Developing an Art Practice
In an earlier post here, I wrote about dealing with distractions from creating art, drawings and paintings. Now that we have tackled the apartment move, I can focus on getting work done each day. While school is out, I have some specific home work to do. I am feeling pretty okay-ish about tackling the daily assignments each day. Here’s a list of some of the things I am working on this summer:
Cast drawing in graphite
Charcoal wipeouts
Self-portrait in oil
Still life paintings
Anatomy – copy Master Sketches
When I think about these tasks as a whole, I feel a bit overwhelmed. But, when I write them down as a list. Then write the list with details including time and day, I feel better about the possibilities. So, now that we are back in NC for a few weeks, I can spend each weekday tackling one or more of these projects.
Here’s what I am learning. If I want to get something that I don’t completely enjoy, I do it first. For example, I am copying a cast (Michelangelo’s David’s ear) in graphite. When I was working on this type of project during the school year, I totally struggled with the process and handling the material (pencil). But, after having worked on this project daily for 45 minutes for the past week and 1/2, I find I am starting to enjoy this drawing.
Conversely, when I am painting, I love the initial gesture and block-in! However, I struggle when I spend more than a few hours on a painting. I am pretty sure this is because I have spent hours (and hours and hours) working on the initial gesture at school. I look forward to seeing if my enjoyment of longer paintings improves as I spend more time on them.
Yesterday I worked on my first self-portrait in oil. I had so much fun seeking out the shapes in my face. I also enjoyed looking for colors that were unusual such as the blues and greens in my neck and face. Since the gesso board is small, I decided I wanted to seek out colors that were descriptive of plane changes. I know that many of the colors were too warm; I was painting in natural light. But I had so much fun doing this painting that I completely lost track of time.
Today, I didn’t feel as productive or energetic. I still got the drawing done first. But the second self-portrait was tough to work on. It made me realize that this is the feeling when I may not feel like doing the work. This is when you do the work even when you don’t feel like doing the work. Ah ha – that’s what this feels like. Have you experienced this? What do you do?
I am curious because I am motivated now because I have homework and feel a certain amount of accountability. But I would love to hear how you manage your art practice. Do you have any tips you can share with me? I am anticipating the need for a plan as I think about developing an art practice after I finish school. Thank you for any pearls of wisdom!
6 Comments
Beth D Clary
July 21, 2016Great post, Julie. The portrait is also fascinating. I know it’s you; knew it in a glance. But I looked at the shapes of things like your forehead and your mouth, and the colors you used before I read your post. It was a different you than I think of you but definitely you. It made me think about the importance of experimenting with elements in one’s medium.
I wish I could remember the writer who said s/he showed up at the same time every day to write because her/his muse would know s/he was there and might just settle in. Some days the muse did and those were like the day you had the other day. The other days it was harder. But s/he kept going in case the muse would appear. I like that idea.
Others have described creative practices along the lines of some kinds of athletic training. Your body gets the physical routine and so then the rest of you does too. By showing up the artist is on his/her way.
I’ll be curious to find tips and ideas from others too.
Julie Holmes
July 21, 2016Hi Beth, It’s wonderful to read that you could tell it was me at a glance. Why? Well that’s one of the goals of doing (the gazillions of) gestures at school; to capture the essence of the person’s face or figure so the viewer can see their essence at a glance.
Your mention of the two writers and their ability to cultivate a practice by, in effect, just showing up is interesting. Does the first writer just start writing and hope the muse appears? Or does that same writer sit at her/his desk and hope the muse appears before writing? I am curious to know what this writer does to actually get started writing.
Because I have all these assignments for school, I have a pretty clear idea of what I need to be doing each day this summer. I would love to hear how other artists structure their day with goals and tactics to get things done. Then again, maybe I can structure my days as I have noted above in the blog post (whether I am in school or not) and follow a similar regimen? I do think it will help me to have clear goals (i.e., “x” number of paintings by “x” date) or a show or a workshop looming in the future to help me stay on task.
It has been helpful to have this blog to create a sense of periodic accountability here, too. (Huh – I just realized that!)
Anyway, I love reading your thoughts and comments here.
Scott Woyak
July 21, 2016Ironically I’ve found some of my best work when I’m just spent and I wing it. I think I’m horrible at the moment, but I’m tired and don’t have time to work details. Then when I look back later, I think some of the strokes are perfect – how could I have gotten them so exact?
I now use this as motivation. I am most exact when I am least exact. I don’t fear being tired and and often curious as to what I will produce. I think the work overload is partially about teaching discipline, but also about breaking you down to pure instinct and emotion. That’s when you’re important artwork will be produced.
You’ve got the hours of classroom training, now let loose and see what magic happens! Don’t stress over being in the proper state of mind.
Julie Holmes
July 27, 2016Hi Scott,
Good for you for doing your best work when you’re pooped!
I don’t tend to have very good results working when I am tired. And, I totally agree with you that this is about discipline. But that’s the question I am curious to hear. What practices do artists put in place to ensure support for the discipline. And, this isn’t so much an issue for me now because I have tons of work and I’m returning to school in the fall so I feel a sense of accountability.
This post isn’t about being loose or tight. It’s about thinking what I can plan to do when I don’t have the support of classmates and school spurring me on. And, I love scheming and planning how that will look so that I’ll be ready in a few years to continue the practice that I’m cultivating now!
Thank you for sharing your adventures here as well as on Instagram!!
Kathy
August 1, 2016Hi Julie,
Your self portrait is really you. The thing I’m missing is animation. You sparkle more than is expressed in the painting.
Julia Cameron wrote in The Artists’ Way, “just show up” regularly. There are also other supporting activities like journaling and artist dates that she recommends.
It seems important that you are tracking your inner responses as you do your homework because , as you anticipate the time when you have to create your own structure, you’ll have an intuitive sense of what you need to focus on. Also, you might consider the pattern of homework assignments while in school. They might know something about helpful actions that support an artists’ growth.
Julie Holmes
August 2, 2016Hiya Kath,
Thanks for the fab feedback on the self-portrait. I loved painting this little self-portrait and had so much fun doing it. It may seem serious in its current state but the whimsy and animation is there in my mind in the crazy colors that I saw in spots. And, I surely hope as I have to think less about the techniques, paint application and other technical aspects of oil painting, the other whimsical pieces will percolate to the the painting. For now, I am happy that there is a likeness and how much fun it was to do this!
I have decided that the pattern for this summer’s homework may, in fact, be an path to follow in the future as well. Julia Cameron is such an amazing resource to refer to as well.
Thinking that all of these tidbits of wisdom and advice, including yours here, will feed into the cultivation of a productive art life.