The Power of Putting Yourself Out There

Reflections on the first months of 2026

The Power of Putting Yourself Out There

The first few months of 2026 have already taught me something important: things start to move when you put yourself out there.

I’d like to thank the team at The Good Ship Illustration for some inspiration here. I’m an avid podcast listener, and in one episode Katie Chappell talked about getting comfortable with rejection. She set herself a challenge: to go out and collect 100 rejections. The idea was simple, if you aim for rejection, you have to put yourself forward again and again. And somewhere along the way, some of those rejections inevitably turn into yes.

At the beginning of the year, I entered my first open call for an exhibition. The theme was Odyssey, at Hastings Contemporary, and the deadline was in January. At the time, I had been experimenting with resin as a medium and realised it might be perfect for interpreting the idea of an oceanic journey.

Maps have always fascinated me, and I’d previously created a piece using a coastal OS map of Cornwall which I showed at my open studio. It generated a surprising amount of interest, so I decided to revisit the idea. I ordered an old nautical chart from a second-hand dealer and created a new resin work inspired by the idea of the Amsterdam Ship cursed voyage of 1749.

I submitted the piece to the open call and tried not to think too much about it.

Meanwhile….

In January, I helped a fellow OCA student prepare their portfolio for a course application at a local art college. While looking through the details of the course, I realised it was actually something I might be interested in myself.

Out of curiosity, I contacted the university to ask about applying in the future. I assumed I would need to wait until my current course results were available.

Instead, they told me I could apply immediately.

The deadline was 24 hours later.

I almost didn’t bother. It felt rushed, and I hadn’t planned to apply for another year. But something about the timing felt like a sign. So I gathered my portfolio, wrote a personal statement, and submitted everything before the deadline.

Within 24 hours, I received an invitation to interview. On my birthday no less!

In February, I travelled to West Dean to meet the tutors and programme lead for the BA in Art and Contemporary Craft. I took some of my original work with me, and we spent time discussing my process, ideas, and interests.

The next day, I received an offer of a place starting in September 2026.

This was a full year earlier than I had ever expected to take that step, and it shifted my plans quite suddenly. I had been preparing to focus entirely on building my creative business this year.

But sometimes a path reveals itself faster than you expect.

So I decided to follow the signs.

Then February brought another surprise.

I heard back from the Hastings Contemporary open call: my piece had been selected for the Odyssey exhibition, which opens at the end of March.

When submitting work for an exhibition like this you also have to price it, because the pieces are available for sale. That process alone felt like a huge step, treating my work as something that might actually exist in a gallery context.

After the acceptance, I decided the frame I originally used wasn’t quite right. The piece deserved something more substantial. I took it to the Arundel Framing Workshop.

The shop was unusually busy that day, and the framer placed the piece on an easel while we discussed frame options. As customers walked in, the first thing they saw was my work.

People started commenting on it immediately.

Some asked questions. Some shared their interpretations. Others simply paused and looked at it for a while.

For me, that was a completely new experience, talking about my own work with strangers. I’m still getting used to explaining where ideas come from, and sometimes the words don’t come out quite right. But it was incredibly valuable practice.

Art is not just about making the work.
It’s also about learning to share it.

While all this has been happening, life behind the scenes has been busy too. My partner and I are preparing for a craft fair in March where we’ll be selling resin pieces, wood-turned work, and laser-cut items. I’ve also received a large order for laser-cut products from a friend who runs her own creative business.

And then another email arrived from Hastings Contemporary.

They asked if they could reproduce my artwork on a small run of notebooks for the exhibition shop.

Seeing something you made move from an idea, to a piece of work, to something that might sit in a gallery shop is a strange and wonderful feeling.

All of this has happened in just a couple of months.

None of it was part of a carefully designed plan.

But it all started with the same simple step: putting something forward and seeing what happens.

There are still plenty of unknowns ahead. I’m finishing my Higher Education Certificate in Visual Communications this year, and in September I’ll begin the BA in Art and Contemporary Craft. That means the business I had planned to push forward in 2026 may take a slightly slower path.

But that feels okay.

This journey — Kate’s Path — was never meant to be a straight line.

It twists. It changes direction. Sometimes it speeds up when you least expect it.

And the biggest lesson I’m learning is this:

You can’t wait until everything feels perfectly ready.

Sometimes you just have to send the application, submit the work, walk into the interview, or show someone the thing you made.

Because once you do, things start to happen.

So if you’re a creative person wondering whether to enter the open call, submit the portfolio, or share your work publicly, consider this your sign.

Put yourself out there.

You never know where it might lead.

Stay tuned for the next instalment of Kate’s Path.