Your art studio doesn’t have to be a gigantic freestanding building with roll up doors and it’s own kitchen and a guest room for visiting artist friends. It would be nice, but it doesn’t have to have be like that at all. It can be half of a rarely used dining room table or even a corner of a garage.
A studio of any size or place will work. Even though every studio I have ever seen is entirely different from one another, the most memorable ones, the ones that seem to generate the most engaging art all have one thing in common. They all really feel like the artists that work there. Studios are critically important for artists as they promote and even inspire the production of the art. They are far more than just a place where someone works. However, to function properly, they have to be made to feel a certain way.
The art studio is a place that when you arrive, visually, reminds you of yourself. In other words, your studio is filled with the visual evidence of you. (That is why visitors always find it the most interesting place in your home)
It is not an easy thing to make art that is authentic and personal. There are no previews really available. Yes we can all look at other’s art to kind of get an idea of where we might be heading artistically, but in the end our art will be different. So when you go into your studio, even if it is just a corner of a room, make sure the objects you place there, besides your art are things that inspire you. They actually can help you understand where your art is headed.
It might be a pale blue bottle you found washed upon a beach or a card someone you love gave you or even just a leaf. Make sure that the objects on the windowsill are curated by you. But whatever you see in your studio, whatever objects you place there, make sure it reminds you of what you love. They actually are all visual clues about your future art. They have to speak to you.
They have to remind you of you.
Selecting and placing objects in your studio, I believe is almost the same thing as placing a shape or color in a painting, or adding an element to a sculpture. Those decisions are critically important. If in that corner of the garage that you presently are working in right now has an ugly framed poster you don’t like or you don’t like enough to throw it away then at least move it outside your work area.
Be ruthless in your discernment of what is visually available in your studio.
Obviously you will have plenty of your art around but it is the other things too that you will be seeing every day that must be scrutinized.
Have a look at the objects surrounding you in your studio space and with each one, feel whether that object is clearly giving you an energetic lift or leaving you flat. If it is not clearly saying yes to you, then get rid of it.
This place you are staking out to do possibly the most challenging but meaningful and rewarding work of your life is in no small way, sacred. Really be a steward of its look and feel. When you arrive to make art, your studio should inspire and help you begin.
Thankfully, this place is not created by a committee. There is no permission needed from anyone to curate this space. There is only one person that can make this studio. It is also the same person who will make all the art that is derived from this place.
It is you.
How does your studio feel to you? Do you have something in your studio that needs to go?
26 Comments
Hi! I’m
Nicholas Wilton
the founder of Art2Life.
With over 20 years experience as a working artist and educator, I’ve developed a systematic approach that brings authenticity, spontaneity and joy back into the creative process.
Join me and artists from all over the world in our Free Art2Life Artists Facebook Group or learn more here about Art2Life.
Love the mirror suggestion. Rotating my painting upside down and/or sideways helps too.
oh yes–that is what I do all the time…
Great. I also use a handheld reverse-magnifying glass. A quick way to see your big work small.
Yes I have seen those–that is so cool! I want to try it more…
I have a large antique mirror hanging in our family room and I sometimes will take my paintings and hold them up in front of the mirror (my paintings are not as big as yours) just to get a different perspective. I also take lots of pictures of my paintings for the same reason. Thanks for all your helpful videos. I always look forward to getting them in my email. Happy Sunday!
Thanks Kim! Sunday’s are my favorite day…
Just last night I used my “low end” smartphone to capture a photo of a working oil painting. Normal settings were used but I shined a lamp on it in such a way that the painting (photo) looks wonderful. Had no luck getting another picture of just how darker brown it really is. The photo has become the model for where I want to add lighting and create contrast so when it hangs in natural light it does really appear to look like a moonlit swamp.
Yeah Lynn, the phone is a remarkable tool–I think as Donna suggests above you can get that same mirror view…
All valuable tools. My iPhone has dozens of photos of works in progress using this technique to view them in different ways. Reversing the photo has the same effect as using a mirror. Changing to black and white or adding different filters helps me decide if I’m satisfied with the work or sometimes, give me a whole new exciting direction.
Yep–invaluable…
I have used the mirror trick for 30 years- it really works. Seeing your work backwards gives you a new vantage point as you suggested. Nice paintings, BTW.
Thanks Mo…. I like having the mirror behind me so when I walk away from the painting I see it backwards in one glance and then turn around and it seems fresh and I have just a little more objectivity on what I need to do…
Two great learnings. I have used my phone for taking pictures but have never turned things to black and white. I love the mirror idea and I have just the place for it. Thank you!
Great Leslie–I remember when someone turned me on to this idea–game changer…
Thankyou Nicholas
You bet Andeana…I like your pic of your daughter? That is very cute–and you will have to keep changing your FB profile because these kids grow so fast!
Good idea Nick! Hey, question for you: do you try to get your compositions so that they work from any orientation? Like: mirrored, 90/180/270 deg rotations?
Thanks, and I love that big one you have going. It’s glorious!
Hi Melinda! Yes I kind of do especially in the beginning..but by the end I have decided which direction the work will go and do all the final tweaks with it in the direction it will be eventually seen on the wall. Your art works pretty well in all directions I think–Is this what you do? If your art works in all directions generally it is pretty strong–at least that is my theory anyway…Hey hope you guys are doing well–I wanna come out for another visit in the Spring!
Hiya Nick. I have been studying Rauschenberg again cause I think he is so amazing at composition. I began to notice that his pieces are pretty good in any orientation. Worth a try as a strategy for fixing the broken ones… Come on down! Late summer, by the way, is killer here. 🙂
I have found that the best paintings are the ones where I’m in the right brain most of the time… Analysing and agonising after it is done by the left brain can stuff everything up….. I just have to let that go and move on to another painting…
That works too…thanks and good point
Thanks Nicholas for yet another great tip! Love the painting you are working on.
Thanks Janet! I am sort of stuck on that large painting–I think I need to do a drastic change but not sure yet-I am liking it just not loving it…
Nicholas, you are such a pleasant person…..makes a great teacher. I love your work!!!
I’m a professional artist and teacher….another tip to give to your students: turn your work upside down and then view in mirror. If brave enough, work on the piece upside down.
Oh yeah Carol, definitely that is a great idea! Thanks…It sounds like you are a teacher…you always have to come up with ways to give people tips and tricks to problem solve their art making….
Thanks for the tips, Nicholas! I will give them both a try. And thanks for your posts. I always enjoy reading them and the discussions.