully send out a more personal and detailed run down of the work I do, how I do it and what I have been up to, for anyone that may be interested! I will post links from my social media accounts so you know when there will be a post! As I plan for the year ahead it would be great to hear from you, what sort of posts you like and what you would like to know about through my blog posts! I would also like to start a Facebook group of a community of artists, where we can share our preferences in materials/techniques etc and chat about art, artists and help one another out! If this is something you may be interested in please let me know!
If you are reading this, thank you wholeheartedly for supporting my art work.
Katy x
KATY JADE DOBSON 
My partner and have followed your work ever since you did a commission of our baby girl. We also have another piece of your work in our home, and both fill me with joy! Congratulations on the birth of your little one and looking forward to hearing more about future projects! X
Thank you so much! I remember your commission and your beautiful baby! It’s so amazing to hear comments like this and makes the years of work so worthwhile. Thank you again! Xx
I came across your work earlier in 2017 and have been closely following you since. I love your idea to blog and start a Facebook community. If your Facebook community does become a thing I would love to be a part of it. You’re a beautiful and amazing artist. Keep up the good work.
Thank you so much! I’m glad you have stuck by 😊 a Facebook group is definitely going ahead, I will keep you updated! Xx
I would love to be a part of a Facebook group.
That’s great to hear!
Definitely want updates to check in. Ive been following you journey since 2015. Any posts, real posts and both work and personal I think are easier to relate to? Lx
Thank you so much for your input, I will definitely work on those ideas for blog posts (and a Facebook group is definitely on the cards!)
I have been following your work for a number of years now and love seeing your vibrant and beautiful work. I would love to join your Facebook group once it’s up and running. I too have been annoyed with social media… I too used to engage a lot with my customers and followers but now it’s harder to reach those lkee. I have also found that Instagram has become a lot more of a competitive environment for artist and become quite unhealthy I believe. In some cases quite nasty and bitter, this was never the case a couple of years ago when I joined it was a very welcoming and encouraging place to be. I have high hopes your Facebook community will be a welcoming and friendly environment to talk all things art.
All the best for the future and I look forward to seeing more work from you x
I am following you since 3 year and become your big BIG really biiiiiig fan.
I love seeing your paintings and love trying your techniques in my paintings though I paint hardly once in a quarter …
Apart from your artwork, its very pleasant and motivating to know your thoughts and heart.
You are such a great inspiration for me…. Love you so much …. Congratulations for your little artist as well…. X
I’ve followed you since 2012/2013 and have admired your work since then! You’re an inspiring artist and one of the reasons I felt like taking a chance on art and reducing my hours in the corporate world 🙂 thanks for this post, and yes Instagrams new algorithm is a biatch xx