Tips for Creating an Art Practice

A reader wrote in with a question about how to create a regular time to create. Sara writes:

Any tricks or tips for creating a daily practice? I STRUGGLE with routine of any type and have yet to successfully create a daily art practice. Watching your videos is so amazing, but I get stuck with how to even begin without being in class.

Do you identify with this feeling? I sure know I have struggled in the same way on and off over the years!

To answer, I decided to look at a couple of issues I felt were implied in the question:

1. First the idea of creating and committing to a regular time for creativity.
2. Second how to know what to do or work on when that time comes around.

When you enroll in an art class, that can help take care of both those issues for you: The class is at a set time and you know people are expecting you, and there will likely be a project outline ready to go. It can be a completely different challenge to know what to work on when you face a blank page or canvas on your own!

FYI: I created a separate article a while back that was inspired by a discussion on a similar topic: When you struggle to get yourself to create due to procrastination, neurodivergence, overwhelm, or competing priorities. A lot of the same advice can be helpful here too, so check out that article here if you'd like more specific suggestions!

Be Realistic

I'd like to begin this article with a confession: I am a professional artist who currently does not have a daily art practice.

There was a time in my life where painting every day was a completely realistic commitment for me. My son was young, I was therefore captive at home in the evenings, and he was generally asleep by 8:30 at night. Regardless of whether I had been able to carve out time on any particular day to paint, that time in the evening was waiting for me and I definitely preferred painting to watching TV.

Now my son is an adult, running my art business involves a lot of other tasks besides painting, and it's become a huge priority to spend my non-business hours doing non-business things: Spending time with family and friends, gardening, and exercising have replaced my evening painting times, at least for now. 

While I struggled to accept that change for a while, I have now realized that it's not realistic for me to expect myself to paint or draw every single day *and* also maintain my other interests.

So as you outline your own goals related to a daily or regular art practice, ask yourself if you're being realistic in terms of how often and for how long each session you can commit to your art.By committing to less, you decrease your chances of blowing it off and worse, creating a habit of blowing it off. You can always add more sessions to your schedule once you see how things are working for you.

Which leads to my next piece of advice... 

Create a "Training Plan"

I'm pulling a lot here from my experience creating an exercise schedule! In order to maintain my commitment, I've not only had to be realistic but also flexible if I want a schedule to work for me long term.

For example, I try to run outside 3-4 days a week and also do some strength training. If I created a schedule that says I need to run every M-W-F, but it was snowing the first half of the week and I miss my runs, I could feel defeated and lose my mojo. So instead I'll look at the week and consider social/family commitments, the weather, etc and adjust my schedule in advance to accommodate things. It feels more purposeful to adjust your goals for each week according to what you have going on, fatigue, etc than to just keep missing your art time.

I also have a general idea of how far I want to run each session, or the kind of pace I'm aiming for, or what areas I'm targeting with strength training. This way I don't show up and think, duh, what should I do?

The same thing is endlessly helpful with art! Jot down what you want to work on in some way. If you're doing small projects and sketching, maybe write down what kind of subject or skill you want to improve. If you have a long term project, make a list of what steps you need to take in that painting or drawing so when you sit down to work you have some direction. 

Don't have an idea where to begin?

Outline a Series

If you totally don't know what you want to work on, or what you even want to do with your art in general, I suggest you start by outlining a series. I know this sounds counter-intuitive... if you don't know what to do for one project, how can you know what to do with a whole series?

"The muse finds you working." - Abraham Lincoln

No, Abraham Lincoln didn't say that. I think I heard it was John Singer Sargent that said that but in my mind every single art quote is from him and I don't feel like Googling the answer. It's more fun to me that this is a mystery! 

The point is, sometimes we don't have inspiration because we're not in the creative process. You've got to start doing something, anything, if you want the inspiration fairy to visit you.

I remember 10 or more years ago I started a series of small still lives from life because I wanted to improve my skills, but I honestly didn't care even a drop about painting small objects. First I grabbed things from around the house: a shell, a spoon, a head of garlic. Then I browsed the produce section for a variety of colors and textures. After a while I found the fruits resembled people and seemed to have moods, too. It may or may not be apparent to the viewer, but I ended up creating paintings of prunes who were lovers, and pears who were depressed. It was quite fun! But it only happened because sitting with these objects for some time, meditating on them, and gradually one thought lead to another.

So make your first committed session one where you just make a list for a series. You can simply pick a subject, like 5 paintings of fruit, or 7 drawings of trees, or you can pick a concept, like 6 color studies, or 8 pages of thumbnails showing light falloff. (Seriously check out this exercise I posted on YouTube!)

Or if you do have some ideas, outline a handful of them so you have a plan to keep you going when you're stuck on a project or you've finished one. That way you always have options at hand.

Kickstart a Practice with Free Drawing Lessons!

A blog post wouldn't be complete without some free video lessons would it?

As I'm writing this, I'm gearing up for a new mini workshop focused on sketching facial features. Learn more and sign up here: Sketching Facial Features Virtual Mini-Workshop

You also can join the 5 Day Sketch Challenge where you'll learn beginner skills for drawing a few different subjects with graphite, including shading techniques: Get Your 5 Free Sketching Lessons Here!

Finally, I'd love to hear from you about how you keep your art practice alive, or any questions about art you might have for me! Send me an email, and happy drawing/painting/creating.