Tips I Use to Get Back Into Painting After a Break

Aug 14

After I got back from Italy, I immediately tested positive for Covid. I was honestly dragging the last day or two of the trip (sorry Italians!), and just didn’t think to test. That knocked me out for about a week. Then a trip for my 30th high school class reunion. Then backed-up work to get done before the end of the month. Then… then… then… You know the story. And suddenly, here I am… It’s been over a month since I’ve painted.

I’m going to share about my Italy trip in an upcoming post, but today I wanted to talk about a common issue lots of painters face (myself amongst them)—getting back into it after an extended break. I’ve written about this before. There’s nothing wrong with not painting, but sometimes I feel ready to start painting again and just can’t seem to get over the hump. There are a lot of mental blocks to this, and I wanted to share some specific approaches I’ve developed over the years (and am currently employing!) to combat it.

It should be easy. That’s my vibe. Painting can feel very easy when you’ve had the habit rolling for a while. You’ve got a space set up, etc., and you can step right back into that groove. But once you’ve stopped painting for a while… phew!! It can really be a struggle to get the mind to engage, when that blessed clarity finally arrives all you’re doing is painting and not thinking of much else….

Approaching Half-Done Paintings

First, if I’ve been a good boy, I’ve deliberately left a painting or two half-finished. This is a great tool to get you rolling. There’s a sort of feeling of overwhelm that can be generated when I’m not in the middle of a challenge, series, project, exploration, etc. Having something half done is a way to just get rolling and not have to prep too much.

Sometimes I even take an old finished painting I didn’t really love, and I dig into it more. If I ruin it, I wasn’t satisfied with it anyways. Mostly, it opens up a “way in” that has almost no downside. What was it doing anyways… sitting in a drawer?

Studio Prep

This is a bit of a cheat, because I do this even when I’m painting regularly, but just getting into your studio or “painting space” can pay dividends. I have a typical repeated sequence of things I do before I start painting (cutting paper, cleaning my palette, refilling my wells, filling my cups with water, prepping images on my laptop, etc) and that can provide a great sort of “mechanical” way to get myself back into feeling like painting. Sometimes you just have to get a painting rolling and get a bad one out of your system, to feel like engaging with painting again.

Reading Art Magazines and Books

I don’t know if this works for you, but it does for me. I had a copy of “Watercolor Artist” come in the mail, and as I idly flipped through it, I could feel my art-heart pumping a bit. “Ohhh, that’s interesting!” or “I would have done that differently” or “That’s a new idea to try out” or “Don’t care for that one”. Hahahaha. It almost doesn’t matter what it is, as long as it gets me mentally reengaged with image-making.

Facebook and Instagram don’t do it for me though. I like those both alright, in their place, but this kind of activity requires a deeper engagement. Reading art articles while curled up on the couch is just about right. I need to sink a little deeper to stir up the silt at the bottom of the pond.

Selecting a Set of Images to Paint

I have folders and folders of photos. When I feel blocked, it can be helpful to go through them and start to really assess what I’d like to paint. This involves fully opening them, assessing composition and the limits of the reference photos, zooming in and cropping, etc. Often, I find myself taken by an old image that never quite seemed good enough before. Then I’ll copy and paste the best ones into a special new folder.

Often, the effort required to choose a subject can stop you from painting before you even begin. Or so it is for me. Having a collection of, say, 10-15 pre-selected potential subjects is a great tool to help you get over that hump. The next time I get ready to paint, I’ll have a set of subjects to pull from. And engaging in the selection process, much like reading an art magazine, can be a great way to activate your art mind.

Start Smaller

I can get overly ambitious. Sometimes, just painting physically smaller can be a real help when I’ve got a block. Or, sometimes just starting with something simply less ambitious can be really helpful. For example, I did some black and white paper abstracts in preparation for a class I’ll be teaching in September. Super fun and it had a low stresshold for “success”. I’m purely exploring. It’s just a simply way to get back into creating.

I would imagine that, for example, doing sketches or notans would also be a great way to get back into the flow. The goal is to think of ways that simplify the process, just so you can get back into image-making

I know I’m not the only one who suffers from this. What are other things you do to get going after a long break?

Stephen Berry