Stamina
 

How long can you paint for?

I find that after four or five hours (with a ten minute break every hour-and-a-half or so) I no longer trust my ability to make good decisions and I stop painting. I'm brain dead and sometimes physically tired too.

I thought that I would be able to paint for longer sessions as I got used to doing it over the past couple of years, but it hasn't changed.

I can paint a bit longer if I'm doing a sit-down session (working on face details, for example) but today I was working on a large section of a 40" painting so I needed to stand up, squat down, adjust the easel, walk back and forth a lot, etc. I ran out of steam after less than five hours.

If I take a break and do something else for a few hours I might be able to paint again for two hours in the evening, but that's about it.

I paint typically four or five days a week so this equals an average of 20 hours of painting time. Not enough to get done what I want to do!

I have read some folks on this board can paint for 10 hours a day, and have heard others say that two to four hours should be one's maximum, so that an artist is always "working at the top of their form".

How long can you paint for?

Working as a subcontractor (freelance) at Billboard pictorials, due to the great driving distances (and no completed work, no money) I had to learn to stick my nose in it with a lunch break (no coffee breaks, no supper) up to 12-14 occasionally 16 hours. I'd hit the wall and have a slow week or two pooped out, but could do that 5 to 7 days a week for a couple of months before that happened. You get used to making competent decisions when tired eventually, though not optimal ones.

10 years ago I remember a stint of painting that went 32 hours at the easel sitting (with some breaks). I wouldn't do it now, I was just an obsessive sort at the time.

As I got older it got harder and harder. Since work at the easel is physically easier than BB work, if I can sit down, the same hours are not troubling though 8-10 is more comfortable.

I think everyone has a natural clock this way. Exercise, good shoes, and a comfortable chair when you can use it, goes a long way to extend that a bit.

I paint 6 hours a day, 5 days a week. Sometimes if I am especially inspired I'll go down for a few hours in the evenings & weekends. Then I will bring stuff home from the studio and work. Today I had to stay home with a sick child so I sketched a couple of projects out today.

Michele, don't you find it depends on how excited you are about the project? I can work well without stopping all night long if I am very excited. If I am not, then it's my scheduled hours with lots of coffee breaks - then I drag myself home exhausted.

All I get is 5 hours if I am lucky, and I can make it all the way through. Occasionally everyone will go to the zoo or something, and I'll work 8 hours, though I've done 12 or more (whee). I'll paint for as long as you'll let me. I didn't buy a multi disc player so I would remember to take breaks. My husband ordered me to take 2 days off per week, and I find I really struggle not to be awfully cranky on those days.

I don't know if I make better decisions - now that you mention it I suppose there is an off-peak thing that happens. Uh oh. Something else to worry about.

It borders on the compulsive. On another thread someone mentioned how the time slips by. Maybe it's that right brain thing. We should do a brain study. Physically, just like you said, it's like working out which I need to do anyway. That's why I'm doing bigger paintings now; I have about 10 pounds to lose. Do you think we might be more fit than regular office job-holders?

Day Job
 

While it normally takes me 4 to 5 weeks of 8-hour per day sessions to paint a portrait, I finished most of the Janine Jansen portrait in the first two weeks of August, but the circumstances were unusual: First, my wife and child were in the States with my parents so I had no familial distractions. Second, most of Western Europe was experiencing a fierce heat wave creating no incentive to frequent cafes let alone go outside. Fortunately I had a portable air conditioning unit in my studio enabling me to work 13-15 hour days.

The stamina came in largely from the subject matter, being a big classical music fan, and the knowledge the portrait would be exhibited.

When you do this kind of work for a living you soon realize only part of your time is spent applying paint to a canvas. There

Flash
 

Realizing my last comments directed at the artistic profession were rather harsh I

When I'm too tired to paint I enjoy spending my time doing the administrative stuff. (Things related to my art career are frankly all I want to do -- I'd even rather stretch canvases and organize my studio than go on most vacations.) I just wish I could extend my hours actually at the easel.

Perhaps running out of painting energy is more due to the fact that before I start, I've been "working" at my other job of Mom for a few hours already.

Michele,

I hear you, I am up & doing the mommy route 4 hours before I get to start painting, not to mention what comes after.

Not to leave the gentlemen out, but we should have a special thread on the particular challenges faced by wives/mothers who are working artists.

Then we could have a section on fathers who double as mothers who are working artists.

I think I'm kinda like you Michele, I can go at it for four or five hours (+-), with a couple of walk around breaks, then I have to give it up. If I'm particularly excited I can have another go later on in the evening. I think it's more of a mental stamina (lack of) than anything else.

Oh, my political incorrectness!

Ok, new thread idea: particular problems faced by working artists who are also the primary care-givers (or only caregivers) to the kids.

Since I paint professionally part time, I paint 3-4 hrs. during the week night evenings. On Saturdays I normally paint 6-8 hrs. with very few breaks. I usually will sit in front of my easel staring at my painting while eating a sandwich. Once I get on a roll and am totally focused, I don't like taking breaks. Sunday afternoons/evenings are typically 3-4 hrs.

Yes, I think you've likely hit on something that is a big part of it, Michele. Moms have to put a lot of energy into that role and they also have more interruptions as well. Regular walking or other exercise not only adds body endurance, but makes your brain sharper also. Of course it takes up extra time too, but it

This is my job. I usually log in 40 to 60 hours per week. This includes other studio related work and administrative stuff - not just easel time. I do not include this Forum into these hours.

I've spent most of my life working long hard hours for other people so I consider it a gift to actually be able to work these hours for myself.

Karin, how many hours can you typically put in during one session at the easel before you find you physically need to go do something else (stretch canvases or whatever)?

Unless the phone rings or my body screams that I am hungry, thirsty or whatever, I can "get lost" and work at the easel 6, 7 or even 8 hours at a clip.

When I take a break, I don't need much of one. Usually I begin work at 7 am and frequently set a timer to ring at noon in order to remind myself that I need lunch.

Oftentimes I let life interfere with my afternoons and I go back to work around 7pm and work until midnight or later.

I work full time, get up at 5am, have a 40 mile commute each way in bumper to bumper traffic, and sometimes don't get home until 9pm which does not leave much time during the week for my art.

When I have a commission going (which thankfully is getting to be pretty regularly), I work on it until the wee hours of the morning and all weekend long. I take coffee breaks and longer breaks for a few hours to go to the gym so I can lift weights and run a few miles to work out all the kinks. I don't know if I would call that stamina, or stupidity - but I am 43 and still feel like 23, so it must be working.

Those goods will be good for your energy:
Tea,
flounder,
ginger,

More time
 

I have found this thread very interesting. I am impressed that so many artists can find the time to paint for long stretches at a time because I have such trouble with that. I have two children ages 9 and 13 whom I drive to school every morning and then pick up each afternoon. They go to a private school so there is no bus. HOW do some of you do it? Between the time I get home from droppig them off at 8:15 a.m. and the time I leave to pick them up at 2:45 p.m., that's 6 1/2 hours which sounds like a lot of time to me. But, it just seems to disappear. I try to exercise most days, and there's the grocery shopping, little errands, some volunteer time at school, a weekly bible study class, doctor's appts, hair cuts, phone calls, it just all adds up. I am not complaining at all, I feel blessed that I'm able to stay at home and do all these things but I need to paint.

I feel like I am a pretty organized person but it's difficult to get time to paint. I finally have a space I can leave my supplies out in, I have half of our 'computer room' and I call that half my studio. Those of you that can successfully find time each week (or each day!) to paint, how do you do it? I can see maybe a couple of hours each afternoon before I get the kids, but how is it possible to paint 5 or 6 hours a day or more? I would love some insight into how to make the leap!

Joan

I made the decision a couple of years ago that if it's not related to family or painting, I don't do it. The time that the kids are in school is my painting time -- period.

At many points in my life I have found that I only paint if I put it ahead of just about everything else, not when "I have time for it." I exercise before the kids go to school and I do the groceries with them tagging along, after school.

Painting is my "job" and I plan my time around it like any working mother would.

Joan, cut out everything except the regular exercise. Pick a day (Fridays?) when you schedule miscellaneous doctors appointments and errands and try to stick to that.

As for the daily things you have to do, try this: set a kitchen timer for 45 (some days I only set it for 15) minutes and race around and get as much done as you can. When the bell rings you're free to paint.

I think you have to be ruthless with yourself (and sometimes others) to get work done. It helps me to think of myself as a Painting Machine.

.

I think that most people on this forum would agree that to them, making portraits is not a hobby, or something that they feel obligated to make time for, but rather it is a deep rooted need.

Although it is not my main job, I make time for it because if I don't, I am miserable. I had a 7-year stretch a while back where I was working from 7PM to 7AM and slept while the kids were in school. I didn't make time to make any art at all mistakenly thinking I couldn't do both. Those were the worst 7 years of my life (which possibly begs the chicken and the egg question?). I think I read a post from you Michele that you had an unhappy 7-year absence from your art yourself.

It's easy not to set up a disciplined schedule for working when your studio is part of your home and it is also easy to fall into the procrastination trap thinking that you have plenty of time left and will just do "such and such" first. Before you know it, time's up for the day. If at all possible, I would suggest renting out some studio space or cheap loft somewhere apart from your main home. That way, you can drop off your kids and go to "work" without any other distractions or interruptions until your "shift" is up for the day. If you want, you'll have the freedom to plan one day per week as an errand day to schedule appointments, etc., that are only open during business hours. You are indeed lucky to be able to stay home and take care of things there while working on building a career as a portrait artist. Make the most of it and good luck!

Hi Carl....nice to see yet another sign painter here! I'm in my 32nd year as a sign man....crossing over into studio painting, as well. I spent half of those years as a BB guy and Walldog. Loved it! Eller Outdoor, Foster & Kleiser, Gannett Outdoor, then on my own a few times with a small central Cal shop.

On my hours in the studio.....Michele....I too find I can not only stand no more than 5 or 6 hours at a time. Reasons are physical pain (neck, back, hands, legs falling asleep) and also the visual/mental burnout from looking at stuff too long and doing stuff that is not too smart sometimes. Ha! Then I come back and have to sand and paint over.

Geary

I found it a lot easier to stay on a painting schedule when I got the studio that is open to the public. I have other artists work hanging and that makes me responsible to keep the doors open certain hours - just like any secretary or banker that has to be to work at a certain time.

The house is messier, the kids have had to step up and help more - as well as my husband, but it is well worth it. If I do have to be gone then I try and make it up at night. I'll take a couple nights a week that I tell my husband (who complains, but I dont care) that he has dinner and baths and homework duty. He does all the 3 kids and I take off for the studio as soon as he gets home. Then I paint til 10:30 at night. I find that even if I am tired it is so nice to be painting that I dont need dinner or anything.

If you dont make time for it above the laundry and regular chores then you cant expect your family to take it seriously either. I learned that the hard way. I would complain and complain that I did everything here at home and still worked full time. The complaining did no good - when I just shut up and stopped doing it when it was time for me to paint they all stepped up to the plate and helped. They complain, but I just calmly tell them - too bad. We are family - not a group with a mother-slave - we all have to work to make it run smoothly. After all - if I am gone to the studio and they dont have clothes to wear the next day - then they will HAVE to do a load of laundry. :D

Ya, Kimberly, when my wife started working...I think we finally learned that lesson of ...."oh, need clean clothes and dishes?......then DO 'em!".....when I was about 40-something....the kids were like 20-something. It took us about a decade or so to catch on. So.....I'm no help at all here. ;)

See.....the problem is, y'all are just so dang GOOD at what you do that.................... :sunnysmil


G......preparing for flak :o

Making Time
 

I can sure relate to this topic. I too work full-time. It's currently the busiest season in my schoolwork. In the past, I did no artwork and was miserable. This year it's different. For example, I went to the park and spent most of the day sketching the scenery and the bystanders. It was wonderful! I wasn't at home to get sucked in to doing the laundry, and I felt happy and recharged. Making the time even when it seems like there is no time works. The main housework still got done and the rest can wait.

Gaery-

You wont hear any flak from me - I am too busy to try and train someone else's husband. I have all I can handle here trying to train mine.

Kim,

Thanks for sparing me my much deserved volly of fire! LOL....

The better news being here is that we are all doing what is necessary to have the "stamina" to continue painting....no matter what lies in the path to try and stumble us.

One of the things I've been doing lately, as a recovering heart patient, is to eat healthfully and exercise. I'm really getting into Juicing veggies and eating more fruit. I'm also drinking this stuff called Green Magma