Time…Time…Time
Art is in love with time.
It needs time, it takes time and it steals time…
in order to survive in time and be quiet enough to display the silence that betrays everybody and everything.
~Marlene Dumas
A very wise mentor of mine, once summed up the life of an artist with this short phrase…Money & Time-an artist never has enough of either and is always in the constant pursuit of both. Damn, was she right. When I first heard this, I was in my mid-30’s attempting to balance a fruitful studio practice, a university teaching career, a workshop teaching career, a waitressing job, a new house, family, travel and a cobbled together social life. I thought that as I got older things would even out in both the money and time areas, but now 20+ years later, I still find myself obsessively juggling both while attempting to catch my breath. My financial situation has fluctuated over the years as it always does when you’re a professional artist, this just comes with the territory. I’m certainly better off financially than I was 20 years ago, but the time thing has remained a pursuit and I’ve come to the conclusion that juggling the hours as an artist never ends. In fact, I’ve become so accustomed to it, I really don’t want it to end. Many studies confirm that having a purpose in life and keeping engaged with others slows the signs of aging, dementia and can even speed up a person’s walking pace as they age. (1)(2)(3)(4) I don’t expect my struggle with time to come to an end soon. Like I tell my friends, I’ll sleep when I’m dead :))
In many conversations with my lovely artist mentees, I know many of us struggle with time and management considerations. I’d like to share with you some tips that I use and have shared with my mentees over the years, covering everything from management to mindset. Hopefully, you find at least one tip here that is helpful to you and if so, drop me a line to let me know what it was. If this article has sparked a need for further conversation, please check out my Artist Mentor Services, I would love to hear from you!
Wishing you all the best of this upcoming Holiday Season.
Keeping to your Studio Schedule
If you have periods of time between studio days, keep a studio log. At the end of every studio day, write the dates, hours, what you accomplished in the studio that day and what you would like to accomplish going forward into the next studio day. This helps to prepare you and you can also refer back to the log once you're back in the studio.
Create a weekly calendar blocking off the days and times you’ll be in the studio. Create a contract with yourself by signing and dating it, then hang it in a place where you’ll see it everyday.
Start with small increments of time and build up to more time in studio. If you’re just beginning a studio practice, huge blocks of time might be overwhelming. Take it slow and small, working up to a comfortable amount of time.
Begin a mark-making practice of 5-15 minutes everyday, even if you’re not in the studio. As you create marks, you’re physiologically creating muscle memory that builds you up creatively, just like a workout in the gym builds you up physically. Take my Mark-Making as Practice PLUS class starting in January. This is a fun, supportive group that will keep you inspired and hold you accountable to making marks for 5-15 min everyday. This article, The Why, Where and How of Line, explains why making marks everyday is important even if you’re not in the studio everyday. This article, A Sample Lesson & Prompts for Mark-Making as Practice Class explains a bit more about the course and suggests some easy mark-making prompts to get you started.
If you’re not ready for a class and just need some inspiration, consider signing up for the latest Free lecture in my It Begins with a Mark Lecture Series.
Keeping to your Studio Schedule with Family Members Afoot
One of the artist mentor discussions that consistently repeats itself with my mentees is having family obligations and/or guilt about being apart from family while in the studio. One or both of these issues can be detrimental to a thriving studio practice. Family is so important, as are your obligations to them. However, in order to keep to those obligations, you must be a fully functioning person and as an artist, that means devoting time to your practice.
Add your studio schedule to a family calendar so that you and everyone in your home is aware that you’re busy at that time. Instead of only you signing the schedule, make sure everyone signs it, therefore creating a contract.
Involve family members in the studio for a short time. For example, at the end of the studio day, invite them to look around and explain to them what you did that day. Invite feedback or discussion about the work, so everyone feels involved.
Communicate often with family members how and why being an artist is important to you.
Always invite your family members to openings, museums and artist talks so they feel involved.
Keeping to your Studio Schedule After a Big Show
It’s always anti-climactic after a show comes down. Working so fervently toward a deadline, socializing during the opening, presenting your artist talk, promoting the show for a month or so…then, in a snap of your fingers, the unsold work is sitting in your studio and all is quiet. What to do now? We’ve all been there and it’s such a strange feeling, an almost purposelessness, even though you have many other things to do.
One of the first remedies is to take a month out of the studio and if you can’t take a month, take a short break. You worked very hard for your show and you have to let your creative self rejuvenate. Do other creative things to keep yourself inspired-start a garden, bake, try a new recipe, write, read something non-art, hike a trail you’ve always wanted to try, the possibilities are endless during this short hiatus.
Once you get back into the studio ask yourself some questions. What do you want to change about your current body of work? What continues to expand and what should be abandoned? What ideas were percolating that you didn’t have time to work on while getting ready for your show? Were there some paintings in the show that you’re not comfortable with and need reworking? The answers to these questions should spark something interesting to work on.
Have an ongoing list of ideas that you can look at during the down times.
Always leave something unfinished in the studio so you have a place to begin next time you’re in the studio.
Keeping to your Studio Schedule by Building Confidence
Most artists carry the ‘I’m not good enough’ burden and thanks to social media, that burden has become heavier and more frequent.
Try affirmations. I know it sounds new age-y, but they do work. Create 1-3 simple and positive affirmations that you will say aloud upon entering the studio each day. For example, ‘My work is strong and I will get into that show’ or ‘I have a great sense of color, my paintings are pure joy’. Keep this up and your lack of confidence burden will lift.
Put a name/face to the negative voice or ‘studio troll’. Identifying who it was in your past that got you started down this road of negativity is a powerful and important exercise. It may take some time to identify who it was and it may be a few people. Journal about the experience and when you’re able to identify the person(s), you’re able to have a conversation with them and slowly eradicate them from your studio and psyche.
When you hear the negative voice talking in your head, just quiet it with your own voice telling you positive things about yourself and your work. For every negative thought, counter it with a positive one and possibly speak the positive thought out loud to affirm it and make it louder than the negative voice inside your head.
Write 3-5 gratitude’s everyday. When you approach the day with gratitude, it can do wonders for your thoughts and actually physiologically changes your brain. I daily write 3-5 things I’m grateful for and have been doing this on and off for years. When I slack off and don’t do my gratitudes for a while, I really see a change toward the negative in my thinking. Devote a notebook to your gratitudes and handwrite them. Begin each sentence with ‘I am grateful for…’ or “I am thankful for..” Your gratitudes don’t have to be profound, one can be a simple as I am grateful for dark chocolate chips.
Taking gratitudes a step further is to also write some good things about yourself that you’ve recently accomplished art-wise or maybe a compliment someone gave you about your art-could be recent or past. Again, writing out these things is so helpful for the reasons I listed above.
Your freest moments are when you’re not getting stuck in your head with negativity or some other thing that is muddling you.