Conversations on Creativity

One

HOW DO YOU START A PRACTICE AND STAY DISCIPLINED?

This is a question I love living. I love talking about it. I love working on my own practice - tweaking it, learning from it, leaning on it, fortifying it. This is the question I am asked most and will talk the most about in this new series. It’s where I feel Fields of Study is shifting - creating tools and having conversations that support your artistic practice. Having an creative practice is really no different than a meditation practice, a writing practice, running routine, gardening… It’s all the same. 

The genuinely coolest thing about having any kind of practice is that if you stick with it it really starts to have a life of its own and becomes a very living and breathing entity - one that you develop a relationship with and that becomes reciprocal. You give to it - it gives to you. You inform it with who you are as a unique human, and it reflects things back to you (and can carry you through tough times, more on that in the future).

One of the things I enjoy about being an artist is learning about other artist’s studio practice. It’s why I started the Practice Practice series a few years ago (taking a little hiatus, but returning soon). As each person is unique, each routine is also unique. What works for one, does not work for all. A developed studio practice is very related to the kind of person you are and the kind of work you make. So, it’s good to know yourself well as you begin. Being realistic about your strengths and weaknesses will only set you up for further success. 

Let’s break down some basics to help you get started.

1. Space - Having a dedicated space to work is crucial. A studio, a room, a desk, a corner of a desk. Devote it to your work only and nothing else. Don’t eat there, pay your bills there, check emails there… any work that is unrelated do somewhere else. Even if it’s just getting up and moving to the other side of the table. In my studio I don’t have internet, and I turn my phone off. If I check my phone I do it away from the table where I paint. This establishes to your creative body - this is where creativity happens. A studio practice can really be that subtle energy wise. This can become less important in time, but in the beginning you are really working to create new signals to your body to help you stick with it.

   
   

2. Time - Figure out a regular time that works for you. It could be a few days a week, an hour in the morning before you go to work, every Sunday evening after the kids are asleep. Whatever works realistically with your life and your other commitments. Key word - realistic. This should be time that is uninterrupted (turn phone off, close the door, etc…) and when you work your best. You can work at additional times, but if it is every Sunday night, then show up every Sunday night. Even if you just clean your desk, or just sit there and stare off (I’m not kidding haha). You are training your body - this is work time. It will take some time to perfect, try out different days and times and make small adjustments until it feels just right. I know I work best in the mornings, so I am in the studio by 8:30am, and I usually stay until the light fades in the afternoon. Once you have a well established practice you can skip or move days if needed.

   
   

3. Accountability - This is the hardest part. But if you set yourself up with the optimal time and space then it will only help you. Figure out what motivates you. A deadline is always helpful. Put a date on your calendar. And tell a friend. Tell many friends! The more people who know the more accountability you will have - I am finishing this painting in three weeks. And support yourself - if you have encountered a road block, or feel unmotivated, have a friend or group where you can talk this out, maybe create a writers or studio group. And equally if not more important, share when you have had a good day - I painted six hours today! Having a deadline, having accountability, and setting yourself up to be supported are key. The other day I was talking on the phone while taking a walk and I said to my friend, “I really want to start running.” Very matter-a-factly he said, “Well, you either do it or you don’t.” He was right. I hung up the phone and ran for 5 min. Not a huge step forward (I hate running), but an important one. I said I wanted to do something and took an action right away to support those spoken words. In the beginning you will use these tools to help get you going. But, eventually the idea is that once you have an established practice it will carry you on the days you don’t want to show up, you will be able to lean on it. And that’s when things get really exciting. This reciprocity only fuels the whole dynamic. Once you get a little taste of it you will want to give to your practice more and more because it gives so much back.

   
   

4. Priority - Making something that is important to you a priority is a way to honor yourself. There are times where I have to turn down a social engagement or delay something I really want to do because my practice is my priority - this super charges my practice every time I do it. Notice how you feel when you say no to something else by saying yes to your creative practice.

These are all muscles. 

HOW DO YOU NAVIGATE BEING YOUR OWN MANAGER (CONNECTIONS, CARRER, MEETING PEOPLE…)?

In the past, the social part of being an artist was not my strength. Over the years I have trained myself to look at going to openings as “work” — it’s part of the job. It helps if you have a friend or group of friends that on a Saturday night you can go see a bunch of shows with. Going with someone is good for accountability. I know it can feel like you have to force yourself to schmooze, which used to make me cringe (hello, social anxiety). Over the years this feeling has shifted, and now I feel that showing up for peoples openings is how I support my fellow artists and my art community. You will start to see that the art wold is small, you run into the same people over and over. 

Regular gallery days are also important. Make a list of a handful of shows to see and then make a day of it. This serves a different purpose — I do this with shows I want to spend time with (you really can’t see the work well at an opening), or if I am hoping to be able to talk and connect with the gallery director. I also consider these days as part of the “work” of being an artist.

It’s also good to have regular studio visits. Find other artist you want to trade visits with. Do this based on your own practice; some people like to talk mid-process, some only after. 

Cultivate all of these relationships, you have to show up for people if you want them to show up for you. You build relationships over time - you learn a lot about an artist or gallery over the years if you continually see their shows. It is valuable.

As far as the business side, I usually trust my gut on things. And I have a great gallerist who gives me good advice when I’m navigating something new and need help. Talk to other artist, everyone learns from experience, help each other out. I also can’t recommend Corrina Peipon enough. She helps artists and art workers manage, develop, and advance their art practice and careers. Setting up a meeting with her a couple of years ago was so valuable. I am still implementing so many of the things she suggested. My practice felt super-charged after I started working with her. She does individual sessions, group chats, and workshops. 

HOW DOES WHAT YOU READ AFFECT YOUR WORK?

Very much! But indirectly. I listen to audiobooks when I paint, and I have a handful of actual physical books I read at home or when I travel. Painting five days a week means I read anywhere from 50 to 70 books a year. These past two years I have taken a deep dive into mythology. I tend to like to read books back to back that relate to each other, either by topic, theme, or author. Myth has informed my work very deeply, though not in a literal way. Right now, my paintings are of flowers - I steer clear of any books having to do with flowers, plants, trees, etc… I like to give my work breathing room to emerge. Later on I might go back and read about Dutch still life, or orchid thieves. You can follow what I am reading on Good Reads (obsessed).

Two

I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR ABOUT YOUR OWN PRACTICE, YOUR ORCHID PAINTINGS, YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH THEM AND ALSO YOUR SHOW IN CHICAGO.

Short version — If you find a breadcrumb follow it. 

Long version — This summer I had a solo show at my gallery in Chicago. I have been working with Regards for a number of years and was really excited to do this show with them. Needless to say, creating a show in a pandemic was a first. The show was originally set for October 2019, and it got pushed to June 2020. Sometimes things happen and you learn to take advantage of the unexpected and what is out of your control. This “out of my control” aspect of that time period was a great way to balance the amount of rigor and control my paintings and practice require of me. 

This show felt like it was at the right time - to put vibrant paintings out into the world to see as  everyone was emerging from a dark year and a half.

I worked on the show for a little over a year. Pandemic time meant more studio time, and because things were delayed I was able to make way more paintings than I was originally planning on. Working on the show for that long really gave me the opportunity to push my studio practice to a new place, and I learned a lot about how I work best and what conditions allow me to make the best work. In a lot of ways the subject matter and the pandemic shaped my practice, for the better. 

My Studio Practice :

Stretching before I go in is key - neck and back especially, hands and feet
Into the studio at 8:30am - I work best in the morning.
Phone off - no internet in the studio.
No ritual to begin - just start working.
Listen to books on tape - no music.
Stop a few times a day to stretch or jump on mini trampoline.
Break for lunch.
Return to paint until I loose the light - paint with only natural light - North facing is best.
At the end of the day I record hours painted on detailed calendar with deadlines (I know how many days it takes for each one, how many brushes I went through, and what colors I used).
In the Summer months I take photographs for new paintings in a particular light what comes into the studio around 3:40pm. It lasts 20 min. It doesn’t appear in the Winter months with sun lower in the sky.
Go on a 3 to 5 mile walk after.
Studio days at least 5 days a week.
Sometimes I need to do a 1/2 day - paint in the morning always, do errands, see shows, do other work in the afternoon.
When I feel myself needing a break I take a day off - usually every few weeks.

This series of orchids started with me casually taking some photos of a dying iris I happened to have in my studio in that same Summer light. I loved the color and contrast of light and shadow. And a whole new body of work emerged. You never know where something will lead… if you find a breadcrumb… for the love of god, follow it!

In terms of talking about the subject of the paintings it’s tricky, I still feel like I am in the middle of it all. But, I will say, this is the first time in my practice where I have felt like there are times where the paintings are working on me, and not the other way around. It goes back and fourth in this way and it is wild. 

You can see all the paintings from the show and read more about the work here.  

HOW DO YOU NAVIGATE FEELING STUCK OR CONFINED IN YOUR PRACTICE?

There is value in restrictions or rules when you are creating. Mostly, those self imposed rules are created by what you are interested in, questions you are asking yourself, problems you might be trying to solve. A free for all doesn’t always produce interesting work. Sometimes it actually makes it quite boring. 

There was a guy I went to undergrad with, he made the most beautiful conceptual work out of only photocopy paper. He was interested in standard units of measurement (a la Mel Bochner), and he used a material we are all familiar with, something readily available, and relatively inexpensive. Because he was restricted by budget he created a brilliant solution and made super interesting work as a result. If you read biographies on many artists this is often the case. There is some restriction: cost, space, materials, time, something physical… and they shape their work and practice around it. It always creates new and better ideas that you wouldn’t have come to you if the world was your oyster. I have my own self imposed restrictions in the studio - things I am looking for in a painting, things I will never do, etc… And many of the solutions I have thought of have come from being stuck, something not working, or confines and restrictions. I say — Embrace them. 

WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE BOOKS ABOUT CREATIVITY OR THE CREATIVE PROCESS?

Listen to artists talk about their work — interviews with artists are a great way to hear about how and why they make their work. 

If you know any artists do a studio visit and ask questions. 

Read biographies on artists you like — there are so many good ones. 

Mason Curry’s books on artists daily rituals and his subscription newsletter, Subtle Maneuvers, are all great!

Nick Cave talks about creativity and his process a lot in his subscription newsletter The Red Hand Files.

Anne Truitt’s Daybook is a great published artists journal.

Three

HOW DO YOU INSPIRE YOURSELF AGAIN IF / WHEN YOU FIND YOURSELF IN A CREATIVE DRY SPELL?

See new things! Drive to a neighborhood you have never been to in your city, go to the library and look at new books, watch movies you have always wanted to see, do a deep dive on an artist you are interested in, go to a museum and see a show, do a gallery day, make art with kids, travel, take a road trip, take a day hike, connect with nature, read a great book, watch an interview with a director you love, make something new that you will never show to anyone, go anywhere that will excite your senses — the flower market, a great new restaurant, a dance class. 

You want to open yourself up so that new inspiration and energy can flow. Seeing new things and having new experiences is the quickest way to get there. Also, connecting with other works of art or artists making things that excite you will help you jump on the inspiration bandwagon. Excitement and inspiration are contagious. And you might have to be patient. Some ideas take time to bloom, but keep watering. 

Ask yourself — What excites me? Make a list. Do those things! 

HOW DO YOU DETERMINE A MEDIUM WHEN YOU ARE DRAWN TO SO MANY?

There are plenty of artists who have multidisciplinary practices. David Hammons has a very diverse practice, Laura Owens paints and has done a furniture collaboration, Ruth Asawa and Eva Hesse both made sculptures and drawings, Yoko Ono has done everything from performance art to photography and drawing, as well as made written word pieces and music! The exciting thing about artists who do more than one thing is you can see a through line in all the work they create. Sometimes different mediums can allow you to explore different facets of one core interest. These days a lot of art schools are moving towards this idea - gone are the days of a traditional painting department, or being a sculpture major. Do whatever you are drawn to — even if it is multiple things. But, the most important thing is to choose the medium or discipline that will best express your idea. Sometimes that is a good place to start — ask yourself, “What medium will express my idea best?”. Each medium has a language and a history that can inform and help express what you want to say. Something might be a better video than a painting. But, do it all! If your creations come from your own ideas and core questions they will always connect and inform each other. 

HOW DO YOU BALANCE STUDIO WITH PROPER FOOD AND BODY CARE?

All bodies are different — just like all studio practices are different. There is no one size fits all for our health and well-being, nor is there for our creative life. I know this is kind of a no brainer, but to me it’s a much deeper concept and is how I approach so many aspects of how I live. Our bodies are different, and they also change. I am constantly adjusting how I care for myself based on the season, my stress/anxiety level, things going on in my life, my cycle, my work load, my goals, if The Crown is streaming, etc… I strive to constantly be in flux and in flow with life and this allows me to meet life instead of trying to control it. I thrive on routine, I allow routine to carry me during difficult times, but I’m also always adjusting things to meet my needs as I change. I am always making little tweaks, setting new goals, returning to old practices and habits and making new ones. The most important thing — with each of these — is to figure out what works for YOU.

What allows you to feel your best? What allows you to make your best work?

I try to stay away from an idea of balance because to me it implies something static or a kind of unattainable perfection. We are human and always changing. Especially these days, being able to flow with all the changes we are facing and adapt is key to thriving during these times and caring for ourselves and each other. I like the idea of creating more flexibility, not more rules. 

When I ignore my studio time or well-being I can tell! If I am not in the studio enough (sometimes it’s unavoidable) I get really aggravated, and if I ignore the needs of my body (rest, nutrition, exercise…) I don’t work as well. They each call to me in different ways and I have learned (the hard way) to listen and adjust. Neither are “perfect”. The other day I got in the car at 8:20 am to get to the studio and I just heard, “Nope. Go back to bed.” So, I went inside and got undressed and back into bed and watched Great British Bake Off all day. That’s real. And I allow that to be ok. No judgment. I know when I can push through not wanting to exercise and when my body is telling me to rest. It’s important to honor what we need. Our culture isn’t set up like this and I am the first to say that I fall for the “busy as a badge of honor” way of living. And I am constantly trying to counteract this conditioning and create something more authentic to how I want to live this one precious life and make choices that reinforce what is important to me. 

For Fields of Study I stay away from product pushing — I’m not interested in creating a platform that drives consumerism or hooks people with an aspirational lifestyle. BUT I do love sharing what I love and am always happy to recommend things if they might be helpful. So if you ever want tips on favorite personal care items I can answer that in a future Conversation on Creativity. Email or DM me with specific questions ;) 

Four

ROUTINE ROAD BUMPS…

I wanted to take a moment and mention a few helpful words and sources for when your routine is hitting some bumps. I have talked a lot here about my robust studio practice — a Swiss clock and well oiled machine. But, make no mistake, sometimes that clock needs winding, and sometimes that machine breaks. I wanted to lay a foundation and share the norm of my practice and routine. I haven’t yet mentioned that I have an incredibly strong will (sometimes to my detriment) and a lot of discipline — it is in my nature, and I really use it to my advantage to be diligent and dedicated. But, I also realize so many people have to work at this. To dedicate yourself to a creative life and make work is hard! Even if you have a lot of experience under your belt. I never forget this. I know my style of studio practice won’t suit most people. I share it to show you how your work and your personality can help shape and determine your practice. To start to create your own practice ask yourself : Under what conditions do you make your best work? How can your strengths be assets in your practice or routine? 

But, there are times when I am forced to slow down, or take a break. To reset. To make adjustments. To focus on things outside of the studio. Sometimes this comes in the form of being exhausted from working too many days without a break and needing to take a day off. Sometimes this means having to take on some extra work that will financially support me and literally buy me more time in the studio. Sometimes this means it’s Winter and I need to sleep in a little later. Sometimes it means I need to tend to a relationship. These are normal, and it’s the routine and practice that I return to. That is why it is important to establish something… a base line so you have something to return TO. It is a living breathing thing just as you are. You have to nurture both yourself and it.

Here are a few podcasts and articles I have listened to or read recently that speak to some of these ideas :

On Being - Oliver Burkeman, Time Management for Mortals

On Being - Katherine May - How ‘Wintering’ Replenishes

HBR - Women at Work - Forging Ahead — or Plowing Through

Subtle Maneuvers - Advice on building creative stamina

Red Hand Files - Thoughts in your head

HOW DID YOU START MAKING YOUR OWN PIGMENTS?

When I was in graduate school I had a teacher who kept urging me to make my own pigments - telling me it didn’t make sense why I wasn’t because it married so many of my interests. But, I never had time — in grad school time is not on your side, you are expected to make work quickly, and it is to your advantage to do so. 

It was a few years after I graduated that I bought some old books that had recipes for making all different kinds of paint, books that historically if you were in art school you would have to own. Because it is only relatively recent (in the arc of the history of painting) that we have manufactured paint that we can buy in tubes.

Around 2013 I started collecting jars of earth pigments while on a road trip. If there is a pretty color I pull over and scoop up a jar full. When I get home I mix it up and see what it makes. Sometimes it’s just dirt or more like clay. But, most of the time it produced beautiful ochers — yellows, dark oranges and browns. You can read about ochres here. 

I started experimenting and painting with them. It’s not really the main part of my practice but came out of a need to use my body more when I painted. My paintings are done with a tiny brush, tiny marks over a course of a long time (weeks, sometimes months), hardly moving. Mixing pigments is so physical and when I paint with them I use more of my body — my torso and limbs. And within one session or over the course of a few days, adding layers of pigment, I can have a painting. That’s a really nice contrast to what I spend most of my time doing. 

IN WHAT WAYS HAS YOUR CREATIVE PROCESS EVOLVED AS YOU’VE MATURED AS AN ARTIST?

As you can imagine, there are many things. But, one particular way that I have been tuned into lately is how it feels while I am painting. I used to say that the paintings felt so executional — I would find something I wanted to paint and then I just became a robot executing it laboriously until I was done. It was painful, I felt a slave to the work. It wasn’t until the orchid paintings in 2020 that something got turned on inside me while I was working. I have so many days when I’m painting that while trying to figure out how to make that particular peach or dark olive green, that I feel so excited that I almost can’t contain it. I LOVE PAINTING — the act of doing it, its history… everything. Even when it’s hard. And I feel incredibly lucky to get to spend most of my time doing it. Time is the most valuable thing as an artist, and I don’t think I understood this when I was younger. I took time for granted. 

Dedicating so much time to working, and being so excited by the work gives a kind of life to it that it didn’t have before. Before, the work almost felt dead, like they were from the past. Now, the paintings have life, and are present with you no matter when you look at them. I think this is because the process has changed and become so alive itself. And the subject mater really adds to that, too. There is a give and take between me and the subject, it’s not just me being a mechanical robot, squeezing every drop of life out in the process of making it. They used to feel so precious — so personal — I used to have a hard time selling them and letting them go when I was younger. And because of that they didn’t really vibrate the way they do now. Because the process is the so exciting for me as a painter, once they are done I want them out in the world, because I’m ready to start the next one. It’s important to say that the paintings are not about their process, but as the artist, enjoying making the work certainly gives it something that can’t be replicated — and as I said, lately I have really noticed this.

It’s too much to go into here, but over the last three years I have grown so much as a woman, matured… to use your word. And that has changed my work for the better. Which is even more reason why we need to be looking at artists who are not just out of graduate school — they have so far to grow — which is exciting. But, we need to be “discovering” and celebrating more and more artists who have already been working for years, decades, especially women! There are so many women artist in history that have been overlooked until after they have died. I am so ready for the art community to ditch this focus on the hot young artist and get behind more mature artists in their prime before it's too late. There is so much good work out there that is going unseen. This is a great place to look.

Being an artist is a long arc — there are phases — just as the growth we take on (or not) as humans is — and their is a link between the two. Can you make connections between what you make and who you were / are / are becoming?

Five

ARE THERE DAYS WHEN YOU FEEL UNMOTIVATED? WHAT DO YOU DO TO PUSH PAST THAT?

Of course! When I am pushing against a deadline, working non-stop with no days off staying motivated can be as hard as when I have had too many days off, away from the studio and I am trying to get back in the grove. I am very motivated by deadlines, so the first scenario I will just dig deep and power through because I know there is a pay off in sight. The second can be more tricky. This is why having a routine or practice already in place is key. It holds you in the periods where it can be hard to work. It’s like training with a trainer — the beginning absolutely sucks but you know it’s temporary, then it starts to feel great and fun and rewarding. But, we are human and we will always have off days where it’s just blah and hard. The fact that you have been committed all those previous weeks or months is what will carry you through the days of no motivation. This is what I mean when I said in the Part One about how a studio practice that you give to and nourish will hold you and carry you through the tough times. Times of not being motivated or even times in your life where you are going through something personal and difficult. 

Getting personal — my studio practice got really serious when I had the deadline of an art fair and then a solo show simultaneous to me going through an awful break-up (then add in the beginning of the pandemic). In a way the combination of these two things was like a gold mine. Being a very willful person, I had a deadline that I could drive towards. And I was going through so much emotional pain there were days when I could hardly hold it in my body and going into the studio to work was the only thing keeping me going (also, because it was early pandemic it was the only thing TO do). It was like my studio practice (not the work necessarily) was the container to ride through all the waves of emotion. Having something fixed, a solid routine, became vital, and then I could allow myself to be chaotic, rageful, heartbroken, numb… whatever was coming up. I liked having this very ridged schedule in a time where I felt I was all over the place emotionally. I would drag myself out of bed every day at 6:30am and I would be so rewarded by the time I left the studio at the end of the day. THAT is the energy that’s dragging me out of bed the next day, and the next. That feeling you have when you don’t want to show up but you do it anyway. And even though I’m through that difficult time I still feel these two opposites at play in my practice.

Another important thing, is to honor the work it takes to show up. This is like the fertilizer in the watering of your garden. It creates an energetic loop where there is constant flow away from you and towards you. So, when you are unmotivated or when it gets hard you know you will be carried by the energy you have consistently been cultivating. You can let everything go and let this current pick you up. There are more hard days than not. I’m trying to encourage you to build yourself a house, one that you take care of, that keeps you dry when it rains, that you can return to. 

It is so hard to write about well — and I am sure there are many more people who do it better than me. All I can say is that it’s like an act of faith, showing up to your practice, one day it will feel really hard and you will see how what you have built carries you through those hard times. And a lightbulb will go off. It’s the wildest thing. I don’t even care if what you are making is good - that is irrelevant and you have to make it irrelevant. The most important thing is showing up, over, and over, and over…

As far as pushing past it — you just have to remember that nothing lasts forever. That if you are unmotivated or blocked, it’s temporary. You can’t wait until it lifts to work, you have to just keep working through it. It’s the only way forward. Action is what makes it lift.

Ask yourself — What am I motivated by? And then build that into your routine or practice so that when you are unmotivated you can use that to help get you through those hard times. 

DO YOU EXPERIENCE SOMETHING FEELING OLD AND IRRELEVANT BY THE TIME YOU RELEASE IT INTO THE WORLD? HAVE YOU EXPERIENCED THAT? HOW DO YOU MITIGATE?

I think this depends on where you place the reward of your work. For me, the most rewarding part is when I am making it. So, after the very last brush stroke it is irrelevant in a way. And then I know it has another phase that is about going out into the world. I am always excited for people to experience it and when they do I am already working on the next thing. 

I thought of these two quotes from artist Anne Truitt. Her book Daybook, is a wonderful journey into her own practice and experience as an artist. I recommend it, and books like it to hear more about the breath of artists studio practices.

“The only way that I can address a work made years ago is by reliving the emotional complex out of which it originated, so I have had repeatedly to return to myself as I was at the points they mark, the experiences they embody, in thirty years of my life—each piercing. Yet the source of each remains mysterious, as undetectable as the scent of a single blossom in a perfume compounded of many and various flowers.”

“The terms of the experience and the terms of the work itself are totally different. But if the work is successful—I cannot ever know whether it is or not—the experience becomes the work and, through the work, is accessible to others with its original force. For me, this process is mysterious. It’s like not knowing where you’re going but knowing how to get there. The fifteen years that David Smith thought it took to become an artist are spent partly in learning how to move ahead sure-footedly as if you did actually know where you are going.”

Six

Some helpful tools for artists.

Corrina Peipon — Guidance for artists and art workers. Corrina is great and she offering virtual sessions if you don’t live in LA. I can not recommend her enough no matter where you are in your career. She has a great new feature, “Dear CP.”

TransArtists — A great site to find artist residencies all over the world.

The Artists Office — Check out Virginia’s Artist Grant Deadline Subscription and this amazing list of 100 Actions I Can Take To Progress My Art Career.

Seven

HOW DO YOU ALWAYS KEEP YOUR SPACE SO NEAT AND TIDY?

This is a habit out of necessity. My medium dictates my space. Because watercolor is on paper once you get a mark or some dirt on paper you can’t get it off. So, everything has to be clean. This means handling things with white gloves when I am moving things and packing them up. Making boxes for all paintings so when they are stored they stay free of dust. I use a lot of glassine to cover surfaces which can be replaced often. I also stay organized so that when I am working I can stay focused and not be distracted by trying to find the Quinacridone Magenta. All my paints are in order, I have color charts to help me find what I am looking for. Used brushes in one cup. New brushes in another. Notes on each painting. Calendars on the wall so I can keep track of how long each painting takes and upcoming deadlines. My homeopath says this is all very Arscenicum album (which is my constitutional remedy). Maybe she is right - but it also just helps me work better. It keeps my head clear of things that I don’t have time to think about and helps prevents accidents as much as possible. 

I love seeing artists studios and the way they have things set up. Look at Cézanne’s studio — what can you tell about his practice by looking at his studio?

My advice would be — you don’t have to be tidy and neat. That might work against you. Set your space up in the way that best supports your practice. Do you need separate spaces for drawing and sculpting? Dose something interesting happen when you make piles everywhere? Does a mess generate new ideas that you weren’t expecting? Does your space need to be modular so you can work on multiple pieces at once?

What is the ideal space for your practice?

HOW DO YOU DO YOUR RESEARCH?

Research can be fun! I used to love to do research in graduate school on the subjects that related to my work. One day I was having a studio visit with a faculty member — you typically had multiple studio visits a week, so there were times where you didn’t have any art to show them — and I was sharing a bunch of research, things I had printed out from on-line, books open to pages I was interested in, sketches I was starting to work on… And the teacher said to me, “Just make sure the work is more interesting than your research.” This really stuck with me. 

These days my practice isn’t heavily rooted in research, but there are artists I love who make amazing work that is, like Sharon Lockhart and Kerry Tribe. I am a “reader” at the Getty Research Institute, where I go and read books, things you can’t find online, or books that are rare or out of print. I read a lot. Look at a lot of art. Even things like going to the hot house at the Huntington Garden to look at orchids feels like research. Traveling feels like research at times. Research usually starts with a question I have and then I go down a worm hole, following the bread crumbs. Inspiration is something unexpected that pushes my practice forward. If I am lucky the first leads the the latter.  

Eight

This is not a question that was submitted, but recently I have been thinking a lot about the self-care you have to do as an artist. It’s important to take care of your physical, mental and emotional health. And it’s different for each person, it’s shaped by your health, your responsibilities, your lifestyle, and your work. There is no one size fits all. Part of sharing what I’m about to share is to encourage you to think about the demands on you — your body, your soul, your spirit. And learn to adapt and substitute tools in and out of your routine to help you thrive. We all do what we can, and sometimes we have to put in a little extra to make sure we are showing up more whole.

A note about self-care. When I say self-care I don’t mean practices that become self indulgent and create a loop of activity and energy that is just about you. This can be used by unhealthy parts of the self and ultimately not do you the greatest good. I am interesting in using the tools we have in our tool box to help us be more whole, so we can do what we are being called to do in this lifetime and be of service to something greater than ourselves.

I just finished working on a group of paintings, and I’ve been working straight since October, and pretty non-stop since around late May, with no days off since mid June. The demands of my work are pretty high. The paintings are very rigorous, precise, and they take long hours. Someone asked me what my achilles heal is as an artist, and it is working too much. The problem is I love painting, but my body can’t sustain months and months of working like this - which is what is needed to make my work. This is what I am learning about right now.

I think self care looks slightly different as an artist, that is something I have been contemplating. In a lot of jobs you can get by being 1/2 there, but not if you are creative (this includes writing). If you are a creative person you know what tapping into that flow of creative energy feels like, that space where you feel you are surfing a wave. Maybe it’s when you feel like you loose sense of time. Or are getting a ton of ideas. In order for this to happen you can’t be fatigued, over worked, distracted, etc… You have to be grounded in your body, open, and connected. It takes a tremendous amount of energy to hold such a large field open for creativity to be at play.  I think part of the way to do that is consistency with your practice - and that is something I talk a lot about in this series. When you are consistent you build the energy that you can then ride. This is probably the most important part of a creative practice. But, you also have to be feeling good to allow this to happen, and be able to hold it open long enough to complete your art. This might only be a few hours. For me it just happens to be months, so along the way I am constantly adjusting my routine to sustain working that long. 

Burnout. There are more articles and podcasts than I can shake a stick at about burnout. So you don’t need me to explain to you that it is on the rise. I’m interested in two places where burnout happens. The first is when you are too burnt out from other responsibilities (a day-job, raising kids, taking care of a parent, a health concern…) to start being creative. If you want to be creative at the same time think about ways you adjust your routine to make some space for creativity in your life. I won’t go into this first example in this post, I talk about how to start a project in previous questions above. But, rather focus on the second — when you have been working too much and pushing too hard in your creative practice, but you aren’t near the finish line. This is where I found myself a month ago. I knew I had until the 16th of August to finish my paintings, but it was the beginning of July. What was I going to do?

What my routine normally looks like : Wake up at 6:00am, eat breakfast. Get to the studio by 8:00/8:30am. Paint. Take a lunch break at noon. Come home, make lunch. Go back to the studio and work until 4:30pm. Work out vigorously (I upped my workout routine to do interval rowing while I was finishing my last 2 paintings. Someone tell me why I thought this was a good idea, please). Come home, do other work, answer emails, chat on the phone. Eat dinner. Watch a movie or read, and go to bed around 10:30/11:00pm. 

A month or so ago I got a weird stomach bug that put me in a tremendous amount of pain for weeks. My adrenals where shot - I have a history of adrenal fatigue, so this is something I always have to watch and my body sends me signs when I am dipping into my reserve and I am being taxed. I was exhausted. My body hurt. My spirits were low. I was using more of my will then I would have liked in order to keep working. I wasn’t enjoying painting (a huge sign that something is off, painting is hard but I always love it). I had to re-evaluate my needs, how I was spending my time, and focus on my body first… WHILE continuing to work. A tall order.

My new routine looked like : Waking up at 7:00am. Doing facia stretching for 30min. Standing in front of the mirror and doing a breathing meditation while I did gua sha (haha, I know, I know - but my skin care guru Kristina Holey recommended it, and I do everything she says) for 15 min. Eating breakfast in a relaxed way. Enjoying making my lunch to bring with me. Being slow and allowing the time it takes to get to the studio. Working until 4:00/4:30pm while taking breaks to jump on the trampoline to get blood and lymphatic system flowing. I had to stop exercising for two weeks. But then started walking in my neighborhood and built up to around an hour every day. Eating dinner at 5:45/6:00pm. Getting into bed at 7:30/8:00pm (when I was so tired this felt so good to do). Less time on the phone. More quiet, calm energy. No socializing (I’m not advocating this, socializing can be so healing, but I couldn’t afford to get Covid and take time out of the studio). I switched from my regular remedy to Alexis Smart’s Unburdened flower remedy (I can not speak highly enough about her flower remedies for helping with emotions). I worked with a nutritionist. I started seeing my Korean acupuncturist once a week. Supplements from my Dr for my adrenals. And in about a month I was back to fighting form and finished up working a few days before my deadline, full of energy, confidant, relaxed, and dare I say… happy.

This is what self care looked like for me when I hit a road bump in my creative practice. It is important to be able to make adjustments, bring in different tools from your tool box to help support yourself. I had to decide what tools to bring in that would give me the most bang for my buck, I couldn’t afford to take time away from the studio with a deadline, so it was a matter of introducing a few key things that would give, and not take away too much time. I love routine, but I try to remember that life isn’t consistent, life is constantly happening and throwing things our way, we are in constant change. The best thing I can do for my body is be in the flow of life, and bend with it, not try to control it. I hope this helps you think about how to best care for yourself on every level so that you are able to make your work and also how to pivot your routine when you hit a bump. I’m not advocating that we make ourselves into work machines, but rather to consider how we can honor our humanity in our creative practice when the pressure is on.

Some questions to help you take a closer look:

• How long do you need to complete your project?

• How can you space your work out so you are not cramming at the end?

• On what level do you feel like you need the most support - physical, mental, emotional, spiritual?

• What are the most nourishing tools you can introduce into your daily routine?

• What are the non-negotiable tools in your routine that you can not do without when under a deadline or pressed for time?

• What are the signs your body gives you that you need to pivot your routine?

• How can you vocalize your needs or new routine during a deadline to family and friends? How can they support you? When you are under a deadline you will have to prioritize that, which mean you will be saying no to other things. Share with people what your focus is right now, why, and that there will be a time where your time can shift and allow being with friends, going on vacation, volunteering, etc…

Nine

HOW IMPORTANT IS IT FOR YOU TO TALK ABOUT YOUR WORK WHILE IT’S IN DEVELOPMENT?

You don’t leave a graduate program with out some battle wounds. One of the things I didn’t like was how much I had to talk about my work while in school. I found it exhausting. There were class crits almost weekly, and sometimes 2-4 one-on-one meetings a day with faculty talking about your work. I kept my meetings to a minimum, and now, being out of school, I regret this. Because when you leave there is no one to talk to. That’s not completely true, but it’s harder. You have your peers, and gallerists and curators. I wish I had more conversation around my work sometimes, and this is something I am working on. I am also out of practice and am trying to strengthen that muscle. But on the whole, there are long stretches when I am deep in it, where I am really protective over my creative space and try to keep it as open as I can. Especially if I feel like something is emerging. I like to let it come forth without limiting it through talking about it. I usually talk about things after — after a show usually. And this can inform how I move forward. 

With practice you learn to weed through the conversations, taking the parts that are helpful (even if they are uncomfortable), and letting go of the unhelpful bits. And you learn who to go to for what. It is important to have someone you trust - who will tell you if they think the work isn’t good. That’s the one good thing about a graduate program - it’s not going to feed your ego. It breaks you down and you really have to learn to defend your work and your ideas. And it’s great - if it’s coming from people who, even if they are hard on you, want you to keep making work. 

Some people really like to talk about things before. Some people need to talk about things when they hit a wall with their work, if something isn’t working. Some talk about it in cryptic ways, which is part of their persona as an artist. Some people need hand holding the whole way through. There are as many ways as there are artists. Being in lots of crits and sitting through lots of artists talks you see the whole range. There are so many great artist talks on-line - this is a great place to start. And look at the events at your local art museum.

When you think about your own creative practice, when do you notice you have the urge to reach out to someone? When do you keep the studio door closed? Is there a pattern you can identify?

IN WHAT WAYS HAS YOUR CREATIVE PROCESS EVOLVED AS YOU’VE MATURED AS AN ARTIST?

It has gotten a lot more rigorous. With time I have prioritized it more and more. There was a moment when I thought - ok, let’s just see what happens when I put my work above all else. And everything really shifted. This moment happened in a kismet kind of way - I had just had an unexpected and terrible breakup, and it was right before the pandemic. So things were aligning — I had a need of a distraction and place to put my heartache and rage, the pandemic gave me complete focus and tons of alone time and isolation - with no social obligations, things to do or places to go. These years allowed me to build a relationship with my practice and it has matured as I have. I nurture it, and feed it, and protect it. It is sacred to me. It gives back to me as I give to it. And because of that all my other choices are made in relation to it. Jobs, travel, personal relationships, are all determined around putting my work first. It’s not that I don’t allow for down time, other interests, and personal relationships — those things are so important. But I’m not ok if I feel they are compromising my work, or getting in the way of me making the best work I can make. 

HOW DO YOU SHOW UP WHEN YOU DON’T FEEL CREATIVE? WHAT DO YOU DO ONCE YOU’RE THERE?

Sometimes you can trick yourself into being creative if you try something new. I have a secondary practice to my main practice - and it involves everything in complete opposite to my main work : it’s fast, it’s big, it’s messy, it’s unplanned, and no one sees it. I make this work when I need to loosen up in my watercolor paintings, but I also do it when I am taking a break from that work (post show), or when I want to get back into the studio. It carries no weight, it’s no pressure and it’s fun. Fun is the key. Try working on something that is just for fun. See what happens. 

NAMES OF ARTISTS WHO HAVE MOST INFLUENCED YOUR OWN ART AND CREATIVITY.

This list is incomplete… but here it goes… 

Primary influences were my grandmother and my mother. My grandmother was a painter and taught dress design at Washington University. My mother was a sculptor turned silversmith. They were both creative in every single thing thing they did. I spent the most time with them from the time I was a baby to my early teens when my grandmother died (mom died in 2008). Having spent all that time with them in my formative years shaped me as an artist. My grandmother taught me how to paint. On our kitchen table at home there was always some craft project out. If my mom wanted something expensive she would just make it (same with my grandmother with clothes) - this included jewelry or things for our house. I really learned from my mom that I could figure out how to make anything. If I have an idea I am never held back by feeling like I don’t know how to do it. I could go on and on with stories…

My mom and grandmother both loved George O’Keeffe — I do as well. She lived her life like they did - in the totality of being an artist. 

In my youth I loved Keith Harring and Alexander Calder. 

In undergrad I was into Peter Doig, Luc Tuymans, Polly Apfelbaum and Laura Owens. I still love Laura Owens. The other two I have grown out of.

Doing studio visits with artists like Kim Fisher and Mary Weatherford really shaped the way I thought about being a woman artist when I was in my 20’s.

I did some screen prints for a project Amy Adler was working on, she was a big influence. My first studio assisting job was impactful for Kerry Tribe. 

In graduate school I was obsessed with Fragonard and all Rococo painters.

These days there are so many artists… Helen Frankenthaler, Lee Krasner, Joan Mitchell, Vija Celmins, Sharon Lockhart, Sarah Charlesworth, Larry Bell, John Chamberlin, Donald Judd, Agnes Martin, Imi Knoebel, Charles Burchfield, Silke Otto Knapp, Manet, Ingres, Yvonne Rainer, Louise Nevelson, Marianne North, Sam Gilliam, William Blake, Franz Erhard Walther, Lynda Benglis, Anne Truitt, Isamu Noguchi, Martha Graham, Constantin Brancusi, Hilma af Klint, Paul Outerbridge… 

And so many others. Never underestimate who you could be inspired by.

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