As an artist, I almost abhor and often rebel against routines.  Often I approach my day's activities with a "whatever I feel like" approach, and hope that inspiration will lead me in the right direction.  The only problem is - this approach has proved to be inadequate to supply the correct incentive  to get to my artwork. To put it simply: it's a nice theory, but it doesn't work for me.

So... now that I'm entering the fall years of my life, I've come to know without a doubt that the only way for me to move forward with my career goals on a day to day basis is to follow a routine.  Yes, it seems contrived, but it actually works!  When I know exactly what I should be doing at any point of the day or week, there's no confusion... I just go to work when work is scheduled and play on the weekends (when I'm not painting with the Putney Painters).  In fact, when I paint on Saturdays, I will take an extra day during the week off from painting.  Too much work will make me boring (except maybe to artists).

So what about the nuts and bolts of a routine schedule?  This summer, I've decided that it's impossible for me to put in 8 hours a day of painting for 5 days a week.  The main reason is that I cannot concentrate or paint well for that many hours in a row.  The other thing that gets in my way is "too many other responsibilities".  The point is that no matter what schedule I try, it has to be regular and repetitive - or else I'll wander away from it and end up wasting time and energy on the wrong stuff.

So what did I do?  I decided that 3 fairly full days of work is better than one or two with guilt, so I attend to non-art tasks on Monday and Friday (these tend to be my least productive days anyway), and I paint/write on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.  So far, so good!  Because I spend the middle of the week in my studio, there is a sense of continuity.  It's a long enough period joined together to really get my teeth into a work project, and I don't let myself be distracted by non-art stuff because I know that there are days designated for them.

Well, it's Friday - pack for the weekend, trip to the dump, laundry, pick up around the house.  Yes, my husband does his own laundry and washes the dishes, but there's still a lot do to.

Now we all can't live by the same schedule, but for each of us, there is a reasonable solution to designating time for making art and also time for the rest of life's duties and relationships.  I'm going to stick with this schedule for a while - I'll let y'all know how it works out.

Sincerely,
Lori

  I promised to show a list of what steals my precious working time away. For each of you, the items will be different, but you probably are well aware of what they are because you feel guilty when you spend time on them. I'm going to get brutally honest with myself so that I can get down to the business of painting – and writing articles. Yep, I've got two careers... in the long run, one will win out over the other, but I must do both now.

Things I do and shouldn't be doing (during my most productive hours)

Looking randomly around at sites on the Internet. This does not include research for my articles. But have you ever noticed how much time can pass while you're ONLINE? It's as though my mind goes into hyper mode and forgets that anything else exists around me. In a way, I feel similarly to when I'm painting – time flies by and I forget to look at the clock. I get totally engrossed in what I'm reading as though it were the most important thing I could do. Well, you're reading this blog, so when you're done, you might want to consider working if this is your most mind-focused time of the day. And I don't want to make you feel like there's no time for play – play and recreation is a rewarding experience – especially when we've got our work done.

Checking email every hour. Art making is a lonely existence. I am a socially oriented person, and email is almost as good as talking to someone. I am thankful that I don't particularly like using the phone. Day after day goes by, with me being my own companion. When my husband gets home, he has been talking to people all day, so it's not a good time to blast him with incessant verbiage. However, and this is huge, if I spend my best hours checking email, and then the news and the weather and so on, I will pay the dear price of non-success. At this point in my career, I've got a lot going for me – there is nothing standing in my way of becoming a nationally known top selling artist except my tendency to while away the hours on non-productive activity. Again, it's not that I can't do these things, but perhaps I could leave them for the hours when my mind is foggy.... like after dinner. OR, even every other evening. If someone needs to get a hold of me, they can use the phone. Email is for non-urgent stuff.

Shopping: This includes thinking of shopping or looking at catalogs I'll know what things I truly want later in the day – when my mind is almost useless to paint or write. I used to work at a computer company... imagine how awful I would have felt if I needed to be moving toward a deadline and my boss caught me looking at catalogs Even if they're art catalogs, art related tasks can steal my time just as efficiently as non-art related tasks.

Chores: A successful artist friend of mine once admitted to being self-coerced into vacuuming when she had a painting deadline. She said, “I know I'll be successful at vacuuming” Isn't it amazing how the urge to do menial tasks become suddenly seductive when we've got an art deadline? The problem is that no matter how long one has been painting, one cannot PROVE that it can be done again – until well into the painting process. That's because painting is somewhat of a right-brained process; we can't remember just how we did it sometimes. OK, so the point here is that chores and other necessary STUFF that I need to do can be done at the appropriate time.

The list goes on, and I'll add some as I come across them and deal with them. I hope this has been helpful to some of you out there. My intent is that by sharing, I'll strike a chord with readers and make some kind of positive difference – even if small.
Now I've gotta get a new Watercolor Tip done for www.myamericanartist.com  (which is part of my job)

Sincerely,

Lori

  Have you ever noticed that on days when you're traveling or have other appointments, that you feel very little confusion over what you ought to do for the day? All I know is that as a professional artist, I deal daily with organizing my tasks – fighting between what I ought to do and what I want to do, and the million tiny menial tasks that need to be done in order to maintain the home, car and all the other things we own.

My husband and I have a second home – which I love dearly, but it devours time – at least 1 day a week to preparing and packing for the weekend. But you know all about how frustrating it is to try to work at home or studio and get everything else in life done, so let me move on to being specific.

As an artist, I am my own boss. I manage my business and all the details that go with it – framing, preparing canvases, buying supplies, marketing, treasurer (finances), etc. All of these things must be done, and yet not one of them produces paintings. Now it may seem obvious, but without lots of great paintings, all of these other tasks are useless. Here's the point, and this is huge. The major part of my daily hours must be spent in making my product (my paintings) to have a thriving business.

But so many things get in the way. However, some of those things that steal my time away can be eliminated or moved to time slots that free up plenty of time for painting. So, for now, I'm not going to worry about the non-art business related things – like buying mums for the front yard or even cleaning the house or going to the dump. Today, I am going to focus on my art career tasks only – because these things are extremely important to my success.

Number One: try my best to cut down on unnecessary habits that cut into my precious working hours. We all have a time of day or evening when we are able to focus on our work. Mine is 'right now' – about 9 a.m. Until 2 p.m. It's 10 o-clock in the morning. I just took my morning walk, and you wouldn't believe all the 'ideas' that popped into my mind... priming my mind for non-painting. Thoughts about an addition for our cabin, working in the yard, writing this blog, and the list goes on.

Now when I get back to the studio, am I primed for work? Nope... .and I have no boss standing over my shoulder who's going to make me work. As my own boss, I need to get very good at being, well... bossy with myself. By the way, my work time is divided between writing for an art magazine and painting. Right now, the article stuff must be done – I have a deadline, but the paintings... will anyone reprimand me for not having paintings ready for a show? Probably not. Here's where I must get tough with myself because even though I don't feel any penalties right away for putting off painting, the ultimate truth is that I will not succeed as an artist. Putting off what one must do to succeed grows under the surface, barely noticed – until one day you realize that the years have flown and you've missed the boat.

I highly recommend a book: Coach Yourself to Success by Talane Meidaner. 101 tips from a personal coach for reaching your goals at work and in life.

My next blog – which I'll begin today is a list of all my time-stealers. Things I like to do – and are ok to do, but not during the most productive time of my day.

Sincerely,

Lori

Successful Artists Paint Every Day

Well, it's been a great summer for me, and if you're wondering why I haven't put out any blogs for you to read, it's because I've been on a painting and writing hiatus for Watercolor Magazine.

I've got about 10 topics lined up -- most concerned with Time Management for Artists.  For for this first blog, I'll examine the various reasons why we don't have enough time to do all the things we want to do, plus those we have to get done... AND schedule in time for rest and relaxation. Yes, R&R is important if we want to remain sane and keep close to friends and family.

I believe that the real truth of the matter is that: WE CANNOT POSSIBLY DO IT ALL. I don't care what the books say! One of the reasons why we don't have enough time is because we try to juggle too many tasks – all with equal importance in our mind. Some things have got to go!

If I need more time, I have to do fewer things.

If I'm serious about the success of my art career, then I must raise it to a higher priority, which means that some tasks are going to move down the latter in imporatnce. The first step is to take a good hard, look at what really needs to be done and what my imagination thinks needs to be done.

We all have tasks that are essential to healthy and organized living – you know what yours are. Then there are tasks which I add to those – and erroneously give them the same priority as what is truly important. For example... during my morning walk (which is an activity that is essential to my physical and mental health), I saw that one of our neighbors had beautiful mums. With that observation, I added, “Buy Mums” to my To Do list. Now that is just a crazy idea! The yard looks perfectly presentable, and as a serious, professional artist, I don't have time to add tasks to my current list. My "imagined" list also contains: reupholstering a couch and chair, kayaking, visiting a bookstore, visiting friends; and I might add, write an instructional book, do outdoor shows, get into two new galleries, enter national competitions... well you get the idea. Because I am a creative person, my thinking easily migrates to being creative with my time, but the only problem is. If I do all those things – instead of the things I truly need to do, I'll never get to the easel.

I'm not saying any of the stuff on my list is unimportant – what I am saying is that some items should have a lower priority. I'm pretty sure we all instinctively understand what tasks are imporatant to life and which ones are are just “want to do's” So today, I will make a list of things I'm currently doing which need to be done, and which are things I just want to do. When the NEED stuff is well under control, then the WANT stuff can be attended to.  Another list: Ways in which I waste time on a daily basis. Again, none of these things is bad in itself - only in that they keep me from accomplishing the long term desires of my heart.  I'll share my lists with you on a later blog, but for now -- I gotta hit the canvas.

Sincerely,

Lori Woodward Simons

www.woodwardsimons.com