August 13, 2025

Consistency is key to building a thriving studio practice. Showing up and doing the work, over and over and over again, even when you don't feel like it.

Consistency has always been the thing I've been missing. If you sit back and wait for inspiration to strike, you eventually get bored and move onto something else. That was what I did for years. What I never understood was that you can't hanging around waiting for the "muse" to pop in for coffee. If you actually want to get anything done, you have to stick your own foot in your own arse and do the work yourself.

Of course, no one works well when they're not inspired. Especially an artist. I've discovered a path through this thorny thicket of laziness. I have a stack of figure reference photos about five feet high and I keep adding to it. I no longer need to wait for inspiration; I know what I'm going to do all the time, which circumvents motivation (and/or the lack of it). I sit down at my table, grab a few photos that interest me, and start drawing.

On to the next.