The Artist's Focus

I had the opportunity to be around another artist Monday night. She asked me how do I focus on my art with so many distractions in life? As I've talked with artists about this over the years they all seem to first have various different terms for this deep type of focus necessary to really produce the highest quality most artistic kind of art. So call it being in the zone or the key.



Other refer to it as entering into some sort of Zen like state.



For me what ever it is called, I get into it by first putting on my painting smock (as a side note on this painting smock, many people when they see me in it, ask if I've been hacking up bodies. Because it is a large lab coat looking smock made out of canvas with various colors of paint haphazardly smeared on it). This tells my mind that I'm about to start painting. It is a kind of uniform that sets my mind to the task of painting and thus pushes all other distractions out. Then I simply sit in front of the canvas and stare at it looking at what I did yesterday and thinking where I want to go with it today. If I've got a new canvas then i simple think about where I want to go with the painting and this seems to settle my mind and gets me into the zone. Also once I start painting I'll work on areas of the painting at first that require less technical painting skills until I'm fully into the zone of painting, then I'll go and work on the more technical areas.

Los Angeles Temple Evening

Washington D.C. Temple

St. george Temple

Salt Lake Temple Square 1912

Salt Lake Temple Square 1912 (Right Panel)

Salt Lake Temple Square 1912 (Left Panel)