Discovery

Peaceful Valley oil 18 x 14 SOLD

So it has been about 7 months since I started writing this blog.  I have posted more than I thought I would.  I have also discovered something about myself. I am not a writer. Blogging has become another thing on the list of things I have to do.  I thought it might give my readers some insight into my work, but what I have found is that I love to paint.  Painting doesn't feel like a job to me.  I amvery lucky that I somehow wound up making my living at it.

I have work to do and it is making paintings.  So, I am going to leave you with this post.  In the meantime, you can keep up with my work and my current events on my website http://www.katekieslerfineart.com/.

I will still keep up with my favorite blogs and I will still spend my free time taking in all I can about art.  I hope you do to.

Routines and Rituals

Permanence oil 18 x 14

Disciplined routine is an important part of my everyday life.  Even though I work from home, I treat my painting day just as if I needed to show up at an office where I was accountable for getting work done. Otherwise, I would waste my day on the little stuff like laundry and cleaning out my paint drawer.

Every morning, I wake and walk the dog.  This clears the sleepiness and starts me thinking about what I will make for the day.  I am at my desk by 8:00. I paint until 12:30 or so NO MATTER WHAT. I break for lunch and then it is back to work until about 2:00. Then I can take care of prepping boards, and framing, and inventory, and the blog and website, in the late afternoon when I am too fuzzy-headed for good work.  And then begins the long wait until the next day when I can wake up and get to work again (I stole this line from Donald Hall's Life Work and he stole the line from Hemingway).

I find that many professional artists have a similar routine--though some work at night instead of during the day. I read recently that it actually promotes creativity to have daily rituals. If I haven't followed the daily routine, I get a bit anxious, like all work will cease and I will never sell another piece in my life.  So, it is important to me to stick to it.

What are your routines or rituals?

Productivity

Mountain Stream oil 16 x 12

"There seem to be times of reception and times of creation and it is perhaps difficult not to confuse the two." -Margaret Wise Brown

This week has been a bit of a wash when it comes to work.  Life sometimes gets in the way (this week the dog was at the vet and we had to deal with the neighbor's broken pipes flooding our house) and productivity goes out the window.  I get a bit flustered when I don't have much to show for my time in any given day, but I have to remind myself that as a painter, I am always taking in ideas. 

On my daily walk with the dog, it is hard not to notice the early morning light, or the color on the mountains, or the way the willows dip to touch the river along the way. Sometimes ideas will come when I'm driving, or cooking dinner, or watching a movie. I'll take those collected thoughts back to the studio.  It is important to have your eyes open and to be receptive, and though it doesn't seem like I'm working when I'm noticing the world, that time is just as important as time spent in the studio.