Alyice on May 31st, 2008

Get Thee In The Studio

As you may recall, from an earlier post, I had been struggling with finding the time for my art and photography with an already overloaded schedule and loved Jan’s idea of painting first thing in the morning. I loved that idea so much that I put it into action but soon discovered that I wasn’t a creative person in the morning. I was a work-a-holic in the morning. I needed to get “work done” before I could play, otherwise the juices of creativity just didn’t flow.

But to make room for creativity later in the afternoon I had to accept that distractions come in many forms, including a few preconceived notions that constantly find their way back into my life, such as: “everything would fall apart if I didn’t stick to a schedule” or “I’d fall behind schedule if I didn’t complete x amount of tasks per day” or “nothing would get done if I didn’t do it” or “people are relying on me to…” And then I had to learn to let go of those distractions—both mentally and physically—so that I had room to get creative.

I think that’s why Susie Monday’s response to my question, “What’s the coolest tip you’ve ever received?” in a recent interview I did with her hit home so much. Most artists talk about various techniques they’ve learned, especially the ones that changed the way they create but Susie confirmed something I knew in my heart and up until recently had been struggling with mentally. She said her coolest tip was “Get thee in the studio.”

Susie went on to say, “When I make myself leave the laundry, turn off the tube, close the door, and just sit and look at the materials I have to work with I began piddle around with what IS, not what I want it to be…”

I absolutely loved that statement! I cannot tell you how many times I’ve procrastinated in creating because I needed to learn one more thing, buy one more thing, do one more thing. As a beginning artist, it’s so easy to see what isn’t or what could be versus seeing what is and working within the confines of what is at that moment in time.

Since I’ve made that commitment to do some form of art every day I have learned that working with what I have makes me a stronger artist. It causes me to think outside the box, to experiment with different ways of doing things, and to practice.

Not everything I do comes out the way I want it to. Many times I have to gesso over what I created and start again but in the doing and the redoing I am growing as an artist. Which brings me to the second thing Susie said that really hit home, “Get thee to the studio means that I do the work and let the consequences and the quality take care of itself—whether it’s a success or a failure.”

And that, my dear friends, is truly the secret to a successful artist! We can read all the art books ever written. We can watch every video made on our craft. We can attend all the workshops we can afford. We can get interviewed in a hundred various publications, but if we do not step foot in that studio it’s all for nothing. Without actually creating, we cannot call ourselves artists nor can we grow as artists. And if we don’t get in that studio and create something—anything—we cannot fill gallery showings or make a living as an artist because there will be nothing to show and nothing to sell.

Until next time,

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