Daily rituals. What are yours?

Do you have your coffee as soon as you wake up on the morning?

Do you check your email before getting out of bed?

Do you work out first thing?

Do you lay in bed for a while and then slowly rise to meet the day?

Each of us has a ritual that we do first thing in the morning…over and over again…day in, day out.

I’m fascinated by how each one of us has a different daily ritual or routine when it comes to approaching our creative process.

Long ago I decided to approach my art career as if I was going to a job. I told myself my day would begin by 9 a.m., I’d break for lunch, and finish up around dinnertime. And I would do this 5 days a week, just as if I was going off to do some other job.

This habit was really helpful.

Personally, I work well with structure so having the general structure already worked out gave me a sense of consistency. It didn’t mean that I had to actually be painting for that entire time, I just had to be thinking

There’s a book that has a variety of artists describe what their daily routine is. The name is Daily Rituals: How Artists Work.

I thought it would be interesting to read about some of them:

1. Joan Miro… “At six o’clock he got up, washed and had coffee and a few slices of bread for breakfast. At seven he went into the studio and worked non-stop until twelve, when he stopped to do an hour of energetic exercise. At one he had lunch which he finished off with a coffee and three cigarettes, neither more nor less. Then he took a nap, but for just five minutes. At two he would visit with a friend. At three he returned to the studio where he stayed until dinner at eight.”

2. Willem de Kooning… “he generally rose between 10 or 11, drank several strong cups of strong coffee, and painted all day and into the night, breaking only for dinner and the occasional visitor. When a painting was troubling him, sleep was impossible and de Kooning would spend most of the night pacing the dark streets of Manhattan.”

3. Georgia O’Keefe… “most days she took a walk in the early morning, keeping an eye out for rattlesnakes on her property, which she would kill with her walking stick (she kept their rattles in a box to show visitors). Then there would be breakfast at 7. Then she would work in her studio for the rest of the day, breaking at noon for lunch.”

Are you as fascinated by the lives of artists as I am? Knowing how they lived their days, what they struggled with, how they handled their art careers, and all the other interesting tid-bits is something I can’t get enough of.

If you have a particular daily ritual around art, I would love to hear it. Just click reply to this email and let me know. I want to hear everything.

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