Snapshot of an artist's workflow

This article is essentially an annotated snapshot of studio workflow (for my painting projects only) over the decade in which I worked on the following three paintings:

Trailhead
Rending the Veil
Lunta jo Vanoe

Studio workflow and space utilization are also discussed in Yachting, inconveniences and studio workflow

There is a great deal more to painting, than painting, as everyone knows who maintains a studio and works on more than one painting project at a time.  These three projects, for example, combined to become a crucible in which my confidence as an artist, capable of starting and completing self-funded projects, was actually threatened.  First of all, this particular trio became challenging because of their sheer cumulative size; secondly, because of the high density of the image content of two of them; and, thirdly, because the cumulative duration of the three projects—all being done without the motivation of a commission—meant that I had to draw stamina for them from somewhere.  This was exacerbated in the case of the painting of Jerusalem because it began as a commissioned work, but the project for which it was intended dried up.

First, the matter of size:  I actually enjoy large-scale work and venture into it whenever possible.  So it wasn't the cumulative 63+ square ft. of the paintings that intimidated me.  Ultimately, it became a matter of not having the floor space in which to house them while they refused to be completed no matter how much I worked on them, or how much floor space I actually added to the studio, or how ingenious I could be in making or modifying easels to house them while I used the same easels to complete commissioned work that, blessedly, kept showing up in the meantime.  I even have a history of painting scenic panels; ceiling, walls and doors (including two 16th century monsters I painted in the studio), or the 70 square feet of a triptych for which I turned the studio loft into an easel.  The list goes on, including a large number of large oil paintings, some of which hang in the studio on steel cables and wenches.

Balancing detail and suggestion in a painting, as well as reconciling these with a painting's size, is the subject of You do realize you're crazy?

In terms of endurance, I offer some thoughts at the end of this page, below the timeline of major oil paintings completed over the past ten years.

The following timeline features most of the painting projects I worked on while also working on the Big Three, listed above.  However, before presenting the timeline, the following list covers what is not included in the timeline.  For various reasons I chose not to encumber the workflow timeline with them, not only because of privacy, but because everyone's list would be different anyway.  So, I provide detail about painting projects, but only a list suggesting other kinds of factors with which any full-time artist works; a context without which it is impossible to fully understand and appreciate the layering of miracles involved in pursuing and completing any creative endeavor.

Major life events
Major fine art projects already under way before or during 2011
Major professional non-artwork projects ongoing during this period
Major fine art projects begun and cancelled during this period
Fabrication of costumes, props and miniatures during this period
Fabrication of studio equipment and remodeling of workspaces during this period
Staged photo shoots
Major Studios operational projects and demands
Commissions awarded to the other Artists of Al Young Studios (my involvement being only as a support)
Major community and family or household projects

In the captions accompanying the paintings featured in the following timeline, self-funded projects are marked endowed  as opposed, for example, to being labeled commissioned .

Start dates appear only for the Big Three.  Under headings for 2012 through 2020, I also list my annual total of painting sessions completed during the year.  These approximations derive from my records, but are approximations nonetheless.  The tallies pertain to all the paintings on which I worked during the year, not just the paintings listed in the timeline.  If nothing else, the annual tallies imply just how much my own work is not confined to that of a studio artist, but involves an equally demanding focus as a writer and editor, business owner, etc.










































Finally, some thoughts about endurance:  I find it impossible to think or speak about endurance without acknowledging the God and Father of us all as being the beginning and the ending—which is to say the origin and fruition—of all of my enduring.  And I think that's true of enduring wherever we find it, regardless of a person's ideas about God or, indeed, whether or not a person even believes God exists.  Given that I believe God to be real, I find that being square with Him according to what I know about Him is the foundation of my confidence and endurance.  That foundation is indispensable.  And, given that foundation and the need to complete a painting, for example, I find that my ability and stamina for exercising patience—which is largely a matter of judiciously postponing judgment—is absolutely crucial.  Experience comes in handy, even bad experience, because it can refine our ability to see possibilities and to hope for a good outcome when the present looks hopeless.  Additionally, fatigue and problem solving don't mix.  So, the more experience we gain—not only at working but resting—the more likely we are to see possibilities instead of only problems, and the more readily we have the renewed energy to act accordingly.

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