Julie T. Chapman - ArtBlog

Not that this EVER happens to me. But what’s a (wo)man to do when faced with difficulties in the studio? Suggestions:

• Check email
• Update your website (surely there’s something that needs doing!)
• Post to your blog
• Check email again
• Email (or better yet, call) a gallery dealer: “Howz things??” (and hey, it counts as work!)
• Take the dogs for a walk
• Split wood
• Pour a large drink and do a crossword puzzle
• Check email again
• Clean the studio (hey, at least you’re in there! and god knows there’s dog hair everywhere…)

When you’ve run through all of these options and the painting STILL isn’t working and you’ve decided you’re the worst artist on the planet and how the hell did you ever think you could make your living at this anyway fergawdsakes, you have a couple more options:

• Pull out a book on a REAL artist who actually who knew how to paint…and study it
• Sketch some new painting ideas
• Slather all that paint on your palette onto a piece of Yupo, or even onto that painting that isn’t working (no sense letting good paint go to waste, at least!)

If any of these suggestions work, tell me so I know what to do next time. Not that this ever happens to me.