10 Ways to Get Back Into the Studio

A dirty little secret of a lot of professional artists is that we aren't always the picture of discipline and unwavering dedication to our vocation of aesthetics and beauty (however we bring those into the world.) To us as with everyone else, life happens: birth, death, marriage, divorce, a move, school, new job, sickness, or some other life event barrels in to lay siege to our perfectly laid art making plans. Overwhelm sets in and you switch yourself to cruise control to focus on coping with the storm, telling yourself (maybe not altogether convincingly) "someday I'll get back to my studio."

If you are not like this I congratulate you - and welcome you to leave some comments about how you achieve your stellar focus. But if you find yourself ready to get back into the studio but aren't quite sure how, here are a few ideas that can make it easier to find your groove again.

Painting a smaller study of something that inspires 

you can be a fun project to beckon you back to the easel.

Just make sure you label it as a study and 

credit the original artist. 

Julie Petro, study of 

Joaquin Sorolla's "Children on the Seashore."

1. Freshen Your Studio
   Purge, update, organize. 
2. Practice Your Scales
   If it's been awhile since you've picked up a paintbrush or mixed colors or drawn accurate shapes or successfully compared relative values, chances are you're going to be a bit rusty the first few times back. It happens. Do some color scales. Go to a life drawing class. Find some fun ways to re-orient yourself to your tools and techniques. It's not quite as automatic as riding a bike, but with a little effort you will get your chops back.
3. Do Something Completely Different
   When people tell me I must have this dream life because I'm an artist, I like to quote Degas: "Painting is extraordinarily easy - until you learn how." We put decades of effort into our work, slowly teasing out our talent and honing our own styles. "Miles on the brush," I like to say. "10,000 hours," a popular saying goes. However you describe it, it is fun! However, because we get so focused it is important to have some experimental time to try new things, and just getting back from a break can be a great time to delve into learning some new techniques you've always been interested in but haven't yet found the time to learn. Gilding? Painting on mylar? Checking out those new water-mixable oils? Busting out with some abstract designs?
4. Explore the Style and Techniques of Someone You Admire
   Trust me - you're not going to stunt expression of your own unique voice or damage your originality by doing "master studies." I have done a few of these over the years and the understanding I got from them was tremendous, and immediately applicable to my own work. (As with a lot of my "studies" I don't sign these, but label them on the back with something like, "Julie Petro's study of "Chicos en la playa" after Joaquin Sorolla, 12/10/2014")
5. Revisit Some Old Work
   Instead of starting off with a blank canvas after a long break, maybe you have an old, half-finished painting laying around that's been bugging you since you stopped painting. (One that made it through your purging process in step 1!) It was always almost right, but you just couldn't quite bring it together. Throw that thing up on the easel, and go for it. Chances are the time you spent away from your studio will actually work in your favor here. You'll see it with fresh eyes and will not be as emotionally invested in the work you've done on it, so you'll be more willing to take chances and try new solutions. This is one of my favorite first tasks when getting back into painting. For me it has proven very effective. 
6. Go Small
   I absolutely adore painting on little canvases. Not only is the process fun and challenging, if the end result works you've got this intimate piece of art that can nestle snugly into a cozy corner of someone's house. If after an extended break from painting, larger canvases seem intimidating to you, there's nothing wrong with working on some 6"x6" or 6"x8" canvases for awhile. 
7. Take a Class
   This could be workshop, an online class, or a video demonstration. Or go to a demo offered by an artist in a local gallery. The possibilities are endless and are sure to get your creative juices flowing.
8. Set Some Goals
   Not everyone functions well with setting goals. Some people feel hemmed in by the expectations that goals create. For me it's helpful to have a few goals. Even if I don't meet them perfectly I find I perform better with them than without. Make them SMART - Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Oriented. Your goal could be numbers-oriented (I will produce 2 small still-lifes this week), or performance-oriented (this week I am going to deepen my understanding of the anatomy of noses so I can paint them with confidence from any angle or orientation), or time-oriented (I will paint for at least three hours today, and will set my timer for 20-minute increments so I can step back and take a breather and stretch). Set a few at a time, then check them off. Then set some more!
9. Set A Timer
   Speaking of timers, you might want to set a timer for discrete tasks when you first get back into the studio. You won't need this all the time but when I'm getting back into things it creates a sense of urgency that can help keep me focused until my focus is second nature again. It also makes it a little bit of a game to me. For example: getting settled into studio - 5 minutes. Setting up palette - 10 minutes, etc.
10. The More the Merrier
    This particular one doesn't work well for me, but I know plenty of artists who love to get together with others to paint. If this is you too, dear introvert, consider inviting a few artist friends over for a group critique. Nothing like socializing with fellow creatives to get your inspirational juices flowing.

Do you have any other methods you like to get yourself out of a creative slump? Please feel free to leave them in the comments. Thank you!

Zorn Palette Scales

Maria's Heart was painted using the Zorn
Palette and shows the rich flesh tones
possible with this limited palette.
Available from RS Hanna Gallery.

I often start students off with some color studies, such as these. I got the idea, of course, from Richard Schmid's Alla Prima book. I've done these several times over the years, as my palette changes, and it never ceases to provide me with a ton of new insights. At the very least it deepens my understanding of the parts of color - hue, value and saturation.

In fact, I think color charts are so important I liken them to scales that beginning music students learn to gain proficiency with their chosen instrument. If you've ever played an instrument, you know what I mean. In the exact same way, doing color "scales" can help you learn the properties of your chosen "instruments" - your tubes of paints. How they respond to other colors on your palette, how not only their value but their temperature changes with the addition of white. Doing these trains your eye to detect subtle changes in value, and also to control that value. And at the end, you're left with these fantastic charts you can use over and over again to inform your painting process.

Below are some color scales I adapted for the Zorn Palette, which I often use for portraits or figures. It's pretty exciting to see the variety of colors that can be mixed with three primaries: cad red light (traditionally vermillion), yellow ochre, ivory black (the "blue" in this lineup), and titanium white. The first scale below shows how you can achieve the "secondary" colors (outlined in white) - orange, green, and purple can be mixed from the earthy primaries (outlined in gray).

Circular Zorn Palette. The "primary" colors: cad red light,
yellow ochre and ivory black, are outlined in gray.
The "secondary" colors: orange, green and purple are outlined in white.

The next three scales really show the magic of this palette. By mixing each secondary with its complementary we can see just how wide of a range of fleshy neutrals we can achieve with this palette. Green with cad red light, orange with ivory black (again, the "blue" in this palette), and purple with yellow ochre.

The "green" palette, mixed with the complementary
cad red light. Smack in the center is what my students
have dubbed "the icky pink bandaid color." Of course
it's not "icky" but it is pretty close to a bandaid.

The top row of each of these is straight tube color, no titanium white. I used a small, diamond shaped palette knife (similar to 24T on this page). You can use a brush if you wish, but it's an awful lot of cleaning up in between each square! No thanks. Use the knife, and wipe it clean. Easy. You can tape off to make it cleaner - use 1/4" painter's tape. Get about 5 rolls.

The "orange" palette. Orange mixed
with the complementary ivory black. 

Each column should be done in turn. First square should be the top one - pure tube color. The second square I did was the bottom one. The idea is to keep it as high key as possible while retaining a hint of discrete color. To test this, squint your eyes. The bottom, lightest square should be barely discernible from the white of the canvas. But when you open them you should be able to detect color. The third square I did was the middle one, a "halfway color" between the tube color and the lightest color. The fourth square was the midpoint between the lightest and middle color, and the last was the midpoint between the tube color and middle color. By doing them in this order you can more accurately judge an even progression from dark to light in each column.

The purple palette. Purple mixed with
the complementary yellow ochre.

Each square in the bottom, lightest row should be equal in value. When you're done with your columns you can test this by squinting down at the scale. You shouldn't be able to detect any shift in value when you look at the bottom squares, but when you open your eyes you should be able to tell there is a hint of color. But don't try to compare the squares of any of the other rows against each other. They will all be different, because the values of the tube colors are all different.

Study for Leslie Rose

I did this 8"x10" study to explore the contemplative gesture and gentle expression of my wonderful model, Leslie. I'm left wondering what she's dreaming about.

A Fine Pear

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Pear puns are a riot, no? No? Ok. Painting pears is always a treat for me since they're not quite round, not quite heart shaped. Every bump and dip of irregularity is gorgeous and luscious. Almost as good as they taste. This is a little demo I did for my Explorations in Oil class. I was showing my students how to make objects feel rooted together - instead of graphic depictions merely floating in space - by introducing surrounding color into surface areas. Red into green and green into red.

Easter Bloom

Another one of my calla lilly studies. I teach a lot of color theory in my painting class and I find the topic of warm and cool temperature shifts can be very easily demonstrated in yellow objects, such as this calla lilly. Where the form turns and the petal reflects light on itself the tones warm and deepen considerably. Where they turn into the leaves surrounding them they tend to cool, picking up the greener light reflecting off those.

Yellow Lily III

Calla lilies are so fun to paint - part petal, part satin, part billowy fabric.

Yellow Lily

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Here is another painting from one of the two lily plants I brought to class a few weeks ago for my students to paint. I did a demo in class and had so much fun painting that when I brought them home I just went to town.