The Workspace Helps Create the Work

Expand
8 x 10

The only constant in life is change, and the act of making art is no different.  The works that I loved when I made them, seem filled with flaws once they've been signed (in fact, I often sign a painting in order to speed the process of flaw finding.  It seems to be a catalyst for major changes); and the technique that felt exactly right suddenly feels wrong headed and ineffectual.  The key to dealing with the awareness of something being wrong is to accept that it's valid, live with the discomfort, and, when it's unbearable, do something that feels like it may alleviate that discomfort. So this summer I was deeply uncomfortable, and then I made some major changes.  The result is amazing! 
Beginning a few weeks ago, I changed most everything about my daily practice.  I slashed and trashed more than 50 paintings that had languished on my studio shelving.  They'd been waiting for me to become skilled enough to get them out of the stalemates that they were in.  But, on looking at them with a dispassionate eye, I decided that life was too short to address them, and they were a psychic weight that I no longer wanted to carry.  Taking a car load of sliced canvases to the dump and hurling them into bins was cathartic, and spurred me on to more changes.  
The middle gray mixing palette was replaced by a white one, resulting in - well - ongoing confusion, but I think it'll be a good thing when I've adapted fully.  My aim is to find new ways to use color and the mixing surface is the first step toward that. 
But the biggest, and I think the most effective change, was repainting the interior of my studio.  The walls used to be a fairly dark, muted red.  When I had my studio built, I painted it that unorthodox color because it was the same color I'd been working in inside my house for years.  I couldn't imagine working in any other color space. With 3 skylights, 3 big windows and a glass patio door, I didn't think the dark walls would be an issue.  But, over time, my intentions and aesthetic have changed and the walls had begun to hinder my development.  The studio felt dim and it was affecting my colour/value mixing.  
Research devoted to the "ideal wall colour" for a studio came up with the usual suspects: white, mid grey, warm, cool..., but nothing that resonated, until I came across a phrase in a blog to the effect that if you want to paint dark paintings, paint your walls a dark color.  Ah ha!  A light bulb went on! Dark paintings are emphatically not what I want, so I had my answer.
The new color is a cool gray in a value just above pure white (it's a 2 on a 1-10 scale).  Suddenly, the space appears large and airy.  The walls now bounce so much excellent light, that I'm stunned by how much was lacking in my life before this.

Next, I had my handy son build a massive work 4 x 8" table on wheels.  With its huge storage shelf  it allowed me to consolidate a lot of bins of supplies out of sight and to take down some shelving that had lined the walls.  The energy and flow of the room improved immediately, and I find I'm painting in parts of the room that I've never stood in before.  Wheeled greenhouse shelving as large as a wall, picked up all of the stretcher bars, frames, packaging supplies, still life objects, and general "stuff", that had been stored in myriad, smaller units along the walls, and by covering one side of the shelving, I could both block the unsightliness of the load and create a screen for a lot of wall storage behind it.  Eventually, I'll hang white-painted plywood on it and create a wall to hang paintings on, but I'm fine with it for now.  When the discomfort builds, I'll get to it.

It's been a lot of work involving my least favorite thing: repeatedly lifting and shifting heavy things, but it's been worth it.  There's more to be done, but I feel able to move forward, and, wonderfully, I feel energized and rejuvenated as I head into fall.  I think that good paint will happen in that space.
Stay tuned, and happy painting!