Studio Time & Materials I like to use
It’s taken me a while to find out what works for me while painting. In the first years, I would make a giant mess of everything while figuring out how to use my body as an extension of the paintbrush (or sponge or knife or whatever!) instead of the other way around. I also spent a lot of money trying out products, resulting in a plenty of cut up canvases, spilled paint, dried up and ruined brushes and then some. I like to think back on this time as an intense creative incubation and am forever grateful for it.
Today, my studio is filled with a lot of different materials that I can use to explore any whim while creating. From pastels, to crayons, spray paint, watercolours, pencils, and what I’m known for —vibrant acrylics, I’m never short of tools to bring lively, colourful works into the world. At the moment, I both live and work in my studio space. I adore this set up since I can work whenever I feel like it without losing time commuting elsewhere or risk loosing a creative pang from deep inside. But it’s taken me a while to figure out how to navigate the “living” part among the workflow my art requires. After three years, I’ve finally set up small workspace where I can make the framed collections you see on my Instagram and website, as well as an area for my easel with plenty of storage for excess. Having these clear designated spots - that are in close proximity of one another - allows me to flow in a far more relaxed and peaceful manner.
These are some of the companies I like to buy from:
Panda
I also use stretched linen canvas for my larger paintings and a variety of mixed media/multi-technique paper for my smaller framed expressions. The paper I like to pick up when I’m in Paris but you can also easily order online from Rougeir & Plē.
The art making and business aspect - working on and in my business has taken time and I am still learning. In fact, I hope I’m always learning.
If you are starting out as an artist and would like to take another step by growing a business out of it, trust the process. Make a mess. Have fun. And know —things take the time they take. And things —they will take a shape of their own, but it will be yours and it will be magic.
So you know, I still cut up canvases from time to time. I just call it editing — Ha!