Artist friends are always complementing me on the volume of paintings I produce. Interesting, because in my mind I’m not getting into the studio to paint enough. And I’m a slow painter. I work slow to be sure I’m paying attention to the details of every painting as it develops in front of me. I study as much as I paint. I never know when a “happy accident” will occur, leading me in a totally new direction.
My art school illustration professor, Harold Kramer, used to quote another painter or teacher he knew (terrible, but I can’t remember who that was) in saying, “Work slow, finish fast.” In other words, work too quickly and you make mistakes, travel down roads that dead-end, need to backtrack and start over. Work slowly, but meticulously, thoughtfully and you’re more likely to determine what is working and not working at the start, avoiding the dead-ends, keeping the painting moving in a fruitful direction to the finish.
Anyway, on the off chance that my friends are right and I do produce a lot, I’ll share how I work. First, I aim to paint everyday of the working week: Monday – Friday. Why not work Saturday and Sunday? I’d love to, but I have chores to complete, like everyone else, a home and cars to maintain, errands to run, etc. And parties or get-togethers are generally planned for the weekends. The rest of world runs on a Monday – Friday working week, with Saturday and Sunday off. Buck the system and you’ll find your painting time interrupted by personal commitments and unexpected visitors.
Next, I set aside a dedicated time to paint each of those working days, the same time each day. I try to get into the studio every day as early as I can, but if all else fails, when my dedicated painting start time arrives, I stop whatever else I’m doing and head into the studio. My family knows and respects this as my painting time and truth be told, probably enjoy the fact that they have a given time each day, when they don’t have to deal with me.
How much time you set aside, depends on your personal schedule, how much time you realistically have to paint. In my case it’s 4 hours a day. Why not 8? The experts say running your own business is 50% production and 50% infrastructure and marketing. The other 4 hours in my day are spent running and marketing my business.
From time to time things do occur, which prevent me from getting into the studio on time (I’m on the road returning from picking up art supplies or I set up everything to shoot my work and it’s taking longer than I planned, etc.), but just because I’m starting late, is no excuse to skip working that day. I get in there as close to my designated start time as possible and use whatever time is left, no matter how little, to paint.
If you’re not working to a dedicated schedule already, try it; I think you’ll discover a significant increase in your production!