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I am jumping in here, as I use internet time to walk away from the art stuff.
Reading the above posts, I guess I do sort of have a rhythm, if not a schedule.
I am in life limbo but the only cohesion is painting. I had to move out of my home of 13 years in January and am rooming in a very nice place but under emotionally impossible conditions with an ex-boyfriend whose recent divorce made an extra bit of cash very attractive. The digs are very temporary and very far from my sphere of influcence. I have begun to live in my car and it is not pretty.
Since I have restarted painting, I have always kept supplies in my trunk and I got a big rolling suitcase so I have a little shop on wheels. I do as many demos as I can anywhere they will let me. Presently I paint probably 4-6 hours on weekends at a pet friendly coffee house 20 miles from my present living quarters, but have added a fancy resort hotel to the list at 2-3 hours a stint a couple of days a week and it is only 30 miles away. When I drive I think and listen to the radio so I am becoming political! The painting demos are my real advertizing. The paintings I do there have rarely been commissions but I will paint anyway, so if I do it in public, I am widening my range of visibility.
When I hit home, I print brochures. I always include 10 with my commissions and feature the painting I just did on the cover! That way when the client is spreading the word on my work, they are doing it with DOUBLE pride! So that means more computer time. That is as much fun as watching paint dry because I have a very old machine.
I also have a day job, also 20 miles away and I have tried to limit my days there to three. I can set my own schedule but when you DON'T want clients, they can't leave you alone. I have tried this week to to a demo in the morning and am moving the clients to evening and afternoon. It is exhausting but I feel better about my miles on the road, adding the extra ten on top of the first 20!
I paint when I get home and mostly on the weekdays off. The roommate situation has made me a cave dweller. I seem to have odd rituals that include pacing from room to room, piddling about sort of like winding a spring. After hunting for lost things, looking in the refrigerator for nothing, wiping counters, balancing a check book, all the while, forming the image in my head, I sort of LEAP into work and paint. The other night, I had three pieces roughed in for the demos (NEVER go totally blank, always look good from the first stroke or I lose the audience....) I found myself finishing two and literally locking myself out of the room so I would have at least an hour of time to do! I have to schedule life in between painting and it makes it hard to find the people to buy the work when I prefer to be making it than selling it.
Today, I am going to go out in two hours. I have nothing ready. There are two LARGE animal commissions looming, that I have sent layouts to the clients, but have not gotten confirmation to proceed. I will not touch a canvas until I get a committment. I have plenty of good things in my head without speculating on art I cannot resell. SO I will play with a few of my own photos for a half hour and pick one. Then I will sketch and do an underpainting in acrylic so I have a start. Then I will paint for three hours and chat. Hopefully I will pass out enough brochures and ONE person will either get a picture out of their wallet or actually email something to me so I can start a long distance relationship.
When I get permanent digs, I will have sitters. I have worked from life for so long, that photos are seriously cheating for me. I like doing all my composition in the computer before I paint and then disengage my brain and just paint.
This was about time management.
I have a priority and whenever I talk to people, I point out that I have an excellent work ethic but a rather nebulous job! Under all this perceived chaos is one goal: Make enough money to have art as my job. This means putting a shingle out in front of a studio and finding a home ALONE to sit my buns in when I want to watch Jon Stewart at midnight. That is when I crash now . . . until the roommate's garage door opens at 6:30 and lets me know I can start wandering the house again.
Well, the brain is wound, I have to put the painting together now and maybe meet a few members at the Scottsdale Princess today!
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