June in St. John’s, NL is usually cold, foggy, and drizzly, without any sign of Spring. This year, we’re five days in and we’re getting Summer weather! Blue skies, blooming flowers, and reliable sunshine.
I have the door to the backyard in my studio wide open, letting me hear the birds and fill the studio with unseasonably hot air, a luxury in my usually chilly basement space. I’ve got a summer Dairy Queen blizzard on my desk that tastes exactly like funfetti cake, which my dog is quietly begging for (he once stole a birthday slice and it has rewired his brain forever). I’m about to turn on an episode of Making the Cut to watch people design clothes I’ll never wear while I pick away at the painting next to me. But first, I’ve started writing this newsletter.
Studio Scaries has been quiet for a few months. I kept feeling like I needed a Big Idea or something Really Important to say, and between a personal life that has been tumultuous and a studio deadline that was scaring the motivation right out of me, I didn’t feel like I wanted to examine my creative practice at all. I needed to be painting, and since I wasn’t painting I definitely didn’t want to write (or think) about why. Eventually, the deadline changed from months to weeks and I started begrudgingly painting again.
This wasn’t a revolutionary overcoming of creative block. I ran out of time, so I started to work. A tale as old as creativity! I had nothing new to say this time around the cycle. But these past few weeks, a series of dominos reminded me that maybe I actually don’t need to say anything important. Maybe just working in my studio and sharing this work with you as I go along, no matter how mundane, is what’s actually important. Isn’t that the majority of our studio time anyway? It’s not all (or even most!) inspired action and lighting bold breakthroughs, it’s the tedium of pitter pattering with supplies when you’re up against the wall that you hope will lead you to a finished project, a hangable show, or a sellable something or other.
In the past, I’ve enjoyed creating vlogs capture to these little studio moments. But filming for YouTube is a lot of work, my studio in our new house is more functional than aesthetic, and life has me feeling far from camera ready. I love to watch these slow, simple videos of the quiet processes that make up creative time (if you aren’t watching Kate over at The Last Homely House make slow quilts and tend to her picturesque English garden what are you doing?) but it isn’t in the cards for me right now. I also love reading big, thoughtful newsletters, but have been enjoying following along with romantically uneventful days even more (like living vicariously though Katie and her Receipt from the Bookshop newsletter, fulfilling my bookshop owning dreams). Then I stumble upon this piece about wanting less serious writing here on Substack, and I thought, huh. Maybe I really have been overthinking all of this.
Which brings me back to today, sitting in my unglamorous studio, picking away at a few small tasks to move myself towards a terrifying deadline that I’ve been resisting for months. Accountability is one way to overcome creative block, and having the video camera set up to film myself did make me very productive. Somehow, it also made me feel less alone. So maybe a simple studio log of my time in this space (that I often want to pretend doesn’t exist on my house) will help me remove some fear from my creative work while also providing a literary studio mate, cheering me on as I move through these mundane motions. It also never hurts to have a little proof of your productivity so you can say look! I did something!!
With all that said, here is the ultimate purpose of this newsletter: a studio log of my Thursday this week. I’ll update it as I work and as I think of things to say, and I’ll clue it up when I walk out the door for the day (though I will probably edit it tomorrow, I’m not superhuman after all!).
If you want to follow along, welcome to my studio.
I currently have two paintings on my work table. The biggest of the two is much closer to being finished, and is in the collage stage. I have some heavy objects sitting on it from yesterday, pressing a piece of a photograph I glued down to make sure it stays flat. I lift up the weights to reveal the collage piece, and it’s sitting beautifully in the right place with no bubbles, which is always a win and never a guarantee. Next up I need to pick the pattern for my next collage section, a big piece of wallpaper from my collection. I find this part hard, the pressure of picking the perfect design is scary because it can’t be changed easily. Let’s see what I have.
I pick a piece that feels traditional with a white and brown floral pattern, so now I set up tracing paper on the shape it’s going to cover and make a kind of pattern for myself to cut from. I only have one piece of each wallpaper sample, so if I make a mistake I have to choose another design. This part is slow because I trace it carefully on the tracing paper, then on the wallpaper and then cut it carefully out (whelp! Pressure).
I put the cut out piece where it’s supposed to go and it fits!! Phew. Now I can move on to gluing. I prefer to glue small pieces, and this one is decidedly big, so I’ve been dreading this moment. I use matte medium from golden, specifically their soft gel for big sections because it comes with a wider lid that lets me scoop out big bits of glue at a time. I do the scooping and the spreading with a rubber brush, which is a new find for me and it makes it so much easier to keep the whole process clean (with less glue-ruined brushes, I wish I could tell my past self). I spread the glue on, press the paper down, squeegee it out, and then wipe the edges up. Then it all gets pressed under a couple of thin pieces of wood and a few heavy objects to dry overnight.
Kingsley comes downstairs to check on what I’m doing, as he often does while I’m working. He demands a few scratches and then heads into the backyard to enjoy the fresh air.
While the bigger work is put to bed, I switch to the smaller painting. I mixed a lovely mauve yesterday, which is the next colour to go down. I already have the areas masked, so all I have to do is take a brush and put down the first layer of colour. My water jar hasn’t been changed in a few sessions, though, so I walk it to the bathroom for some clean water. This cycle of clean paint water to dirty paint water is one of my most dreaded studio tasks, so I don’t change my water as often as I should, but I have fresh water now! The paint is almost the same colour as my favourite masking tape, Scotch delicate. It’s the perfect level of adhesion (not too much, not too little) and it never hurts that it’s my favourite colour - purple!!
Kingsley visits me again and stretches out underneath my chair. I think he’s sick of the heat already and looking for a cool spot to nap. Now I’ll try to remember to not roll over him while I work.
I set up the first coat under a little fan and then I switch to a little busywork I’ve made for myself. I bought a set of markers as a summer treat and now I’m making a little colour swatch of each and taping it around the marker so when I pull it out of the tub I know exactly what it will look like on paper. They aren’t fancy markers, and the caps often don’t match the colours, so this is a fun way to see what colours I have and do future Emily a favour.
I put down another layer of paint, then do a few marker swatches while it’s drying. Then I get called away from the studio for a few hours, but I don’t get fully derailed and come back to do some more before bed. The great thing about stopping in the middle of a clear path is that I know exactly what to do when I come back, which is not always the case when I walk into this space. I put a swatch of the purple in my sketchbook, I’m trying to have better sketchbook habits by adding every new colour of this painting as I go so I can remember this palette. Again, you’re welcome future Emily.
My husband Kieran is out tending to our new garden, one of the many joys of our first spring in our first home. He sprays the hose at my window and I wave.
I do a few more layers of purple until the colour is opaque and ready for my favourite part: the tape peel of course! I also made it to the season finale of Making the Cut and they announce the winner, but I won’t spoil it for you. Once the purple is done, I look to my sketch to choose the next colour, a creamy neutral, and I mark the corresponding squares on the painting. Then it’s time to tape! I use a bone folder to make sure the tape is tight to the wood then I cut out the shape with an exact-o knife.
I cut these last few taped areas while on a video call with Natalie, which is one of my favourite ways to have studio time. Kingsley pops up for attention as soon as he hears Natalie’s voice, like the covid puppy he is. Once I have all the taped areas cut and sealed with matte medium (the secret to clean, leak-free edges!) I call it a night and let the whole thing dry. A studio day done. That wasn’t so scary, now was it?
Happy Art Making,
Em 💕
www.emilypittman.ca
www.studiomates.ca
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