Saturday 10 September 2016

Giving back has given me even more!

Giving time for free??? Right! And where am I suppose to find that "free" time to give it?!

I won't be preaching to you, but just share one of the experience I have had recently. You see, I believe that the old cliché is quite true: giving gives more to the giver than the receiver! And I also believe it to be even more true for artists.
   






I might be alone in this, but yet probably not, as a "trying" artist, I live with what I will call a complex of usefulness! The need to justify what I do, the need to be useful beyond providing people with nice pictures...
And it is in that frame of mind, stumbling between that selfish need and some generosity thrown in, that I started a project this summer with people awaiting to be lawfully accepted in this beautiful country that is Ireland. We painted a mural, and what a beautiful result. I hope it gave the people who took part a great escape for self-expression, made them forget a little the situation they find themselves and their family in, and simply gave them a time to enjoy...
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Thursday 1 September 2016

Nourishment & discipline, all a piece of cake!

To continue on from my previous post on preparation: "It's all about the means and the end", once I have my work space prepared and my working head on, I'm talking nourishment. Nothing to do with a specific diet here, although always good to look after yourself, but it will include some edible details.

NOURISHMENT:

First start with yourself. Not giving a cookery or a healthy lesson here, but being hungry will only give you an excuse to escape from the grip of the blank canvas syndrome.
-Plan to start work after breakfast, or lunch.
-Bring along a cup of tea or coffee, or whatever else comforting, I do, so I won't use that as an excuse either!

Nourish the ambiance and your mind, make yourself feel good by what you're wearing, listening, looking at, etc.
-Don't just stagger out of bed into the studio. For me, to feel like it's work, I need to look like it's work. So I pay the same attention to getting ready as I would to go out to work (nearly).
-Put some good music, TIME WASTING ALERT, have playlists at the ready!
-Hang some stuff on the walls. I opt for my own stuff, keep me in the right direction, a white board not overloaded with to-dos, a big calendar, and some inspiring quotes. Change it around now and again.

DISCIPLINE:

If you want to make it work, treat it like work. Coming and going as you please sounds great... for a hobby, it doesn't work with a career.
-Set days and times, sticking to them helps as well!
-Have set break times, leave nothing to time wasting temptation
-Turn off the evil that are social media
-Plan your day from the start: To-do list don't are proven to be ineffective by the simple fact that they are overwhelmingly disorganized. Without being too strict, using a timed diary is brilliant. Allocating approximate time to different tasks to be done will put you under a light pressure and get your productive juice flowing. I fit in phone calls, email and other internet bits and bobs at the start of the day and have a clear finishing time on it as it has potential to spiral out of control.

What are your own tips? Share them with me below I'd love to hear them!



It's all about the means and the end

Sat down in front of a blank canvas, going cross-eyed, tortured in the realization that inspiration does not come from a divine intervention... We've all been there!

Putting on some well chosen music, feeling a little uplifted, it's a good start, but it probably won't be enough and we know it. I've known it for a long time yet I still sometimes forget that creation needs preparation, nourishment and a certain amount of discipline. I thought I would share a few tips which help me, might help you and will put us all back on the right track!

PREPARATION:

From preparing your work space to preparing your work subjects, there is a lot that can be done to avoid wasting precious time and become more productive.
I personally find that if my studio is cluttered and in a bigger mess than usual (lets be honest here, it's never that tidy in there), I need to sort the mess out before I get to work and even often get distracted in the process. The solution? Well to keep it tidy in the first place would help, as for the rest of the house, but as we all have lives to live.
-Incorporate a tidy up of the studio in the general housework time instead of eating on precious creative time.
 -Fit in, once a month, a bigger clear out, keep the regular tidying up simple using files and boxes that can be sorted out once a month.
For me, it also corresponds with my monthly inventory of stock and material, which means I kill two birds with one stone, and that I have a clear head and a clear work space at least for one day every month!
Preparing the actual work subject is equally if not more important to be efficient. Many a time I have gone up to the studio and started rummaging through hundreds of images in search of the one I would like to paint... after a few hours, I might have deleted a few pictures, but I am no closer to finding a subject for painting and obliged to abandon the day's session having wasted too much time.
-Sort out pics as they come out of the camera!
If you are very organized that will work best, dealing with a small amount of pictures every time.
-Have a "TO PAINT NEXT" folder on your computer desktop, limit the number of pics to less than 10 in this folder. If like me you are of the indecisive type, limiting your options will always work best!
-Be ruthless in your selection. With experience we know what will not make for a good painting, DELETE!
-Have different size canvas prepared. I prime my canvas and boards with acrylic, often bold colors. I like to have a few prepared in advance, again saving time not watching paint dry!
-Have sketches made of your "TO PAINT NEXT" pictures. If you have already worked out your composition, sketching the canvas will be a piece of cake.


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