One of my main goals for the next few weeks is to paint more, paint freely and paint what I’m truly inspired to paint. One of the problems I face with trying to be productive during lockdown is the constant stop start of any attempt at a task. Sometimes a simple task takes a long time because of interruptions. I find this most true when it comes to creative endeavours. For me, lockdown means my husband working from his now home office, two kids homeschooling and a lively toddler. Throw in a mini sausage dog, nutty black cat and you can imagine there’s little time for quiet reflection and alone time!

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve started to get back a little bit more momentum as we yet again settle into a new routine.

5 Practical Productivity Tips

One of the things I swear by is the ability to pick things up and put them down again without too much effort or worry. If I have to set up and then take down and put away a bunch of stuff every time I have to paint, it’s going to feel like a big effort and not work the hassle for the sake of what may only be an hour of uninterrupted time (possibly even less). So here are the key things I currently do to keep myself feeling free to paint:

1. I prime several surfaces in one go so I have a few to choose from at any one time. This also means I don’t feel too precious about using and potentially “messing up”.

2. I sketch out my ideas and narrow down which ones I’m going to move forward with as a priority

3. I do digital colour studies and experiments to work things out before I hit the canvas (or board or paper)

4. I work in oils so I have less pressure if I have to leave them alone for a little while while I step away to deal with something else.

5. I use a Painting pochade when I’m at home to keep my paints and wet painting tidy and (almost) out of reach of my toddler.

So with all that being said, here is a new Flower Goddess Painting I created yesterday using one of my new favourite grab and go products: Jackson’s Oil Paper Block. I first tried this paper at a smaller sizer for a relatively quick self portrait. Since it was a new product I opted for the smaller/cheaper version to see how it fairs and loved it.

In this case I decided to add an extra barrier to the paper before painting, putting down a layer of toned acrylic gesso. As it comes the paper has has lovely texture and is glued on all four sides preventing the page from buckling when when/ensuring it dries flat. Despite the texture the surface is lovely and smooth which I prefer to the toothier gesso finish, however I knew I would be adding quite a lot of paint and wanted to be sure the paper would hold up.

Once again working in batches, I sketched in outlines for this portrait and couple of others, using thinned burnt to mark out the main landmarks in each composition. Though I’ve found that working on more than one painting at a time doesn’t work for me, having something “ready to go” once I have completed another piece spurs me on to keep the momentum going.

I was on a deadline and keen to crack on with the portrait so I don’t have any process pictures but here’s a closer look at the finished piece.

Thanks for having a read. You can find me over on Instagram @artbynataliewilliamson if you’d like to have a chat.