5 Tips to Create More Studio Time

We all get 1,440 minutes a day. It’s non-negotiable. And I’ve heard many artists say they’d like more time to spend in their studio or creating art. While I do not have a way to increase the amount of time we have, I have done a lot of things in my studio to improve how I invest my time in there. I’ve compiled my top five tips for ways to increase the effectiveness of the minutes you do get to spend creatively. These are in no particular order - but, as you read them one will probably jump out as something you could prioritize. (Of course, I left the one I feel has the most impact until last.)

#1 Use Clear Storage

It seems obvious but being able to quickly find what I am looking for saves me so much time. I had to invest some money in clear containers and some time in sorting, but it has come back to me many times over.

#2 Label Things

I bought this flat file on Facebook Marketplace, scrubbed it and spray painted it. It’s huge and easily stores my 32” X 40” mat boards and foam core. And I paid 1/10 the price of a new one.

A package of shirt boxes that fit in my $5 yard sale shelf unit and voila - my collage papers are easy to find and I never have to pull out 7 drawers before I find the color I was looking for.

I was gifted a 10 drawer antique oak flat file. It’s not as big as the metal one I painted but it holds a lot of stuff that should be stored flat. Again, I’ve seen these on FB Marketplace and the right one is out there for you if you make a consistent effort of searching for it.

#3 Organize by Color (or whatever your supplies lend themselves to)

Here’s the threads I use for art quilting. If I need green, I can quickly compare all the greens and make a decision rather than have to hunt around and waste time looking over the entire rack - often to be unsuccessful finding what I was looking for.

#4 Put your tools and supplies together with similar items

Here’s all the scissors so I can get the one I need at a glance.

All the sketchbooks, notebooks, reference color charts, etc all go on one shelf. I used to leave them on the painting table where they got covered with collage paper and substrate. Now I can easily find the one I need and get going.

#5 Manage Your Time - Don’t let it slip away with indecision.

I made this poster in a word document and had it printed at Staples and laminated. I break down my seasons in 3 month sections and decide what I want to do in three areas of my art practice. Right now I am preparing for an art show so that is its own category. Small progress in this area will help the event go smoothly because I will be prepared. The second area for me is to keep up with this blog, YouTube videos, newsletters and social media. It’s a lot but when I break it down into smaller doable tasks I can get it done on a weekly basis. The final, and most important, section is what I am doing with my artwork. I tend to have something going on the fiber side of the studio and on the paint side. If I only have a few minutes and don’t want to get covered in paint and have to clean brushes, I have something to do with textiles. If I have a block of time, I can set up and get painting. I have also started a 30 minute morning creative practice so I write down the areas I am trying to cultivate so when I arrive at 6:30 AM - ish I don’t have to ponder and make a lot of decisions. I just do something - and having some ideas to start with is helpful.

Notice that I put target dates in each area - 90 days ends September 24th - Art Fair Day!

Thirty days moves me closer to my target and it’s what I can do in a month. I’ve gotten better at setting realistic plans here. I used to write down too little and then have to come up with other stuff to fill the time. And I’ve also listed so much in a month that I couldn’t possibly do everything I thought I should. With time, this practice hits the sweet spot and you get almost everything done. If you are getting everything done each time, you need to raise the bar a little until there’s always something that you can move forward into the following month or week.

So this month I will get 4 newsletters out but I have some direction. A couple of blog posts and a couple quick YouTube videos spread out over the month is totally doable.

Now I break the 30 days down into what I need to focus on this week. It looks like a lot and some tasks take a larger chunk of time than others but, with everything in front of me I can consider the time I have and the time I need to complete a task. A social media post might take 5-10 minutes whereas taking out my mat cutter and cutting the mats I need is a larger investment in time and energy. I only think about what I can do right now and don’t worry about all of it. If there’s something left over at the end of the week, I just push it into the next week and eventually the task and the motivation to get it done collide. I will admit that crossing the tasks off the weekly list are very motivating. Another helpful tip is that I have a little spray bottle of alcohol and paper towels to wipe off the poster when needed. I also have dry erase markers - fine point.

People ask me all the time how I get so much done. This is how. I reduce the millions of things that I could be doing and take a few minutes on Sunday to write out what I need to do. The decisions are made then and I don’t suffer from overwhelm or the “I don’t know what to do next” problem.

Of course, there’s flexibility here - I’m not giving myself orders. However, the steady progress in these areas really add up. If you are making one millimeter of progress in 100 directions, I highly recommend making a list of all the things you could do and then honing in on no more than three things.

This has been a long post, but I hope you found something useful in here. I’d love to hear your favorite tip in the comments.

Thanks for checking out the blog. I wish you more time in your creative week.

with gratitude,

Claude

Collage Study