I’ve been working in my home studio for about 2 years now- and enjoy several things about it.
•No rent.
•More space.
•Obviously closer to home- I can go work anytime- for hours or 15 critical minutes.
•I can do the studio tour more easily.
•Everything is stored in one location.
•I have separate work areas set up for painting, drawing, printmaking, and desk work.
ah….. it’s the last one that might be a mixed blessing.
Ever the multi-tasker. Listening to a lecture by Daniel Ariely about Irrational behavior while reworking some monotypes with various media.
Lots of pending ideas, and a couple pastels up on the wall. Finally using that black paper that’s been in my flat file for years.
Wrapping up the large grey one, and several 8×10’s coming along.
Because when I have several ways to work, of course I have several things going on at once. And they all interest me. And they are all mere steps away from each other.
uh oh
but over the years of working this way, I have become used to this – everything eventually gets done… even if they all stagger towards the finish line at different speeds. Being able to trust this is important. The author Daniel Pink says he believes in the simple action of showing up- working brick by brick- how showing up every day becomes a cumulative effect.
SO… perhaps waiting for inspiration is lame- we’ve oversold it (part of the mystique of the ‘artiste’?) and been undersold the PRACTICE
Or as Dave Hickey so aptly put it- “A frenzied, vague, emotional response just means your hand is moving in a pleasantly abandoned fashion.” This is art as therapy.
The hand and eye working in response to how you think and feel about something (idea/subject) takes more time and effort.
Being able to live with ambiguity and incompleteness- knowing that all the little incremental steps do add up to work that is resolved and also has a deeper history. That’s a tougher task.
brick by brick – that’s just the way I roll. 
erskinestudio.com 