Sometimes being an artist is about making the work. At other times, it is about everything that surrounds the work — finding an audience, preparing exhibitions, sharing the process and working out which platforms actually feel right for you.

August has definitely been a mixture of both.

My Solo Exhibition

One of the biggest moments this month has been my Whispers of the Wild exhibition at CreateED in Kirkintilloch.

The exhibition opened on Saturday 1st August and brought together a collection of my original stag-inspired artworks.

The collection explores something I return to again and again in my work: nature, memory, stillness and the strange emotional connection we can have with the landscape and the creatures within it.

There is something about the stag that particularly interests me. It can appear powerful and imposing, but also incredibly quiet. I wanted the paintings to hold some of that contrast.

Titles such as Keeper of the Hidden Glen, Antlers Holding Dawn, When the Hills Breathe, Echoes Beneath the Antlers and The Wild Knows My Name grew from that atmosphere.

Preparing work for an exhibition always reminds me that the finished painting is only one part of being an artist. There is selecting work, pricing, labelling, photographing, transporting and installing — and then suddenly the paintings that have been living with you in the studio are out in the world having their own conversations with other people.

That is probably one of my favourite things about exhibiting.

Once the work leaves the studio, I don’t completely control how it is interpreted anymore.

And I like that.

Back in the Studio

Of course, the exhibition hasn’t meant that painting has stopped.

Quite the opposite.

I’ve continued working with mixed media, oils, collage, drawing and colour, and several new pieces have been emerging during August.

I’ve also found myself thinking a lot about titles.

Naming a painting can sometimes be almost as difficult as making it! I don’t necessarily want a title to explain exactly what somebody is looking at. I prefer it to offer a doorway into the work — something that adds another layer without closing down the viewer’s imagination.

Recent paintings have continued to move between abstraction, landscape, nature and those slightly dreamlike spaces where you aren’t completely sure whether you’re looking at somewhere real or somewhere remembered.

That uncertainty interests me.

Starting Again on TikTok

Another part of August has been getting to grips with my new TikTok account.

Starting again on a platform is a strange experience.

On one hand, you know much more than you did the first time. On the other, you are still trying to understand what the platform wants from you — particularly when algorithms, features and rules seem to change constantly.

I’ve been asking lots of questions about TikTok recently: scheduling posts, Live streaming, what artists can and can’t do when talking about their work, and how to actually turn views into people who are genuinely interested in original art.

Because views are lovely.

But as a working artist, I also want my social media to help people discover the paintings themselves.

That means finding a balance between creating interesting videos and remembering why I am there in the first place.

I want people to discover the studio, see how the paintings develop, learn a little about me as the artist and, hopefully, eventually find an original artwork that speaks to them.

I’m still experimenting.

Giving Pinterest Some Attention Again

Pinterest has also been getting a bit of a spruce-up.

For a visual artist, Pinterest feels like one of those platforms that I really should be using more.

Unlike some social media platforms where a post can disappear almost immediately, Pinterest feels much more connected to searching, collecting ideas and discovering things over time.

So I’ve been looking again at how I present my artwork there, how my boards are organised and how Pinterest might become another route back to my website and original artwork.

I even found myself asking whether you can go Live on Pinterest.

Apparently my brain has officially entered the stage where every social platform must now be investigated for its Live possibilities!

But it is all part of learning.

I’m beginning to think less about being everywhere simply for the sake of being everywhere and more about how the different parts can connect:

The studio → the artwork → the story → social media → my website → the collector.

That feels much more useful.

And Then There Is YouTube…

YouTube continues to be part of the picture too through bea creative tv.

I’ve been experimenting with studio videos and Live painting sessions, including the idea of a regular Monday evening hour in the studio.

There is something very different about longer-form video.

TikTok and Instagram can show a quick glimpse of a painting.

YouTube can allow someone to sit in the studio with me for a while.

They can watch the slower parts — drawing, painting, organising materials, preparing for an exhibition or simply working through an idea that hasn’t quite resolved itself yet.

I think there is value in showing that side of art too.

Not everything happens in sixty seconds.

What August Is Teaching Me

Perhaps the theme running through August so far is visibility.

Not visibility simply in terms of numbers, followers or algorithms, but allowing the work to be seen.

In an exhibition.

On a wall.

On a website.

Through a camera.

On Pinterest.

On TikTok.

On YouTube.

And sometimes by somebody who has never encountered my work before.

As artists, we can spend an enormous amount of time alone making things. Eventually, though, we have to allow those things to leave us.

That can be uncomfortable.

It can also be exciting.

My work has always been connected to nature, memory, imagination and the stories that sit somewhere beneath what we can immediately see. My style — Abstract Realism — gives me room to move between recognisable subjects and abstraction, using mixed media, acrylic, collage and oils to build those layers.

August feels like another layer.

The exhibition is happening. New paintings are developing. TikTok is beginning again. Pinterest is being dusted off. YouTube continues. And somewhere amongst all of that, I’m still standing in the studio making the next piece.

There is plenty of August left.

I’m curious to see where it takes me.

Beatrice Ajayi
Artist | Abstract Realism
Glasgow, Scotland

New Art Transformation Week #2

I want to be able to share what I get up to in my studio on sometimes a daily or weekly basis, depending on the news I have to share.

I am looking forward to enjoying this space with you all.

In other news the above piece sold earlier this month. Entitled’ She Brings The Dawn’

I am hoping to upload more paintings to the website shop.

I will set up a blog when I have done that.

I visited my Glasgow shop in the Scottish Design Exchange earlier this January 2026. I will be heading to the Edinburgh branch on George Street Sunday 25th January to tidy and restock.

I will speak to you all soon. B

I am looking forward to making them available to clients.

I hope you are getting a chance to be creative yourself.
I have also got art studio vlogs over on my YouTube channel at ‘Bea Creative TV’ so check that out when you get a moment to see what else I have been working on.

Hi everyone, I have been updating my website over the last couple of days. This has been long over due. The image above is a mock up I found on my Affinity Designer software. I plan to create some of my own which will be fun. Until then check out the ones I have used to add some of my products in a new and exciting way.

I have been itching to lay out the cute pieces and what I have available on my website for a while. I am aiming to be more cohesive and accessible in here.

Let me know about my new greetings card layout: Link to the shop page here to check it all out https://beatriceajayi.com/shop/

Hi and welcome to my YouTube channel ‘Bea Creative TV’. If you have not been here on my channel before hello, it’s awesome to meet you.

My name is Beatrice Ajayi. I am an artist, creative, illustrator and published author. I love to use a range of mediums in my artwork. Welcome to my channel ‘Bea Creative TV’.

You will find me working on a range of pieces both digitally and traditionally.

In this brief video today I am sharing snippets of my week. Mainly traditional tools, upcoming online class. It’s a shorter video because I am trying to focus on quality and editing, let’s see how it goes week to week. I am trying to make this more of a weekly update of my week and relax in my production approach. Looking at what music I want to use and discover my style is going to be fun.

Please do subscribe it helps me a lot in a whole bunch of ways. Getting more views through the algorithm and therefore reaching more people with my creative adventures. I want to make as many peoples days brighter with my characters and shenanigans as possible. Hopefully I will figure out how to add my joking skills in to my videos. Maybe as I get a little more relaxed. A step at a time I guess. Link here: https://youtu.be/ybCNRL9dwww?si=bNWsXcIFxNaDg5P5

Blog week 2 Aug

Hi folks and welcome to another blog post here on my website.  

I have been getting up to all sorts of creative fun recently. 

One of these has been to get back to my clay journey. 

I really want to put my illustrated characters and ideas into a more tactical medium. Working with clay is very relaxing to me. I have been exploring the restful approach to my creating. Trying something new that is out of my comfort zone seems to be it.

I have worked with airdry clay before but wanted to use ceramic clay and glazes. I want to get into more functional creativity. Using mediums that are more accessible to people is a start. 

You can see my fledgling step into ceramics here in my New Wednesday Live link: https://www.youtube.com/live/4yHcpsCt3dU?feature=share

You can also check out last Fridays studio share here: https://youtu.be/CWmZeoSGuZM

See you in the next blog and check out my other resources below

SOLD Hope you had a lovely day today. On my to do list for 2022 was to create in situ photos of my artwork. So hence the recent compilation of scenic environs showcasing my art. Here’s to sustaining it by creating a bazillion artwork this year. (Basically no more than usual then) this piece was 100cm x 100cm. 

#art, #insitu ,#interiors, #artwork, #painting, #smartartist ,#artoncanvas ,#artist, #scottishartist , #sold #monday, #meadow ,#meadowpainting ,#floralart, #acrylicpainting

Nine days in to the new year and I am having to remind myself to slow down.

To be present…

We had a power cut on my street yesterday which put a stop to my digital work. So we spent time telling the kids stories from our youth. 

They huffed and puffed a little about their lack of technology, (ok a lot!), asking why different items in the house weren’t working. Almost four hours later… when everything blasted back into brightness, their joyous screams were hilarious. They zipped around connecting their gadgets to electric lifelines. 

We had paused on our doing and had been drawn together in teaching them a little more about thankfulness and not taking things for granted. 

I need to be present and not take this year for granted. 

P.S I hope you have a lovely day folks. 

#art, #artwork, #lifegoals, #life, #thatwassaturday, #artist, #family, #familia, #stag, #painting, #buck, #sundayshare, #artist, #originalart, #origina,l #originalpainting, #deer, #scottishartist, 

Beatrice

My Shop: https://beatriceajayi.com/shop/

You can find more on my art process videos and studio happenings on my YouTube channel here: https://youtube.com/c/BeatriceAjayiArtist

I also have other places to find me below:

For more detailed art tips and process especially for beginner artists I also have online classes on Skillshare here: https://www.skillshare.com/user/beatrice

You can find me on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/BeatriceAjayi. I am working in making my tiers easier to work through. 

For everyday snippets in the ‘Lab’, which is what I call my studio, you can find me on my Instagram here; https://www.instagram.com/beatrice_ajayi_artist/

I am also on Facebook, so we can connect there too  https://m.facebook.com/beatrice.ajayi.7

My Crime fiction Book ‘Origins | The Scarecrow Murders Trilogy’. First instalment two more books to come. All comments welcome.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Scarecrow-Murders-Trilogy-Suspense-Thriller/dp/1979199132/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?

Etsy shops:-

1)  Original Art

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/PoshCatDesigns?ref=profile_header

2)  Big eyed kids prints n originals 

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/LittleBigGiantsArts?ref=simple-shop-header-name&listing_id=1095719478

speak to you soon

Hi everyone, I am really excited to share one of my latest digital paintings with you. I haven’t been doing as much digital painting. I started off this piece not really expecting much from it. I took it very slowly doing a wide range of projects in between. I would come back to it randomly with out focus. Adding and adjusting in a very lazy way to be honest. But it has surpassed what I intended or envisioned. I LOVE it a lot!!!

Sometimes I start with a narrative other times I kinda make it up as I go. I had never created a piece with a pumpkin. So it was exciting to see what I could do it’s mood comes from the place of it being under the hedge than any dark connotations. I think what sparked the initial pumpkin idea was the growing of the pumpkin seed I am doing with my kids in the vegetable garden.

I always like to add my triangle of interest. My bird cohabiting is a familiar addition of nature’s symbiosis and accommodation of its varying species. The mouse I would say represents a variety of characters, sometimes me the artist, a way of intertwining myself in the story.

This new piece entitled ‘Old Pumpkin Grove’ is available for purchase in my shop.