Artist daily routine

Daily life and habits through art.

I’ve always been curious about how artists deal with the day in their routine.

What they do when they wake up, what they eat, think, how they organize their morning.
Will they meditate? Or will they think about nothing? And if they are full-time artists, what will their daily routine be like? Is there a gap between the act of creation and lunches, dinners, phone calls, relationships with others? Does the weather affect their lives? And is living in the city different from living in the countryside or by the sea?

I asked some artist friends about their routine.
I won’t tell you about my daily routine here, I’ll do it later.

Here I leave the space to two very different artists.
Australia and Mexico, a man and a woman.

Different ages, different needs, obviously different habits. Although the pandemic has somehow united us in many needs and habits.
In this regard I invite you to download a free choral work- an e-book– on creativity that has united artists from all over the world.

Vivienne Bradshaw from Australia tells me:

“My day’s are much the same these days in covid19 world. 

However,  I’m an early bird. Awakening around 6AM each day. The first JOY of the day is  to watch a sunrise over the Pacific Ocean. 

A routine of an hour sitting sipping tea while I continue to wake up into the new day often quietly reading.

After breakfast…

A daily walk on the beach. 

And a half hour yoga session. 

On reflection, it is during these simple daily practices  I’m almost always musing over and contemplating creating art on a  daily basis. Therefore most composition’s  have been created/planned,  in my imagination before attempting to paint on a canvas. 

So then, 

While painting,  in my little studio,  I  have complete quietness.  No music. No tea/coffee.  No people.  Just me,  myself and my musings. 

Over time I’ve managed to created a daily painting practice and almost always work for a few hours.”

The daily routine of an artist immersed in nature.

Vivienne has an intense relationship with nature and all this is reflected in her art. For her, the magnetic noise of the sea and the walks on the beach are part of an indispensable routine for her art.
After this daily routine, she locks herself in the studio and works without distractions. She has already walked, drunk her tea, done yoga. All this makes her concentrated and she doesn’t need anything else to start creating.

The studio must be silent to concentrate thoughts and colours.
She’s a great traveler but with the covid she had to stop. But her art is not affected, because she has accumulated a lot of experience and in the studio there is no lack of imagination.
Her body has had to stop, even if she walks and swims, but not the creativity stimulated by books, meditation, observation of nature. The world can wait, but her art continues to fill her day.

The daily routine of a Mexican artist.

Completely different the routine of Silvestre Miranda Zárate, Mexican artist.
Different in appearance in reality, because here too we find some habits related to the body. Gymnastics seems really important for both, but also sketching, locking yourself in the studio with yourself and colors.
Silvestre writes:

“I usually have my alarm set to 8am, (Tijuana México PST).

I get up and I exercise on the patio at home, Monday through saturday. For 30 to 45 minutes. Shower at 8:45.

9:00: Have breakfast, with mom and brother.

At 10:00 through 2pm, I create. I have lunch and take a 15-30 min nap, I continue to paint or draw from 3pm to 6: 00 or 7pm have a light dinner until 8:00pm or 9pm and  then relax watching Netflix  until 11pm. Depending, on the day of the week.

Because I have an online zoom activity Wednesday and Friday. From 2pm to 4pm, working with a team with art, stretching-breathing tecniques and activities for 2 migrant shelters. On Friday I also teach. A drawing class for a friend’s daughter from 11am to 12pm.

I always have something I want to draw and paint. These days mostly, the male human figure. (Because I was planning and creating erotic art, for a show which never took place due to the pandemic, so the erotica theme stuck with me.) But I also do some still art. Or Abstract art related to the human figure.

I start by selecting photographs of nudes, I often take selfies, and use them for poses. Sometimes I ask friends for pics and work with those. I’ve contact with instagram friends who also offer pics to draw.

Next I sketch, a lot. Before deciding what works. Then, I draw on small canvas board, or canvas to usually finish a piece in one or 2 days. At the same time the next project is already going through my head.

Sometimes ideas happen, for example I was enthusiastic to draw Michael Ángel’s David,  in large scale, 2.30 meter tall.

Other commission projects happened and I work on those, for example a painting of Van Gogh ‘s starry night. Or a silkscreen project, which I’m about to begin soon”.

Silvestre lives in a very interesting land, on the border with the USA: Mexico.
Cultures mix, everything is lived intensely. The culture has deep roots. Mexico is an ancestral, mythical, strong, sanguine, deep, rich in traditions. Languages intertwining, travellers passing from one state to another. Artistic experiments that cross borders.
The routine of our artist is certainly interesting because he takes care of the body like Vivienne, evidently a useful discipline in painting.
If for Vivienne the sea and nature are essential subjects that influence her art, for Silvestre it is the human body, training and physicality that are as important in his routine as in his art. Silvestre creates at certain times both in the morning and in the evening and alternates with breaks absolutely common to all.
It is not nature that influences his daily life, but the human being.

Sleep, eat, play sports, meditate, walk, study, think, be silent.
So far from the image of the damned artist who lives in pain.
Making art therefore requires great discipline and concentration. Art is a great immense hard work. But magnificent work, which takes you to the stars.
Great sacrifices, great disappointments but also being in touch with the wonder of creativity.