Stamina

[Michele Rushworth]

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?

[Carl Toboika]

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.

[Geary Wootten]

Originally Posted by Carl Toboika

Working as a subcontractor (freelance) at Billboard pictorials,

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

[Kimberly Dow]

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.

[Geary Wootten]

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....................


G......preparing for flak

[Julie Deane]

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.

[Kimberly Dow]

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?

[Scott Bartner]

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

[Scott Bartner]

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