These paintings are part of my Sea Glass Collection. 20" x 20" on wrapped canvas. Click here to purchase. Deadlines are often a bad thing. They cause us stress. They are something we really can't miss. And they have a tendency to get in the way of all of the fun stuff.
However, deadlines are actually a good thing. I know I wouldn't be successful without them. So what are some tips as to how you can always meet your deadlines? It's pretty simple. You just have to plan in advance and don't procrastinate. Seriously. It's that easy. I like to keep a daily schedule every week of all of the things I need to get done. As long as I write them down then I am good. I won't forget them and I won't worry that I have to remember them. I always try to have my paintings finished at least a day early but sometimes that doesn't happen. If a paintings is taking a lot longer than I had planned then the first thing that is affected is my sleep! Oh well. That's ok. It's more important to have a happy client. What do you do to meet your deadlines?
0 Comments
I have to be honest. I have never kept an art journal. I have purchased three of them, but I don't think that counts. I guess I have intended to start an art journal but I just haven't started one yet. Oops.
I was first introduced to art journaling by one of my workshop students. Since then many other students have brought and shared their art journals. They are one of the coolest things I have ever seen. On today's Artists Helping Artists radio program our show was titled "How to Use Art Journaling as a Way to Express Your Creative Side”. The show aired today, Thursday, July 28, at 9:00 am PST, 12:00 noon EST. On the show my co-host Dottie Leatherwood and I discussed how and why you should use art journaling as a way to express your creative side. We shared why art journaling is about the process and how you can use journaling to rediscover your sense of fun. I highly recommend you listen to this very informative show! Click here to listen to the show. And I am thinking I just might start one of those journals this weekend. How about you? A few samples of the paintings created on the first day of my workshop. What a day! Today was day two of my three day oil painting workshop and I am just sitting down to write my blog post. It's 10:48pm. Hmmm. I am exhausted!
My day started at 6:30am at the grocery store to prepare for the gourmet dinner I always cook my students during my workshops. The workshop started promptly at 9:00am and we painted all day while enjoying the fabulous air conditioning in my studio (while the heat sweltered outside). At 4:15 I ran inside the house to start preparing dinner. On the menu for tonight was: Crispy Bacon Wrapped Dates with Lemon-Basil Crema Lemon Risotto Grilled Salmon with Avocado Salsa Asparagus Mixed Greens Salad with Mandarin Oranges, Dried Cranberries, Gorgonzola and Ginger Sesame Dressing Talenti Gelato Yes, the menu items in blue do have links to the recipes. I promise if you make this meal you will have some very happy dinner guests. It's that good. Dinner was served at 6:00 with lots of wine and a new favorite vodka-diet tonic-raspberry lemonade cocktail. During dinner we shared lots of stories about our lives, art, our fears, struggles, successes and what we hope to achieve. It was awesome. I love days like today. But I have another day of teaching tomorrow. Night. Night. It's an interesting question. And I am not suggesting that any of us don't like ALL of our art. But what about the occasional painting that you just don't like. The one you don't like at all. Should you smile and say thank you when someone else compliments on the painting? Or should you take out your shears and shred the sucker before you toss it in the trash?
There isn't a right or a wrong answer. And that's because it's 100% up to you. Personally, I like to destroy the "bad" paintings. Do you know what you should do? At the least, remove them from your studio. Store them out of sight. It makes no sense to have them sitting around where they can bring you down and threaten your confidence. Last week I said "goodbye" to about 20 paintings. Half were put in the trash and the rest (which were acrylic paintings) were gessoed so I can use the canvases again. What a fabulous feeling that was! Before you destroy your "bad paintings", take one last look and decide if they should go in a pile titled "to be finished later". Sometimes some of the paintings you don't like just are worth saving. They just need a little more work. That's all. So what are you most excited about?
I know it may sound like an odd question. But it's important. I would like to ask you to ask yourself "What is the most exciting thing happening in your art right now?". It probably isn't that hard to answer. Some of you might have received great news that one of your paintings was juried in to a prestigious show. Others might have a newly cleaned and organized studio. And perhaps some of you are preparing for an upcoming show. Maybe you are trying a new medium. Or starting a new painting series. I promise you there is something that you are excited about when it comes to your art career. I asked myself what is the most exciting event happening in my art career. A contender is my newly organized studio. I am also excited about three new commissions I have from interior designers. But the most exciting thing right now is that I am finally finishing my new webinARTs course! The class shows you exactly how to build your own website and I am very happy to be able to make this available to artists! So now that you have determined an answer you need to make sure you are talking about it. Everywhere. On your website. On your blog. And on social media. Because whatever you are excited about will create excitement for your friends and followers. I promise!
Here is the video of my newly organized Carriage House Art Studio! I think I included all of my organization tips!
OMG. I can’t believe it. The Carriage House looks so different and it is my new dream space! Dave will probably find me in here all of the time and I am so excited to paint my 30 paintings in September in my newly organized space!
The project took less time and money than I expected and the only things not finished are my chair and ottoman (they are getting slipcovered) and the magnetic/chalkboard walls. I managed to talk my upholsterer in to making a pattern for the slipcover as I will make them myself in the future. At least I won’t freak out when it gets paint on it! I love that I now have my two workstations near each other (and not across the room). I can roll my chair back and forth and get more accomplished this way. Plus I have a permanent place for my easel to paint oils or abstracts. And it is so easy to find everything! A lot of artists have asked me what’s my favorite part of my newly organized studio? It’s the large “taller” table in the center of my studio with all of my acrylic paint on rolling carts underneath. The pre-cut plastic sheets work great and allow for easy access underneath. I am starting an oil painting workshop Monday so unfortunately the large table has been moved out to make room for my student’s easels. But that’s ok as it will come right back in as soon as the workshop is done! Thanks for joining me for this really fun project. Don’t forget to head on over to my Facebook Group Page to see other artists photos of their “summer studio clean up” projects too! When I clean and organize, I am the type of person that empties everything out of the room and then puts it all back in. This has been my "motto" during my art studio reorganization this week. Thus, my driveway has looked like a disaster for a few days. My rule of thumb is “nothing can go back in to the The Carriage House until it’s been completely sorted through”. I am afraid my trash man is going to have a heart attack when he shows up later this morning. To be 100% truthful, the really big and heavy pieces were emptied and cleaned out inside the Carriage House. It’s not worth major back pain for a month just to move them outside and then right back in. The hardest part of this project? The scrubbing and cleaning! We scrubbed the baseboards, walls, cabinets and just about every surface in my studio. Moving all of the furniture, emptying out every cabinet and drawer and adding wheels (aka casters) to my desk and trash cans also took a lot of time. This afternoon Elizabeth (my intern) gessoed about ten large canvases (which were abstract paintings that I prefer not to see again). She also put a thin coat of gesso to about 25 Ampersand boards that had a pencil drawing of a painting I use to think I wanted to create. (Obviously I no longer feel they need to be painted.) I think I saved about $300 by re-configuring these canvases. I have also decided that anything that isn’t absolutely necessary for creating art will get moved up to the third floor of our house. That includes a lot of my finished paintings. Unfortunately it also includes a lot of trips up three flights of stairs ... Here are photos of the "stuff" that was moved out of my studio. A lot of it didn't make it back in! The good news is ... we are almost done! I am going to film a video of the "finished" Carriage House and I promise I will go through all of my re-organization ideas and tips. I am hoping to post the video here tomorrow!
If you haven't been to the Studio Summer Clean Up facebook page there are a lot of great studio photos and re-org tips! Check it out here. OK, I am exhausted. We started the Carriage House re-organization project today. I spent 12 hours cleaning, scrubbing, sorting, organizing and throwing away! My apple watch is telling me I stood for over 12 hours and exceeded my daily 10,000 steps per day goal. So that's good! I thought I should tell you that in order to make my plan work work, I needed to make a few purchases.
There is a slight chance this project will be finished tomorrow. I had booked all week to get it done but it is going pretty fast. Special thanks to my intern Elizabeth! After looking at the “disaster photos” of my studio (which were posted on yesterday's blog) I decided I needed to put together some ideas for how I want the new studio to look. I am not really buying anything (ok, I am buying a few things) but the main focus is de-clutter and re-organize. So the first task was to draw out a floor plan to determine where everything will go.
I first drew a “before floor plan” with the essential pieces of furniture. This included two work stations, three storage pieces (from the Container Store) and one very tall canvas storage unit. Plus I have my comfy chair and ottoman, a few tables and the ikea turquoise paint storage bins. Hopefully everything else is going to be stored elsewhere (including throwing a lot of stuff in the trash!). I then drew five more floor plans and finally nailed it on the fifth one. (By the way, I drew these on a yellow tablet with a pen, nothing fancy.) I love how everything is now situated and that all of the important components have a purpose and a great place. I am so excited to redo my studio with my new plan! I can hardly stand it! Somehow I have let my studio become the storage space for everything art related. And everything non-art related. And everything else anything-related. Basically it is a disaster.
So this week I am completely re-organizing my art studio. My studio is called The Carriage House because, well, it’s a carriage house. Of course now it’s also an art studio. But it use to be a carriage house. Back in the day when horses and carriages came down my driveway … and I am not kidding. I would love to encourage all of you to join me and re-organize your own art studios (or space). I have even set up a Facebook group called Summer Studio Clean Up. It’s an open Facebook Group which means anyone can join. It would be great if you could all join the group and post “before” photos like I did. That would help me feel a lot less embarrassed since my studio is such a mess. (So if your studio looks perfect you need not join.) Tomorrow I will explain how I am going to tackle this project. And I should probably mention that I do have help. My intern Elizabeth is working everyday this week! Here are the photos of how my studio looks right now. It's a disaster, I know! |
Leslie
Mom. Wife. Artist. Marketer. Teacher. Radio Show Host. Archives
July 2017
Categories
All
My Favorite ThingsSome of my posts contain affiliate links for your convenience. Click here for full disclosure.
|