From Page to Screen: A Website in One Day

A page from my recent 100 Days of Flowers challenge. Moleskine Art Sketchbook, Inktense paint, Micron color pens in 0.5.

A couple of weeks ago, I was reading Austin Kleon's book "Show Your Work." Somewhere in those pages, he mentioned the importance of having a home base for your work in the digital realm, and suggested that you secure a domain name before it's gone.

I googled my own name, and found that despite being a very common last name, there was no other Niki Stewart out there who needed a home page. In a matter of moments, I secured the domain name and began building the website that would live there.

To my surprise, the site was created by me in a single day. I think that's because of two factors.

1. I had a template. Wix makes it really easy to choose a template, customize it just enough to make it yours, and get it live. I feel really happy to be working through Wix to make this happen.

2. I had been researching for months. As a person who is part of art communities online, I've been interacting with other artists' websites for years. Even before I was actively thinking about my own site, I was researching it all along - as a user.

The other thing that helped me was focusing on the way I wanted to show up in the world as an artist. I've been actively thinking about that for about a year - journaling, researching, and talking to friends. This was key: I work in many different media, and without this focused work, the idea of a website always seemed too big - too daunting - just, too much - to envision.

Over the past six months, my focus began to crystallize and two things became clear:

• Sketchbooks are my lifeline. They are the thing I do daily - obsess over - continuously learn about - and often teach about. It's only natural that they should be the focus of my work at the beginning - because they always are my focus. Every time I shared this idea with friends, they immediately said, "of course! That's so you!."

• Teaching is my passion. It is the thing I do in every facet of my life. As a classroom art teacher, as a museum educator, and even as a manager - I am always teaching, mentoring, and coaching others. Going forward, I want to continue that and more broadly share the ways I use sketchbooks with other people.

With this clarity in mind, I built out the website to be about sketchbooks, the way I use them, and the potential for how others can do that too.

If I hadn't been doing the work all along, I think building the site would have been much harder - and the final product would feel scattered and overwhelming.

As it stands today, the website is a place I can play, expand, and share my work with people near and far. I'm so excited to continue building this space and welcoming new people into the conversation.

Action Tip:

If you're a woman looking for ways to get your head around things in your life - or find some clarity on what you want in your next chapter, I suggest working with Molly Mahar through Stratejoy. She is a terrific coach and inspirational person, and she offers tools that help you work through all the things. I specifically recommend her Holiday Council program - a three-week course that opens in November for enrollment. I have done it for years, and it has become the framework for my life.