The Printmaker Studio

Welcome back my printmaking nerds! 

I wanted to send a big THANK YOU to everyone who placed an order and used my birthday discount code this month. Remember: all discount codes are valid for up to one (1) week. Be sure to use: SUPERGREEN for 25% off as well as free shipping on any item in the online store until 8/21/22. Visit www.danielvillaart.com today. 🎂

In this week’s issue: 

• How Functional Spaces Create Creative Output 

• We talk to Gina from @Ridgeandroots 

• Question Time! 

Cartoon of the Week

The Secret Sauce 

I advocate for positive creative habits because they are something that I have not always been good at. My brain makes it really hard to stick to one thing. One of the common ways I get in trouble with my fiance is when I say “So, I have this idea.” This constant stream of curiosity has always made it hard for me to stick with something. Once something interests me, I have to fully embody that interest. 

In high school, my interests changed rapidly. I was an odd kid. I was involved with: football, guitar club, rowing, website development, mechanical drafting, speech and debate, 3D animation, Christian club, art and shakespearean dramas. I wrote three plays during my freshman year and I gained approval from the administration to stage it for the entire schooI. I was also a SkillsUSA Chapter President, CIF Vice President, and prom prince. If there was a club or organization in school, I was part of it. It wasn't necessarily to build my resume, but I genuinely was curious about what was out there instead of being home. This was the inner creative artist in me coming to life.

After graduating, I bought my first phone with internet access. Oh boy! I jumped from one interest to another all while never being ‘good’ at anything. My most successful stint was when I joined my college’s swim team in 2012. 

What made me stick with the team and not quit after tryouts were four basic principles. I made being a swimmer obvious, attractive, easy, and satisfying.

• I obviously needed the college unit which meant I could not drop it. 

• Swimming was attractive because it gave me a chance to workout for free and gain priority access to athlete only facilities and perks. 

• Incorporating swimming into my lifestyle was easy. Morning and afternoon practices fit between my class and work schedule. 

• Swimming was satisfying. Tough as nails at first but super fun.

That was the secret sauce that helped me create a solid habit of swimming. One small change in my schedule led to a large change in behavior over time. It worked so well that allowed me to be a part of the swim team for two back to back seasons. 

You may be wondering how this relates at all to printmaking and the arts. Hear me out. 

Your Environment Matters 

Recently, I have been struggling with carving every day. I have an obvious reason to do it. I have the motivation to carve but sometimes my environment is not conducive. Have you ever walked into the kitchen and picked up a cookie just because? You don’t even have to be hungry.

I was having a similar problem with my workspace.

My original studio layout was born out of convenience. I had a custom made desk built for my height. On top of this desk, I had my monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers, and decorative items. The desk was drilled to the wall providing stability but also the inability to relocate my only workspace. Below the desk was a small shelf big enough to hold the computer and a variety of things I wanted out of sight.

I found myself turning the computer on EVERY time I would sit down to work but it didn't end there. 

• I had a couch directly across from my desk. When I got tired, I would lounge back and scroll through my phone. 

• I had a lot of storage space that I was using to hoard junk.  

• My bookshelves were overflowing with books I would never read but felt bad getting rid of. 

• Every flat surface was functioning as a tabletop where items accumulated. 

• Filming videos required a reshuffling of the entire space. 

• Nothing on my tool shelf was easily visible. I cut myself more than once trying to look for something. 

The very same space dedicated to working was choking off my workflow. 

I poked fun at myself for a few days with this reel. I was seriously spending 80% of my time cleaning, during what should have been my studio time.

Obvious Cues

I knew I needed an environment where everything had a place and a purpose. I could simply keep the studio clean but It would be better to create a new environment where I was not tempted by old cues. 

James Clear has an excellent book on habit building. He explains habits as a loop consisting of four steps. 

1. Cue 

2. Craving

3. Response 

4. Reward 

My cues were my tools. When I would walk in and see them, I would crave printmaking. I should have responded by sitting down to work. I expected to be rewarded by my creative output which could then be shared and sold.  

I was hitting my cue but my studio layout was not stable enough to support my habit consistently. Instead, once I got to the craving stage, I would pick up shop and move to my coffee table in the living room. As a 6’1” guy, it was extremely uncomfortable. I desperately needed a change. 

After texting my fiance, “So, I have an idea for the studio…” at 11:34 PM one Friday night. The next day, I was at Home Depot buying a bucket of paint and got started on recreating my studio. After two trips to Ikea, more reshufflings of furniture than I ever anticipated, and eleven trips to the dumpsters, I was able to create a space where I was not fighting old cues. 

With the new layout, I made sure my desk was freestanding and that my computer was not sitting on top. Most of my tools went directly on vertical pegboards, where everything was visible and accounted for. All unnecessary items and furniture (i.e. encyclopedias and broken frames) were tossed out. 

A simple thing such as your workspace might have a deeper impact than you might expect. Items such as my book case could be choking off your creative output. 

Creating an ideal printmaking studio is a very personal decision. The type of desk, storage and lighting I have may not be functional for you. However, if you want to take a tour of my new space make sure you subscribe to my YouTube channel I will be posting the video there this week! 

Artist Highlight: Ridgeandroots 

This week, we talk to Gina, best known online as @Ridgeandroots and the Block Printing with Gina Challenge. 

Instagram: @ridgeandroots

Daniel: How did Block Print with Gina come about? You are among the most popular printmakers on Instagram because of this challenge. How did you come up with this idea?

Gina: One of my friends actually nudged me, she said “there aren’t a lot of printmaking challenges”. As a matter of fact I am not really sure there still are, outside of printer solstice. I was trying to gear up for my summer shows. So, the idea was kinda like a reading buddy, you both read the book and hold each other accountable.

The more I think about it, people do inktober. We have expanded that idea because we are artists and we want to participate. However, to pressure someone to do one block a day…that was a lot. How you ever heard of the #100DayProject?

You can read the full interview here. 

Question Time! 

Do you have a printmaking or artist-related question you want me to answer? Let me know here! 

Thank you so much for being a reader, Lori! I truly appreciate it! 

To be completely honest, I am a productivity nut and I try to make the most of my day. The newsletter takes about 3-4 hours out of my week to complete. 

I always carry a book and notebook with me. I tend to get to work an hour before I need to and this is the time I use to make my social media posts and get some reading in. During my lunch, I continue reading and occasionally I sketch or practice my coding. When I do not have access to my notebook, I take notes on my phone.

I use Google Docs & Pages app to compose the newsletter. This makes it really convenient since I can start typing an article on the computer, and continue it on my phone. Since I am a habitual notetaker, stringing ideas together is fairly quick. 

Artist Highlight interviews happen on the weekends via Zoom. I record the meetings and I then transcribe them to text. This is the most labor intensive part of the process. It takes me about an hour to transcribe the text, but I do not see it as wasted time since I get to relive that conversation and learn something I may have missed. My transcriptions are very literal. I feel it is important to keep the original words of an artist intact.  

Once a week, I share the finished newsletter copy with Brandon who works his editing magic. Once he has given it the greenlight, everything is scheduled for publishing and Beehiiv delivers it to your inbox! 

Hey Hold Up!, 

Do you have a printmaking or artist-related question you want me to answer?Let me knowhere! Was this email forwarded to you?

Sign-up here. Thanks for reading. See ya next week.