I’ve been away from my studio for far too long so in the next few months, I plan to get into my studio on a regular basis and for longer periods of time. Show up and get to work right? That’s my plan.
So a couple days ago, I headed into the studio with vim and vigour!
Then all that energy and enthusiasm vanished, whoosh, out the window, or up the chimney, or wherever it went. All I know is that it was GONE!
WHY? When I
Argh, I knew this for what it was – resistance. If you’re a painter who doesn’t paint, you know what resistance is! This idea was brought to the fore and made popular in the book The War of Art by Steven Pressman. (I’ve put a link to it at the bottom of the post as I think it’s one of those books every creative should read and digest! And just by the way, another classic on a similar subject is Art & Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland. Also worth reading! For example: “To all viewers but yourself, what matters is the product: the finished work. To you, and you alone, what matters is the process: the experience of shaping that artwork…Your job is to learn to work on your work.”)
Steven Pressman writes in his book, “The more fear we feel about a specific enterprise, the more certain we can be that that enterprise is important to us and to the growth of our soul. That’s why we feel so much Resistance. If it meant nothing to us, there’d be no Resistance.”
Painting IS that important to me. My fear is unconscious. I want to paint yet
Recognizing what was going on was one thing, dealing with it was another. I knew that part of my problem is that my creative painting muscle was out of practice. It had withered and needed a bit of a workout. But like going to the gym after being a couch potato and expecting to be a powerhouse the next day is unrealistic and unhealthy, so too is going into the studio and expecting everything to flow easily on that first visit!
Buuuuuttttt this idea – to show up and get to work – that’s something that I know from past experience works! And doing the work can be done in small steps which when all put together, amount to something significant! So if we move forward in a small way, soon the trickle becomes a stream which eventually becomes a river.
So how did I start to get the trickle going? I sat down with a sketchbook and sketched the first thing I saw – a car in the driveway across the road. Then a person walked past and I put her in. (I admit I did snap a photo and continued to work from that.) And then I thought about the painting of my Mum I want to do one of these days. So I pulled up a couple of photos and just began drawing, one pencil stroke after the next. The time flew by. And, that creative energy started to reappear. Yay!
Sketching moved me forward into the art-making process. Next it was pastels. I began by warming up the way I suggested in the HowToPastel Facebook’s Friday Challenge at the beginning of the year. (I’ve included the whole outline of what that is at the bottom of this blog.) Yes, now we’re talking!
From there, I moved onto an abstract pastel piece I’d had an idea to do. And by the end, I had that
Doing something is better than nothing. Better to have made a crummy painting than no
And remember artist Sol LeWitt’s words to artist Eva Hesse? “Just DO!” (You can read his letter to her here.)
I was going to include a step-by-step of the pastel piece I did, but I’m going to share that in a later post as it has its own theme to talk about. (Sorrrrryyyy!)
Look forward to hearing how this idea
Until next time,
~ Gail
PS. Here are the links to the books I referred to above.
And here is the suggestion for warming up with pastels in the studio….show up and get to work! Hope you’ll try it.
Take a breath and read. This is going to be a little bit different.
Much of the time, we do our work thinking about what the outcome is going to be, and what people are going to think about it – are they going to like it? This challenge is about
So here’s what I want you to do. Choose a piece of paper. Make it large enough so you can move your arm around so at least 9 x 12 in. You can use a recycled piece of paper, say a piece that really didn’t work out last year. Just brush it off and start in.
Then choose three pastels of any colour but make sure you have one light colour, one middle value, and one dark. The colours can be monochromatic, analogous, random, anything you like. Don’t think too hard about it! Just select some colours.
Then I want you to pick some music that reflects your current mood. How are you feeling right now? Let the music be part of that feeling.
Then find something that you can smell – a flower, incense, a squeeze of lime, anything that brings scent to you.
Put on the music, smell the aromas, and then sit and close your eyes and think about what it is you want to achieve in your art this year. And really take time to sit and sink into that feeling. TAKE TIME. LOTS OF IT. Listen to the music, smell, pick up a pastel, and enjoy the sensation of it in your hand and then begin to move it on the paper.
Keep your eyes almost closed so that you’re not visually seeing what you’re doing. Seeing what you’re doing will bring self-awareness and judgment. Just listen, feel, and apply the pastel enjoying the sound of it on the paper, the feel of it on the paper, the movement of it on the paper.
Go from one pastel to the next, just intuitively making marks on the edge, in the
When you feel like your brain is going to start kicking in and make some kind of judgment or thinking oh that doesn’t look very balanced or whatever, then STOP. And start again on another piece. Go with the flow of process!
59 thoughts on “Show Up And Get To Work!”
Hi Gail;
After reading your last post about getting stuck. It hit home hard. Since I finished the Master works copy pastel painting for Challenge Friday a few weeks ago, I’ve been stuck. I slid into one excuse after another to not paint or draw. I was watching YouTube videos by Cesar Santos instead of doing the work. No pencil to paper even though I have numerous sketchbooks at my side with pens and pencils ready to use. It felt like being on a diet and putting cookies near me. It’s been 6 days now and it’s been driving me crazy. I saw your email about this subject about an hour ago. It made me upset with myself for not following through and do something on paper or canvas. I’ve tried to have accountability by committing to a 30 in 30 sketch, 30 in 30 Watercolor, now finished a 31 in 31 Pastel challenge, all done now. Did a self Portrait and a portrait of my Grand Daughter in Pastel since. Now today I am challenging myself to learn Acrylics. I’m having a hard time getting started only because I’ve never used Acrylics before. “Just do” is haunting me tonight. I have 3 hours before bedtime. I’ve already avoided going to an Acrylics Workshop that was tonight, a half mile away. Again, your Email really hit me hard and I’m Grateful for your impeccable timing. Here I go…
Enough is enough, I’ll Post what I do tonight, tomorrow on the How to Pastel Group Site.
So so Sincerely;
Bruce
Ahhhh Bruce, I hear you and feel your frustration. I KNOW what that feels like. And yes, 6 days of Resistance!
Sometimes, when the desire to paint/to create becomes too much, we either drive ourselves crazy or we surrender and take out that pencil. I’d say just scribble. Scribble your frustration and self-anger. I think even doing that releases the soul and the need, and reveals the hand of the mark-maker. And from that, in small small steps, we make our progress. Some days it’s Big things we do, on others (often many others, and that’s just fine!), its really tiny ones.
Those short spurt Challenges get us going, and they are GREAT, but it’s the day in and day out that’s the really hard stuff.
I LOVE that you have been spurred to do something, anything. And truly, anything really does count. Look forward to seeing your post in the HTP FB group!
I never thought of it that way. Resistance
I sit on the sofa with my sketch book on my lap and pencils at the ready and my body seems to freeze up, the white page
Don’t want to mess it up, so I will do as you say
Squint at it and make marks
Why do I worry about one page when I have books of it.
Resistance
Thank you. Now to get to work
Helen, a beautiful response. A poem in fact. Thank you.
And yes…..Resistance….
I truly appreciate all that you do to inspire me.
I learn something from every blog.
Thank you.
Rosalie, that’s music to my ears. Thank you!!
Thanks for this, Gail! I am on a roll now, but am aware that it may not last forever…that’s when the show up and work has to kick in. It makes all the difference. I love the quote about the slowest runner! Your encouragement for us to work every day is appreciated and the biggest antidote to resistance.
Wendy I think it’s WONDERFUL that you are on a roll!! And being on a roll means you are in the habit of showing up. So if and when the time comes that things slow down, you will show up and wait to see what happens. Just being there, with your work, with your supplies, with the intention, means it will happen.
And yeah, isn’t that a great quote? I will photograph the board (hoping they haven’t changed it!) and add it to the blog.
And hah, love that I can be an antidote to Resistance 😀
This is very timely. Just earlier today I posted in another group that I belong to that I was feeling despondent because, although I dreamed of painting and thought about it while I was at work, when I got home at the end of the day I seemed to find a lot of reasons not to sit down and paint. Either I couldn’t think what to paint, or my arthritis was bothering me, or I was worn out after a day at work. It started a very interesting conversation and when I got home this evening I did sit down and paint for half an hour. It felt really good.
Ohhh Jayne, yes a perfect example of what we do to ourselves. The voice wants to speak but then our timidity, our fear, our Resistance, comes through loud and clear and puts a stop to any of those ideas! And by the way, I think two of your excuses are completely valid so bravo to you for painting something tonight. Yes!!
And isn’t it wonderful how goooood that feels?! Ahhhh the soul is joyous.
Ohhh Jayne, yes a perfect example of what we do to ourselves. The voice wants to speak but then our timidity, our fear, our Resistence, comes through loud and clear and puts a stop to any of those ideas! And by the way, I think two of your excuses are completely valid so bravo to you for painting something tonight. Yes!!
And isn’t it wonderful how goooood that feels?! Ahhhh the soul is joyous.
A good way to keep drawing if you can’t get into the studio, is to carry a small sketch book with you in your car. I always have one and when I stop for a coffee at Starbucks or Panera’s. I do 1 minute gesture sketching. People always sit still for a few minutes, starring at their lab tops or cell phones.
It’s like having a free model for a few minutes
Fantastic Norman! Yes, a wee sketchbook with you at all times is a perfect way to jot down a few observations. And it’s amazing how engrossed people are in their thoughts or activities that one can get something recorded about the scene. And the thing to remember is that it’s for your eyes only so it really doesn’t matter what it looks like. It’s the DOING that is soooo important.
Thanks again for sharing this tip!
Now that the holidays are over and life returns to normal, it’s time to open the new box of pastel’s or the new pad of sanded sheets. (I still have a pad of original Wallis sanded paper.) I treat it like gold. The routine of drawing everyday will soon begin with the “Wine cellars artists”, (portraits) and the “Chalk-A-Holic”, (landscapes) group I paint with. Plus, my almost daily routine at Starbucks, Panera’s or Barnes & Noble one to two minute gesture sketching, without an eraser. You’re right, it doesn’t matter what it looks like, it’s the daily routine of drawing. It’s like I tell my niece, (future artists). Draw, Draw, Draw, every day.
Oh my gosh Norman, you have lots in place – your art groups and your own gesture drawing habit at various appealing (with rewards!) locations – to support you in your art-making. Brilliant! Thanks for sharing this. I’m sure other readers will be inspired and set up their own habits using yours as a springboard!
And I agree about drawing!!!!
Gail, Stop talking about me. But thanks for the helping hand
Hah hah gotcha!!
Nice one Gail. Thankfully this year I’ve started early, too many years of sluggish starts left me playing catch up in April. Great post though. Will try your squint smell scratchy pastel Music therapy though!…sounds wild…
Best
Aidan
Hello Aidan!
How clever of you to get cracking early in the year. You describe so well what happens if you don’t!
And I’m curious, did you try my squintysmellyscratchy experiment??? (It is wild….and wonderful to just let go…
Dear Gail, do know abort procrastination and great the Way you andres it in your blog. I did get a kick in my but from the different artists you had recently coming with suggestions abort sjat is the most importafgift ting in an art process. So I have now started daily sketchings and fejl a much stronger urge now to move to putting pastel on to paper!!
BUT ONE REQUEST: please stop setting your text in this blog in GREY, but BLACK please. It is so hard to read the grey text for my eyes. I know it is a fashion to do so, but we are some older people with eyes NOT so strong anymore.
Thanks Susana, happy and sorry it resonated with you! It’s amazing how doing some small artwork gets the art-making habit going and opens the way to more and deeper work.
Thanks for the input on the text colour. I feel it’s quite dark BUT…this year I am going to work on both my websites – try to link them and update them – so I will certainly take text colour into consideration! Is anyone else having this problem?
Gail, I, too, would appreciate a more readable font – darker and thicker. This getting older is for the birds!! Thanks!! Kaylee
Hi Kaylee,
Hoping to update my website soooooon and a darker font is definitely on my list!
If I can figure out the coding, I’ll do it sooner.
Hang in there……. 🙂
Ahh, yes. I have two paintings sitting in my studio. My English students for the past month have stated, “You haven’t done anything on them, have you?” My reasons? The rain keeps the studio dark (one window facing northwest), if I turn on the light, the colors will look slightly different, I have to make lunch, I have to run errands, I have to do some housework in this pig sty, I have classes coming up and fifteen minutes is not enough, it’s night (again the light), there are other people in this small house and the noise distracts me, etc. At the same time, I feel the need to put pastel to paper. So, this afternoon, before classes, I will try to do even just two strokes, even if I have to turn on the light.
Oh Maria, I laughed and sighed when I read your comment. I know ALL those things sooooo intimately (and I’m sure others here do too)!! And yet that need to put pastel to paper!! I hope hope you tried even two strokes. I will today too.
Thank you for this, Gail. It just makes so much sense to me.. The more I paint, the more I need to paint. Doing drives me to do more. Getting started is the challenge. Your suggestions are wonderful and I actually cannot wait to try the 3 Pastel workout.
Bless you,
Bev
Yes yes Bev! Painting means more painting!! Love that – “doing drives me to do more.”
Getting the art-making train started takes a HUGE boost of fuel, intention, and committment. And getting that wheel to just, start, moving, is the hardest part of the whole thing.
Have fun with the three-pastel challenge 🙂 Remember, no judgement!
Best article ever: Thank you for your compassionate mentoring and sharing honest experience. Thank you for the further reference reading. Best, Mary
Whoo hoo! Thanks so much Mary!! Funny when I write these blog posts, I sometimes wonder if they will help, if it’s too much me, or if they will resonate with anyone and so it’s always a relief when they do. So thank you.
And yes, those books are excellent for seeing what is happening when we resist painting and so knowing that, we can see our way to go through to the other side.
I’ve been in a slump but I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about one photo that I have, so I’m about ready to get started. I might do another “warm up” to get me going. And, I’m reminded about a funny story about me when I read your YMCA quote. In my mid 50’s, I was talked into entering a 5K on a very cold blustery morning in December. I didn’t want to do it, but I promised I would, and so I went. It was a hilly run, and I struggled, finally ending up being the last runner to come back in. I was so far behind and was so alone out there that the two police cars monitoring the race surrounded me on either side all the way back to the Y. From a distance, I could see people standing outside the door encouraging me to finish. All so embarrassing!!! But, as the awards were given out, my name was called winning first place in my age group…….because I was the ONLY one in my age group to finish the race!! hahahaha! Proving your point! Get off the couch!! 😉
Ruth, all I can think is wow, 5K. Wow – 5K!!! Fantastic. Love that story. Thanks soooo much for sharing. Push on, do what you can, and you never know what amazing reward will be at the end! Get off the couch 😀
And yes, I recommend the warm-up – get the pastelling juices flowing.
Hi Gail! Thank you for being REAL and sharing about the struggle that I believe ALL artists go through at some point–probably much more often than most care to admit. I know that when I try to express feelings surrounding my own self-imposed resistance, most non-artist friends don’t get it. After all, creating is something I supposedly love to do, right? Seems so ridiculous to have any kind of fear/frustration/hesitancy surrounding a passion….but there it is.
One thing I started about a month ago is using a few art apps to do thumbnails from my own reference photos. I use an Apple pencil and either the iPastels or Brushes Redux app (both in app store). Any down time I have in front of the tv at night (I’m a night owl) can be spent doing a few of these with no pressure. Lately, I have been sick and didn’t have much energy, but I could still sit on my sofa drinking tea and doing thumbnails….
I now have several thumbnail sketches that I can pull up on my tablet at any moment to start a painting! This was an important step for me because it makes the actual start up process for each painting go more quickly–I just have to choose my palette and tape up my paper! No struggle over deciding what to paint or how to declutter a reference photo. The values map from the thumbnail is already done!
Hope this tip helps someone.
Thanks for what you do and for this blog! I always enjoy reading it. 🙂
Hi Rhonda, thanks for pointing out that non-artist friends just don’t get it! Sooooo true!
Sorry to hear you’ve been sick but AWESOME that you are creating a whole slew of thumbnails! You are so right when you say, come time to paint, really, the hardest part has been done! Thanks for the names of the apps you use. I’m sure that many will find that useful.
Also, yes, there’s something about working digitally, the ephemeral nature of it, that takes away the pressure. It’s all so relaxed and spontaneous.
Thanks again for your comment 😀
Thank you for the help to put pastel to paper. I have hummmed and haaahad, in and out of my art room, looked at what I had done but not been able to start anything. So…. I took paper and one pastel and took it into the sitting room and started drawing, I then found myself getting another pastel and then ended up in my art room and finishing off an abstract I had been thinking about. Thanks to you I finally got going.
Oh Ann, I am sooooo happy to hear that. It’s interesting how just making the start, that small start, lights off a spark and soon we are ablaze!
Good for you for taking immediate action after reading the blog and not just thinking about taking action (much easier to do!). And look where it took you?! Bravo.
Great post, Gail! The beginning of the year is so hard for me. I’m a type of person who goes deep into process and when i’m Interrupted (all those wonderful end-of-the-Year holidays and distractions!) it’s really hard to get back into that creative flow. And even though I was not really absent in the studio in January I still feel like i’m not really working yet. I find at least the deadlines for juried shows help me to pick up some speed 🙂
Lana, YES! I totally am with you on the creative process and the effect of interruptions and distractions. And yes, those end-of-year-activities, as wonderful as they can be, do interrupt.
And yes, there’s nothing like a deadline to light a fire under one’s art-making butt 🙂
Hope you’re picking up speed now!
Perfect timing! After completing a yearlong series, I ran headlong into medical issues with my husband. Now after doing almost NO art for several months, I am feeling the need to get back to work. But, yes, resistance kept following me into the studio! I finally just grabbed my sketchbook and some pencils and began sketching a portrait – a subject I never do. Maybe because it was different, but I really enjoyed just working with values and a new subject. It felt good. Sure hoping resistance has been shoved back into the closet!
Susan, three WOWS for you – one for the year-long series (cool and kudos), one for no painting because of your husband’s medical issues), and one for just doing it! Love that you grabbed a pencil and just started in on something, even if that something is a subject you don’t do. A good thing I think, that unfamiliarity. No pressure that way (even though, having said that, you chose to do a portrait – pretty brave!).
Resistance is banned! Or at least greeted and dismissed 😀
Thank you Gail for another great message. I’m travelling again and although I have plenty of supplies I often find it so difficult to keep up the momentum while I’m away. I managed to paint daily for the first week but this past week has been empty and as I’m sitting in Pearson airport on the next (long) leg of my journey your words have inspired me! I’ve pulled out my sketch pad and a pen and, remembering your words ‘Doing something is better than nothing’ I’ve just sketched the couch across from me and a lady eating dinner! Your sketch images helped too!
Oh Helen, that’s wonderful! Very happy to hear that you have sketchbook and pen handy.
I know what a pain it can be to pull out your tools when travelling but even if you do a couple wee things, just practising your observation and putting it on paper, you’ll feel that much better for actually doing rather than thinking about doing. So good for you!!
I think the resistance for some of us (uh, me) to show up at the easel is the feeling of not being able to compete with other artsts who are more experienced and/or perceived to be “better” — whatever “better” means. It’s inspiring to view other people’s great art, but it can also be intimidating. Such-and-such painting got hundreds of *likes*!! etc. When I cut down on my online envy and get to work, I am a happier and more productive artist. I’m only in competion with myself.
Ohhhhh Tena, you bring up such a good point!! And you also hit the nail on the head when you said “whatever ‘better’ means”. And I love that you know the answer to becoming more productive and happier as a painter. Thank you for sharing this!!
I know how looking at the incredible work of other artists can diminish one’s own self-esteem when it comes to painting. But you know what? They aren’t YOU! You are the only person who can paint what’s inside you to paint, with your touch, with your vision. If you don’t paint it, it won’t get painted. Only YOU can express it.
I agree with what everybody else said! In fact, I just read a page from my copy of The War of Art. I promised myself to ‘paint every day’, but as you said just being in the studio, reading or watching a video works for me too. Today I bought some trays to hold paper, to get better organized, sorted some old paintings into a stack to be reused. And I already started another painting yesterday. Doing little minis of an idea really help kick start my habit. My goal is that painting is top 1 or 2 priority (exercise is the other) on my time. From The War of Art: “The professional knows that Resistance is like a telemarketer; if you so much as say hello, you’re finished. The pro doesn’t even pick up the phone. He says at work.” I like your sketching idea; this is an area I really need to develop. Thanks.
Marsha, thanks for sharing what you are doing to make painting one of your top priorities this year. Painting every day is such a fabulous and lofty goal. So yes, for me it’s about being in my studio and see what happens!
I LOVE the Resistance quote from Steven Pressfield. Perfect. By the way, exercise is also on my priority list and I’ve even started an Instagram account called MoveDailyGirl to keep myself accountable!
Thanks for being so generous in your disclosure of your experience with resistance. So it does happen to the best!! I vowed I would sketch if not able to paint, each day. 15 minutes is a very little precious time to devout but the minimum necessary I keep telling myself. I will repeat the challenge I enjoyed (although really not successful) last year! And vow to complete Pastels 101 which I stopped halfway as I felt my vision improve from radical surgery and was gung ho! But I realize I need to revisit the structure and technique, along with Gails’s terrific sense of humor❤️
Hi Brenda, That’s great news about your vision improving and getting gungho to paint. Totally understandable!! The Pastels 101 course is there whenever you need to return to it 🙂
15 minutes. It seems like such a small commitment but as I write this response a few days into the year, already I’ve found it a challenge – even just to be IN the studio. But I do it every day regardless of how silly it seems to sit there late in the evening. But then there is always something to do – to tidy, to sketch, to read. Always!
I can spare 15 plus minutes a day with no excuse morning or night and longer. It’s the fear of failure always thinking my work isn’t good enough. I have always had to have a special feeling for the painting going to start. I appreciate this blog of yours. So here I come 2020!!! I’m going to sketch paint definitely organize.
Thanks Gail for your constant encouragement !!
Dolores I can feel your energy and commitment from here!! Let’s make 2020 a studio year! Because yes, I know that just being there will start the juices and fingers flowing! Here’s to us and our year!
For this January 4, 2020, I shall follow Gail’s SHARED goal of 15 minutes in the studio every day for 2020……since I have not been painting for a whole year. Thanks for your inspiration. Annik
Annik, I am moved that you have taken this challenge to be your own. I wanted to make it a stretch yet an achievable goal, to be IN the studio doing whatever. Anything. I think being there will lead to the work. I do hope it leads to painting for you too. To us this year!
This was so much what I needed to hear right now! I have been stuck with ‘no inspiration’….but I love the suggestion to just make marks and see where they lead. I will start with that and see where it leads me. Thank you so much. I love your blogs.
Splendid Judy!! I do hope you try the mark-making adventure. Just let go and see where it leads. You never know….!!
Steven Pressman is so right! We’re fearful because making art “right” is so important to us! Thank you for this article, Gail. I’ll try to go to my studio everyday. Even if it’s only to organize it. You never know what you’re going to find…
That’s fantastic Marian. Let’s get in the studio and see what meets us there!
My studio is the heart of my home. But comes second to my round antique oak claw table, where nourishment, sharing life’s stories, settings of still life and sketching …ground me and bond all who been around me these past 40 some years. Yes I am one of those who have a story for everything I own. I also draw watching TV. I draw sitting on my couch. I have artists tools there too. My brain wants to see more…all the time. When I am in the car I record in my mind the shapes of trees and how light alters the landscape. In other words …I might be a tad boring …but curiosity keeps me moving.
Being present is the key, for it keeps art flowing.
Bernadette, how wonderful to give us an intimate peek into your home and process. I yearn to be there in the warmth of the heart of home.
I also thank you for sharing your process of being an artist – always looking, seeing, recording.
As you say, being present is so key. Thank you!!
Hi Gail,
Thank you for creating such an encouraging blog. There is so much I can relate to:
* I seem to be quite hard on myself and have become focussed on the end result and not always the process or I’m not always comfortable with the ugly stage. (Probably because I have exhibited work so now I am aware of what people think instead of just painting for the love of it and what I like)
*And I am also expecting myself to be painting amazing portraits when I’m rusty at art and new to pastels.
Thank you for encouraging us to take the pressure off and to simply do our best daily.
I love the sketches of your mom, there is such energy in your work.
I’m so glad this blog post struck a chord with you Melanie.
It’s fascinating the way we can let the end result be the determiner of working or not at our art. And yet, when we’re painting, actually doing the work, that’s when we probably feel the most joy. Even as we struggle, it’s the doing that can give us the greatest deep pleasure.
Just do…and play…and enjoy the journey.