All About Seth Macbeth
The Collage Artist behind Wolf Moon Cove
Thank you for coming to Wolf Moon Cove, I’m so glad you’re here. And it means so much to me that you are interested in my artwork, and learning more about me as an artist. When my collage illustrations and art pieces resonate with people it really does make my heart sing, and you are a part of that shared joy. Sincerely, thank you!
Right now you’ll find me on the Kent and East Sussex border. Sitting at the base of a mountain of books with a cup of tea for company. Tea is the fuel for my proverbial creative engine, it flows around here like the tide. I’ll have a desk full of papers, sticky glue hands, and tiny cut-out shapes all over my lap like happy art confetti. A True Crime documentary and my Pinterest addiction are ever present in the background, and any minute now a tiny three year old tornado is going to wake up from her nap and try to destroy my organized chaos - in the most adorable way.
Getting Here: How I became a local artist in Kent
Creative discovery is never a straight line of travel. There are so many small pieces that are all different, but join beautifully to form the final picture - just like a collage art piece. I’ve collected more than just books and magazines over the years; every influence and experience that’s inspired me has helped bring me to this point in my artwork. It’s a journey of gathering and curating, the big and the small, and learning how to bring everything together. Not just into a pretty picture, but into a story, a history of me.
Going Back: Where it all started to get creative
I grew up in the luscious English countryside, amongst the tiny towns and green hills that so often come to mind for my home country. We call them ‘chocolate box villages’ - cute, cozy cottages and rows of little shops that seem so perfect you’d see them painted on a souvenir chocolate box. Vacations were weeks spent roaming the woods and playing outside in breezy trees, or along the gorgeous coast exploring fishing villages with little bay beaches and cobblestone streets.
When it rained - often in the UK summertime - we would find some small and strange local museum and learn about the ancient history all around us. I absolutely loved it! And something sparked inside me that has created roots from which my creativity grows. Although I’m sure my parents would have preferred a hot beach and cheap drinks in a chic European resort, I am eternally grateful to them for those summers, they became stones in the foundation of who I am as an artist.
I loved to draw, always. And when it was time to choose a degree and I noticed that all my homework was covered in doodles and characters, I realised that I might want to pursue something artistic over all other things. I decided to enrol in Illustration at Coventry University, learn and draw as much as I could, then figure out what to do with a Bachelor of Arts later…
Getting Stuck: Fear, creative burnout, and major creative block
At University I focused a lot on drawing, and never really branched out into other areas. We had access to an amazing print studio, but the technician that was supposed to help us was so mean, we never dared ask for help or even book time to explore. He was like a printing Grinch…which makes his choice of profession confusing. It’s like the actual Grinch working at a German holiday market. It makes no sense.
That was a big theme for me; Fear. I was really afraid of a lot of things back then, which not only held me back from finding my creative voice, but also made me resentful of those that did. Of course, I didn’t know I was afraid at the time. I also had extreme laziness and being a teenager living with her friends to contend with - if I perfected anything at college, it was the true art of procrastination…
Fear was a constant, ever-present buzzkill that zapped me of my creative strengths. When you’re young you never really feel quite sure of yourself in so many ways. Fear of looking foolish, fear of getting it wrong, fear of making mistakes. Being afraid of what others thought of me, of that I wasn’t cool enough, that no one liked me. So afraid that my choices wouldn’t be the right ones that I stopped making choices. I didn’t take risks or try new things. And because of that, my creative voice never really developed.
I was never able to make things work for me the way I wanted them to. The ideas and images in my head never matched up to what was on the paper. I drew and I drew, but I just couldn’t get anything right. From school, to University, to becoming an illustrator, I was never satisfied or happy with my work. It was frustrating and exhausting. I felt like I never knew who I was as a person because of fear and doubt, let alone as an artist.
Remember To Have Fun: Art for children is freedom and therapy
It wasn’t until I worked at a YMCA summer camp for kids as an Art Programs Director that I really started to discover how much my creative joy had been trampled. When Kids make art, they have no expectations, no fear! They want to draw a dog? Boom. Here’s a dog. It’s ears are huge, it has 5 legs and they’re all different sizes and come out in all directions. But it’s a dog, and they love it.
I went on to teach art for kids when we moved to Vancouver, Canada in 2011. From 3 and 4 year olds to teenagers. The little kids were the best, they were excited, curious, and happy to explore new things. And they had so much fun!
While we lived in the city I pushed my art into branding and design, becoming an art director and copywriter for a boutique design firm. That was cool in its own way, and I learned a lot. But climbing that ladder - and dealing with stuffy grownup clients - just wasn’t for me. I needed to get back in touch with my creativity, and have fun while doing it.
Kindness and Compassion: Self-love art and a whole new medium
In 2020 we moved to the South Shore in Nova Scotia. We got me a studio, and I was ready to really stretch my creative muscles. Art in the Maritimes is so inspiring. The landscape and the ocean, the many, many lighthouses, all reignited that spark I felt all those years ago along the coast in the English summer rain.
It was here that everything changed, when I became a mum.
Something within me just shifted. All that fear and worry about what other people thought or if I was doing everything wrong suddenly took on a whole new context. I had another human to keep alive! One that I would beat the living daylights out of an angry bear for - I had a lot of mum rage, but we can talk about that another time - and all of a sudden I didn’t care what people thought, I didn’t have time to be afraid, I just had to do.
And if I say myself, I did a pretty great job. My girl is healthy, happy, and carefree. All the things I wanted for her. That’s when I noticed something. The way I saw my daughter, and treated her when she was afraid, was not at all how I treated myself. I had so much love and protection for her. I wanted to be her safe space, and make her truly feel that she was invaluable, unique, and incredible to me. What would happen if I took that love for her, and also gave it to myself? The answer is amazing things!
I started to be kind to myself. To make my inner voice calmer, softer. I gave myself compassion instead of judgement, and gave to myself in ways I had never done before. And I wondered why I had ever been so hard on myself. I was amazing! Suddenly all the art I had made over the years that I was too afraid to share became new. I fell in love with creativity again, and let myself try new things - like collage! I was hooked and instantly needed so much more!
Creative expression came alive, I didn’t have to be afraid anymore. Collage could be anything, it all depends on what images you start with. Liberation was at hand, and it felt incredible. The power of self-love, compassion, and kindness have become a huge influence in my work. Art for healing and art for kindness just makes perfect sense to me now.
Change is the Only Constant: Where now?
But life always has a way of tilting the board, just when you think all your pieces are where they need to be.
Because of my partner’s promotion, we had to say goodbye to the beautiful waves of Nova Scotia, and head back here to England after 15 years away. It feels like I’m starting new all over again, but I just have to keep reminding myself of the amazing journey I’ve been on, and all the lessons I bring with me. Those never change.
So right now, who can say what the next chapter will bring. But if they bring creativity, I’ll be happy.
As I said at the beginning - of what I see now is a very long blog post - creative discovery is never a straight line of travel. All those pieces, big and small, from every experience and lesson in my life, are forming a picture. Some of the pieces didn’t quite fit at first. Some have long been covered over with new, better composed elements. And some are yet to be added, to make the piece really complete - just like a collage.
