The Norwegian
Artist and I have a friend who specializes in painting small pet animals...that is, when he paints.
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While to paint
regularly, you don't need a huge space, you'll find yourself happiest with
a
designated one. On the Horizon by Steve Henderson, 24 x 30, oil painting, also
available as a limited edition
signed print. |
Most of the time, our friend is thinking about
painting, or
castigating himself for not painting enough, or remodeling the garage studio so
that it's easier for him to paint, or reading about painting, or attending art
group meetings and talking with colleagues about how challenging it is to get
in the mood to paint.
He rarely paints.
Don't get me wrong, there's always a reason. Like many artists who are not yet, or maybe never want to
be, making a full time living with their art, our friend is tired at the end of
the work day, and by the time he sets up his work area so that he can continue
where he left off three weeks ago, it's time to put it all away again.
What to do? Do whatever you must to make painting as effortless as
possible, because the more you do it, the easier it gets.
1)
While it's unrealistic to expect to paint every
day, do shoot for more than twice a week.
2)
Set aside a designated space that you don't have
to dismantle and re-build each time you work.
3)
Schedule in the time - it doesn't have to be a
four-hour session, because that's so daunting you'll do anything to avoid even
starting. One hour, focused, is better than four, puttering.
4)
Allow yourself to make mistakes and experiment,
freeing yourself from the obligation to produce a saleable work every time.
5)
Recognize that you can't do everything, and in
order to make the time for painting, something else may have to go.
Habits can be bad things or good, but the reasons they
become habits is because we do them so often, they become natural to us. Painting or not painting can become habit. It all depends on you...
--Carolyn
Carolyn Henderson is the manager of Steve Henderson Fine Art. She is a weekly columnist for Fine Art News, a division of Canvoo, and writes a lifestyle column, Middle Aged Plague, that is published online and in print newspapers throughout the country.
Describing herself as "small, insignificant, and ordinary," Carolyn
writes for and about normal, everyday people, who are not small and
insignificant at all.