When it comes to social media, Instagram is one of my favourite platforms because it’s all about the visuals, which is definitely important for an artist!

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I use Instagram as a daily artist’s diary to share what’s going on in my studio, what inspires me, and the progression of my paintings – from sketch to finished product.

Instagram – My Artist Diary

My most recent work is my Liberty of London painting, and I’ve been sharing photos of the painting and process on Instagram. Just a few weeks ago I was thrilled to see one of those photos receive over 4,730 likes. For all those who have been asking me how I did it, this is the story.

I started the Liberty of London painting over a year ago when I moved back to London from Asia. In Singapore, I had created a series of Singapore Landmark¹ paintings that were very successful for me, and I wanted to carry on my ‘architectural’ paintings back in London mainly because London has such a wealth of interesting historical and modern architecture, but also because my clients in Singapore and the UK kept asking me, “You will be painting London next right?”

Why Liberty of London?

I chose the Liberty of London building to paint as my first London Landmark because I love the striking black and white Tudor revival style, and the interesting history of the building and business. It really is an iconic London building.

As I developed my mixed media painting on canvas, I regularly shared photos of the painting on Instagram, as well as a few of short videos of me painting it, which I got my teenagers to take when they came home from school.

One of the positives about sharing daily on Instagram is that my fans are able to see the progress of a painting, sometimes from a sketch in my sketchbook or just the briefest line drawing on canvas, all the way to the finished product. My paintings can take months, and this one took over a year partly because of a house and studio move, so there were plenty of opportunities to show each step of the journey.

Another great aspect of Instagram is that it allows me to share behind the scenes peeks into my studio. My studio can look different every day depending on what I’m working on. For example, one day I would be monoprinting to create the Liberty shoppers, and the next day I would be working on the reflections in the windows, all of which I was able to share with my fans on Instagram.

Hashtags & Tagging

For each photo and video I posted of the Liberty of London painting, I used hashtags such as #londonlandmark, #architecture and #mixedmedia, and I also tagged @libertylondon to drive awareness. On January 25th someone had made a comment on one of Liberty’s Instagram posts and tagged me in it, and that is how I found out that Liberty had reposted a photo of my painting.

I am so happy that Liberty loves my painting and wanted to share it with their followers. At last count 4,730 people had liked the post and there were 20 comments, which is extremely validating for me as an artist. I am also grateful that Instagram provides a platform where I can share my work with such a wide audience – and have others share it as well.

Visit Clare Haxby Art Studio page to find out more about Clare’s work.