How a Week in Another Artists' Home gave me my Next Great Business Idea

I thought I was simply going away for a week.

I didn’t expect to come home with a new business idea.

A week that wasn't supposed to be anything

A close artist friend invited me to house-sit while she travelled overseas. Another artist friend and I packed up our paints, laptops and sketchbooks and settled into her beautiful home for the week. It wasn’t a formal artist residency. There was no timetable, no workshops and no expectations. We simply lived alongside each other as artists.

Some days we painted. Other days we worked on our businesses.

We spent one evening wandering through the Camberwell Art Exhibition. We shared meals, sat in the spa and talked for hours about art, creativity, life and where we each found ourselves.

It was spacious, relaxing and creative.

Somewhere during that week, something quietly clicked.

Somewhere during that week, something quietly clicked

As I sat working on The Artists' Table, I realised I wasn’t simply enjoying someone else’s beautiful home.

I was experiencing what it feels like to step away from everyday responsibilities and give myself permission to think differently.

There was something incredibly restorative about waking up each morning knowing there was nowhere I had to be except in my own creative practice.

I've learnt that my best creative work rarely comes from forcing it. Sometimes I need to give the work enough room to tell me what it needs.

The conversations happened naturally as we meandered through our days.

Ideas emerged because there was space for them to come forward.

Nobody was trying to fix anyone.

We weren't trying to impress each other.

We were simply artists sharing space together for a week.

Driving home, I found myself thinking about my own home.

Driving home, I kept thinking about my own house

When my marriage ended, I made a quiet promise to myself that my house would become a house of art and healing.

At the time, I had no idea what that would eventually mean.

I thought perhaps it would become a place for workshops and possibly art coaching.

Perhaps small gatherings around the dining table.

But after this week, I realised the house has been quietly preparing itself for something else.

 

An Artist’s Table Residency

Not a retreat.

Not a workshop.

Not holiday accommodation.

A place where two women artists come together for a week and simply have permission to create.

Two private bedrooms in a shared creative home.

Meals around the table and long conversations if they happen naturally.

Silence when that’s what the work needs.

Time in the art studio. Time wandering through local art galleries.

Time sitting in the garden thinking about a painting before ever touching the canvas.

Art mentoring would be available if someone wanted it, but it wouldn’t be the reason for coming.

The reason would be much simpler than that.

To remember what it feels like to live like an artist for just a little while.

 

Why two women at a time

I love the thought of welcoming two women at a time.

Not because I want to fill every moment of their week, but because artists understand each other in a way that’s difficult to explain. One conversation over dinner can unlock something that has been sitting quietly inside someone for years. A shared laugh in the studio, an unexpected breakthrough, or simply knowing another artist is working in the next room can make you feel less alone.

There is a different kind of energy when creativity is shared as it multiplies.

 

The house of art and healing

As I drove home, I realised I wasn’t returning to the same house I’d left a week earlier.

I was returning with fresh eyes. 

Perhaps the declaration I made all those months ago has been unfolding quietly this whole time.

Perhaps this really is becoming a house of art and healing.

And perhaps the next chapter is simply opening the front door and inviting other women artists to experience it too.

The Artists' Table Residency will welcome two women artists at a time. Four days, three nights, two private rooms, all meals, full use of the studio and materials and nowhere you have to be except your own practice. If something in you leaned forward while reading this, email me telling me why you wish to be included in the next residency.

Investment - Places are $1,200 for the residency - all inclusive.

Private mentoring sessions: Mentoring sessions are not included in the residency. They can be booked during the residency, at cost and upon availability.

For more information: The Artists' Table Residency