You may wonder why I am diverting from my nature theme for coffee beans. The simple answer is my partner is a coffee roaster and from time to time I photograph the roasting process. ‘A Coffee Break (of sorts) addresses the question of whether or not to break from an identifiable personal style.

I’m considering whether or not to create some coffee themed designs for products. As a tester, I’ve loaded an image ‘Freshly Roasted’ onto Redbubble. This is a photograph I took and edited in Photoshop. Sitting among many abstracts and paintings, it does look a bit strange. My feeling is I either create a whole collection based on coffee theme, or I take it down.

I guess this raises the age old question which artists face. Do you focus on creating your personal style? Or is it OK to do more than one thing?

Identifiable Style vs Diversification

At heart, I’m an explorer. I like trying new things. Seeing what happens if I do something differently makes art fun. Often the results surprise me. Along with coffee I occasionally do interior still life themes and work with photographs of my ancestors. More on these in future posts.

So many people tell me I should choose one thing and stop doing the others. Should it be abstract landscapes, textile designs, photography or writing? I can never choose because they feed each other.

I understand the point of focussing on one thing is becoming recognisable from my work. To build on a theme and refine skills is important to really forge an original style.

In 2025, I feel a little like I’m standing at the crossroads. Which path will I choose?

2025 Directions

At the moment, I am choosing to devote more time to textiles. I will still paint, draw, write and photograph, but in between textile projects. Kind of like a refresher.

If you’re an artist, I’m really interested on your approach to specialisation vs diversification. Please leave a comment below.