BY ANDREW OCHAL
January 6, 2021
photos care of unsplash
The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the text belong solely to the author, and not necessarily to the author's employer, Arlene’s Artist Materials. Please contact us with any questions.
COVID numbers are on the rise and even with the potential of another lock down looming there are always gleamers of hope. Staying creative is definitely one of them. Finding the time to create will combat the day to day chaos that is all too commonplace in this pandemic riddled world we live in. It is 2021 and there is hope for a brighter future is on the horizon. However, we still need to get through the situation at hand and make sure we get there. Here are some tips to help you stay safe, stay creative and weather the storm leftover from 2020.
Make your home studio work for you.
Craving out a space for a home studio is not only therapeutic it is seemingly necessary to maintain calm and center yourself. It doesn’t matter if it is a spare bedroom, a basement or even a corner of the kitchen table as long as it is dedicated space for you to use to create. Your beacon to guide you through this tumultuous time. No matter what it looks like, make it work for you.
Take stock of your living situation and think about what you need out of your home studio. Not everyone has an extra room or a basement to use however you’d be surprised what you can accomplish with limited space. A kitchen or dining room table works great. Art Journaling can happen with the help of an end table and you on the sofa. Even a corner of a bedroom will suffice. Keep in mind whether or not you want the home studio permanent or want to be more flexible. The most important thing to keep in mind is, make it work for you.
Make a list of all the things you want to have in a studio and organize it by what you need to what you can live without. First cover the things you need and, if you can, slowly tick off your wants until you are satisfied with the space you created. Need help getting your home studio organized? Check out 21 Ways to Get Organized in 2021.
© The Joseph & Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation/VAGA, New York and DACS, London 2020
Embrace the limitations
There are potential limitations to working from a home studio but make it work for you. Try another medium or take the time to go back to basics. If you can’t oil paint because of lack of ventilation, maybe try acrylics. Try collage, decoupage or assemblage. Watercolor is a great medium that does not require much space or clean up. It's a great opportunity to use this time to diversify and grow your creativity in new ways. I can’t express the importance of drawing to an artist. Whether its with graphite, charcoal or even a ball point pen the practice of drawing is virtual to making art. Focus on honing your skills at drawing and you won’t regret it.
Feeling stuck? Try something new and you’ll surprise yourself with all the unforeseen benefits it will bring to your work. Try making a sculpture with found objects or making a shadow box. Be resourceful and keep an open mind. You’d discover new ways to problem solve and work that will help you get over your creative block. Need guidance? Arlene’s has a selection of online classes and workshops that will help you stay creative while in the comfort of your own home studio.
Get in the habit of Art Journaling
No matter your situation, keeping an art journal is a game changer for creating art. It can be your everything that you pour all your creativity into, your log of how you created a certain piece, your dogma for why you create what you do, your laboratory for your creative experiments and so on. Regardless of what your home studio is, adding Art Journaling to your practice will help you immensely. Check out Art Journaling for Artists, Writers and Photographers with Carolyn DiFiori-Hopkins on Tuesdays February 16th, 23rd, March 2 and 9th, from 7 to 9pm.
Get up and walk away
We are all only human and it's OK to take breaks. As artists we get so immersed in our work that we get stuck or even can’t see what is happening. Getting up and walking away gives you fresh eyes to see your work so you can troubleshoot problems and develop your idea. If it only for a couple minutes or longer. Give yourself the time to process and think so you can better create.
Be kind to yourself.
There are a lot of reasons to stress out nowadays but expressing yourself shouldn’t be one of them. So what if that painting isn’t working the way you wanted. Give yourself permission to “make mistakes” and allow yourself to learn from them. Take a moment, evaluate the situation and glean what you can. Don’t beat yourself up but rather free yourself to experiment. Be kind to yourself and grow from your creative endeavors.