Make your art practice accessible to you

Some tips on organising your workspace and process

Apr 16, 2024

I am very interested in the creative process as a fundamental part of any art practice. It plays a vital role in how we develop our original style and voice, but it is also of highest importance when it comes to making the space for creating art - both physically and mentally. Artists can have a hard time when it comes to actually start creating, because it implies developing a specific routine, being in a certain mindset, and understanding what and how you’re going to create in this particular moment.

Your art practice should be accessible to you, whenever you are ready to create. By “accessible” I mean being able to go to your creative space and start creating without suffering from decision-making fatigue. It’s especially important, if you are limited in your studio time and space (as I am). After experimenting with my setup and process for quite a while, I determined several “areas of improvement” and hopefully my experience can be of help to others.

I divided the tips into two categories:

“Workspace & supples” - focusing on the aspect of creating a welcoming physical environment.
“Practice & process” - focusing on creating supporting routines.

Workspace & supplies

Regardless which supplies you use, you would want them to be readily available at any moment. I have a very limited space, so I needed to create an environment that will allow me to make art (even if I have 10-20 minutes) and then clean up relatively quickly.

What I did:

Designed two devoted art spots - in addition to the computer table. First setup is on top of a chest of drawers, I have a ring lamp and my idea board there as well as just enough place to work in a sketchbook or on sheets of paper. I also use this space to create videos for my sketchbook tours. Second spot is just a little coffee table with some supplies, so I can paint when sitting on the couch. Thanks to these spots it is quite easy to jump in and start creating something.
Created a new mini watercolour palette that is easy to use both at home and on trips.
Sorted out all of my dry supplies (pencils, crayons, charcoal, pastel, etc.), created (1) little sets or combinations suitable for different scenarios (for value studies, simple sketches, coloured sketches, mixed media pieces, etc.), (2) a selection of pencils and crayons in my currently most used colours, and (3) put it all in open containers and boxes, so that everything is easy to reach.
Bought little plastic containers for acrylics, because it always frustrated me that I squeezed paint out of the tube, then it dried too fast and then I squeezed it out again, but the colour mixes differed slightly, and it all was sort of getting on my nerves. Scooping paint out of a container somehow optimises the whole process. What I want to do additionally is to create my own paint mixes (most used colours) and also put them into containers, so that I can save even more time. All this was very much inspired by
Sandi Hester
, her videos are gold and have a ton of practical advice, please follow her, she is amazing!
Finally, a disposable tear off palette has been a game changer in terms of saving time on clean up. I don’t actually throw away the used pages, I collect and use them as collage papers.

Practice & process

Apart from creating an inviting physical environment, it is also important to set some limitations regarding your practice and process, as this will diminish the need to make decisions even more. I think that introducing limitations (colour palette, materials, technique, subject matter, etc.) is beneficial for style development. As much as experimentation and exploration should be at the heart of one’s creative process, it’s nevertheless important to have a focus - it can be narrow or wide, but still consist of specific parts amounting to something that is uniquely you.

Also, you don’t have to stick to the same limitations for your whole life! Just give yourself time to explore a specific medium, subject or genre.

What I do:

I have and regularly update a pin board with ideas: colour swatches & mixes, sketches & studies, collage papers & mark-making examples - all sorts of visual inspiration. The look of the board changes quite a bit as the seasons go by and as my art process develops, but it’s not a radical change, rather I am finding my voice through a process of addition and subtraction. Also, the board allows me to have visual references and inspiration at all times.
I always have on hand various sketchbooks with studies and journals with reflections. When I am not in the mood to paint, I flip through my old work and search for common threads in my art, reflect on my practice or just write down random thoughts (e.g. what I want to experiment with more).
On the basis of my board and reflections I introduce limitations in terms of supplies, substrates, colours and subject matter. Currently I am honing my colour palette, focusing on studies, learning my marks, and creating mostly on paper and in sketchbooks. Also, for the 100 Day Project I decided to focus on watercolour landscapes.
I like writing down a plan - what I want to explore this month, what skills I want to improve, do I join a challenge or work towards a specific collection of work, explore a specific medium or style, etc. At all times I know what I am working on.

All these steps make it easier to jump in and create art - I already know what I will create and how I will work. Surely, it isn’t always so straightforward, sometimes I can feel uninspired or be creatively blocked or just not in the mood to repeat the same process, but improving the physical space along with having a good understanding of the routine and current focus helps to use my energy, time and mental capacity on actually making art and not on making decisions all the time.

I highly recommend checking out this episode of the Learn to Paint Podcast about a daily painting practice. Kelly speaks a lot about how you can fit 20 minutes of art even into a busy life and gives practical advice on implementing this approach. Also this recent episode from Laura Horn has a good example of creating limitations when working towards a specific goal (releasing new work).