What You Need to Paint Daily
Brian Miller (Ep.56) paints every single day. Yes, this is about the power of his determination. But it may have more to do with something unexpected.
The power of his systems.
Miller loves systems. They show up throughout his work and are one of the key reasons he can get to painting every single day of the week.
His first system revolves around when he paints.
For his daily painting, he paints first thing in the morning. That way he trusts it will happen…even on days that end up being crazy.
He has also built a system around the painting itself. Using that system, he trusts that he can finish his daily painting in under an hour.
During the week, he paints flowers. His wife, artist Debbie Miller (Ep.15 and Ep.83) arranges dozens of bouquets that sit around the house and he chooses one and paints it. The next day he’ll choose another.
He uses wet paint to map out his painting on a gridded surface. The surface is always square and six by six inches. It always is gessoed red and ready to go when he walks into the studio.
Then he builds his painting, using a limited palette of colors generally starting with the greenery, then the flowers, then the vase and background.
He uses the local color as a starting point, but his goal isn’t neither photo realism nor a replication of the flowers at hand. He wants his painting to be a new thing in the world.
This systematic way of working through a painting means he can trust that he can finish a painting each and every day before his work day begins. He’s not struggling to know where his paints are or what colors go on his palette. He’s not spending time figuring out what he’ll paint or what he’ll paint on.
He’s confident in his systems and this allows him to keep painting consistently day after day.
PUT IT TO PRACTICE
Painting takes a LOT of decision making. And decision making takes a LOT of energy. If you find yourself overwhelmed or fatigued, it may be that you are asking yourself to make too many decisions at too many places in your art practice.
There will, of course, always be decisions you’ll need to make. But systems can help with some of the heavy lifting.
Look for places you can create systems:
Lay your colors out in the same place every time you go to paint
When you clean up, put everything away in the same place.
Build systems around where you’ll get your references and when you’ll decide what you paint. Notice that Miller has the system of knowing that there will be flowers every week and that each day he knows he’ll choose a NEW bouquet to paint.
Build systems around what you’ll paint on each time. Choose a surface, size and shape and paint mostly on that.
Build a system around the steps you walk through to create a painting. (That’s called a painting process! And it’s oh so important.)
Look for places where you can make a decision once and then be done with it. Remember, you can change your mind in the future. But try to build systems and then stick with them for a few weeks or months to see how they fit.
The benefit of good systems is that you can then use the energy you have left to focus on painting a painting you love.
What are some systems you have in your practice? I’d love to hear them below!