Working in a messy, dirty, cluttered art studio might feel a bit ‘arty’, but if you’re trying to run a successful business, create your best work and keep your paintings, and your painting gear, in top condition, it’s probably not the best way to go.
Jackson Pollack at work in his studio. Could you work like this?!
And just look at Francis Bacon’s art studio (dear lord!).
I realize the examples above are on the extreme side of messy, and I am also aware that it didn’t seem to harm their careers much. Indeed, some artists may thrive in a chaotic working environment, but I am not one of those artists, and my advice to anyone starting out painting and running a art business is to keep their art space clean and tidy.
If I walk into my art studio in the morning and there’s mess everywhere, my palette’s dirty, the floors dirty, my brushes are dirty from the day before, and there’s paperwork all over my desk, it effects my mood and saps my inspiration. I’m sure I’m not the only artist that feels like this. However, if I walk into my studio and it’s tidy, organised, all my painting gear is clean and ready to go, I feel different, I’m inspired, my mind is less cluttered, I feel like creating.
Even halfway through the day I’ll sometimes stop work and have a quick tidy-up. It tidies my space and tidies my mind. On a more practical level mess will of course have an effect on your artwork, if when you are painting, your palette becomes covered with dirty muddy paint, stop, get some rags out, and clean it. A dirty mud-laden palette will ruin your colours, and probably ruin your painting.
Glass palette with white paper underneath it.
The same goes for your brushes, if you have a handful of dirty brushes but just keep on painting regardless, because you can’t really be bothered getting up and going off to the sink to clean them properly, guess what’s going to happen? No matter how well you wipe them, or swish them about in your pot of thinners, the dirty muddy (brown) colour will still come down out of the ferrule and kill your lovely clean fresh colours.
I must admit that when it comes to washing brushes, I’m probably as guilty as the next paint splattered artist, and I’ll sometimes push it too far before admitting defeat and heading to the sink. The difference in my colours when I then start to use nice clean brushes is dramatic.
Try to keep your work area clean and tidy.
Probably the most important item in my art studio, after paint, brushes and canvas, is a roll of kitchen paper. I get through a lot of kitchen paper. I use it to clean brushes, my palette, myself, and anything else that gets paint on it, ..and nearly everything in my studio somehow gets paint on it. A close second is that gallon of paint thinners, in my case white spirit, on my painting table in the photo above.
Ready to get to work in my tidy studio.
So:
1) Refill your jam jars, pots and brush cleaners with fresh clean thinners often.
2) Head to the sink and wash your brushes in hot soapy water when they become too dirty to wash affectively with thinners.
3) Keep your painting space clean and clutter free, and allow plenty of room for your inspiration to flow.
Find out more about my Welsh art studio here.
Happy painting
Chris
Great advice!! My best moments while painting occur when I can get lost in the painting (theses always turn out to be my best paintings). However, it is very hard to get lost in my painting (to get into that zone) when I have to dig around for a tube of paint or if I’m fighting with a brush that either needs to be rinsed or was rinsed in dirty water (I work with acrylic paint). Keeping my workspace clean, with my colors organized by the color wheel, and my brushes clean and with reach has had a huge payoff with regard to my ability to focus and for my enjoyment of the painting experience.
I noticed that getting up for clean water as soon as it turns mudy is acually only a tiny distraction. My mind is still with the painting, I stretch a bit, and I get to see my painting from a distance and at different angles. All of this is helpful.
But when I put it off, the resulting battle with my colors, the poor preformance of my brushes, and muddiness on the canvas wind up setting a very negative mood that is very hard to get past and makes it pretty much certain that I won’t get into “the zone” during that session.
Hi Stephanie, I think ‘mess’ has a way of quietly creeping up on us doesn’t it, but I too find it difficult to work in, and especially work happily in, a messy environment. It’s little like, when I give my car it’s annual clean ( yeah, you’re right, I should clean it more often ) it seems to run much better. Similarly, when my studio, palette, brushes.. e.t.c are relatively clean my painting seem to flow much more easily. Chris