I have started a new body of work and am super excited about each piece and those that are just ideas waiting for their turn to paintings. I was super excited and ready and motivated to get them going. I got the underpaintings laid out and instantly felt like they had somehow let me down. They weren’t bad underpaintings, they just didn’t give me the same vibe as the sketches I had made. I had lost some motivation to work on them.
I thought about what I could do differently to fix my problem. Should I throw on a podcast or a movie while I work so I’m not thinking too much about what I’m doing? Do I need to sit down and tell myself positive things about them before even picking up a brush? Maybe I need to do some jumping jack or push ups to get the endorphins going? Those are all really good ideas. While I was thinking of them, I came up with a list of things that I need to remind myself every once in a while to make my art practice successful.
I am a good artist. even if I don’t make good work all the time, that is okay. Good artists make bad work sometimes, if not the majority of the time. So why should I expect myself to never have a bad painting? Make bad paintings and move on. Expecting to make good paintings all the time is too much pressure.
Don’t worry about selling a piece before it is even made. If I worry about whether it will appeal to people before before creating it, it almost guarantees it’s not going to be very good. I need to focus on making a piece the way that feels right to me, and others should notice that. and if not, that’s okay, it was fun!
Painting should be fun. It’s important to keep the process fun. There are definitely difficult moments where you will have to do some problem solving, but the majority of the process should be enjoyable. If the it isn’t, I need to try a different approach.
Taking care of kids all day is hard and exhausting. I can still be an artist and mother without working myself to the point of burn out. Would I like to work 4 hours a day in my studio everyday? Yes! is that a realistic and achievable goal? Not really. Do what you can, when you can.
Consistency is everything. Show up for yourself. It doesn’t have to be for hours at a time. It doesn’t have to always be the act of painting. Sometimes it’s sketching, painting for 30 mins, photographing work, getting out to get inspired or even just reflecting about your work. Make a schedule. When you do have studio time/a studio day, just show up. It will give you more opportunities for you to slip in to that sweet spot I call the zone. (The zone is where you get completely lost in whatever you are doing and time flies, and you are totally unaware of things going on around you. )
Be efficient with time. During the day when you have time (making dinner, rocking babies, driving in the car, etc.) think about the things you are going to get done, so that by the time the kids are asleep and you make it to your studio you can get straight to work. It may sound silly but I plan what i will be listening to (music, podcast-which one, nothing, etc.), make sure I have the things I need, and how much time I’m going to spend and which pieces. This way I save a lot of time. This is just a starting point. If I slip into the zone on a painting I planned on only working on for an hour while listening to a podcast about the history of paint or whatever and suddenly two hours have gone by, I’m still working on the same piece and I’m sitting in complete silence, that is okay. I would prefer it actually.
Being an artist is about growth and progression. Be willing to encourage yourself to experiment and try new things. Being slightly uncomfortable can bring some great break throughs.
Comparison is the thief of joy. People do things differently. Enjoy the work of others, but do not compare your work to theirs, it will not do you any good.
Learn from others. Take notice of what other artists are doing that you enjoy and experiment with it. For example, if an artist you really enjoy paints with a lot of texture, try a small study where you experiment with how to use and create different textures. Maybe you find a technique that you really love and want to incorporate into your work. Or maybe you hated it and would prefer to paint with little to no texture at all. Either way you learned something.
Just do it. Make work. Lots of it. Make good work, bad work, weird work, half finished work, whatever you feel like. Just make work. Don’t be afraid to paint over old work, revisit unfinished work, just make work.
After making this list I felt much better about getting back to my paintings. I was ready to take over the world! Not really, but take over my little portion of the world. I jumped right back in ready to make magic. But for some reason I was still having issues and I realized I was just getting ahead of myself, which was making things a little overwhelming. So I have decided to add one more thing to my list.
11. Break the work up. I found that I personally need to focus on one thing at a time to not completely overwhelm myself. Instead of trying to get the whole background filled in, work on this group of trees for 20 minutes. I find when I do this, it gets me working and ends up flowing into other portions of the piece. And before I know it my background is filled in!
I know that none of this is revolutionary stuff, but I know I need to remind myself about it all the time. Until next time, happy creating!