In my experience, important and often avoided aspects of working as a visual artist are the many interim steps involved in making the work, the phone calls, correspondence, task lists, reflections, sketches, research, budgets, etc. And invariably these delays to the gratification of making a thing in the studio; when avoided, begin to pile up into a paralyzing mountain of stuff that occupies far too much space in my mind. Working over the years as designer and an educator has taught me how to leverage some practical tools and methods to get it done. For example, a daily to do list, might seem simple enough, and yet I have found myself checking my phone, and doom scrolling my morning away. One practice I learned from a designer I worked for, Bob Greenberg, was his daily ritual, which included putting pen to paper, and writing down his task list, beginning with transcribing the items from the previous day’s task list that had not been completed, onto the new day’s task list, and to that. Through out the day as he was working through that list helped him keep on track toward his immediate goals. I love the simple practicality of a daily inventory. It allows us to see what we have accomplished, and provides an immediate path forward. And all done over a cup of coffee in the morning.

Below is a collection of methods I have employed at different times to support my work in the studio. I think of this like a menu in a greek diner, you can always get the cheese burger and fries, but there are all sorts of things to choose from that may best suit the situation.

Below is a working platform to help me organize these methods. My hope is that they will be useful in my work, and perhaps you will find them useful too.

Studio Notes (aka Version 2) Is organized in a less linear way, and includes more depth to goals and the context that an artist is in.

The Whole Artist (aka Version 1)

A practical toolkit for artists, makers, designers, performers, craftspeople, writers, and anyone else who makes things and wants a clearer picture of where they are and where they’re going.

Organized through the OODA loop — observe, orient, decide, act — as a continuous structure, not a linear sequence. The loop doesn’t finish. Every action generates new information. The methods here are the instruments for running it well.