Creative Consistency Starts Before You Paint
The reason Brian and Debbie Miller can paint every morning at 5:00 AM has almost nothing to do with luck or talent.
It has everything to do with preparation.
Long before they pick up a brush, their surfaces are ready. Their panels are already gessoed, painted red, and stacked.
This is not glamorous work. It is not even very creative work.
But it makes painting possible.
Each morning, they have a narrow window to start and finish a piece. There just isn’t time to spend hunting down supplies or prepping surfaces.
It’s simple: If the panel isn’t ready, painting doesn’t happen.
So they remove that obstacle ahead of time.
On a weekend, they prepare for the week, or weeks, ahead. They gesso dozens of red panels all at once.
Would they rather be painting? Absolutely.
But they know that future Debbie and Brian cannot paint if there are no boards ready to paint on.
As daily painters, they have learned something that takes other artists years to understand.
Creative consistency cannot happen if you do not build in time for artistic admin.
What is artistic admin?
It’s the physical work required to support your painting. Ordering paint. Clearing space. Taping paper. Cleaning brushes. Prepping boards.
You can approach that admin in two ways.
One-offs
You run into a problem and solve it in the moment. You need a gessoed panel, so you prep one. You need paper taped down, so you tape a single sheet.
This works for things you need occasionally. But if you are trying to show up consistently, it makes everything harder.
Why?
Because if you are painting consistently, you will need to do that admin task again. And again. And again.
You’ll have to get out the materials, take up the space, and wait for it to dry.
It slows down everything that comes afterward while you literally wait for paint to dry.
Batching
Batching is different. You set aside time to complete groups of similar tasks all at once. Gesso 30 boards. Tape down seven sheets of watercolor paper. Clean every brush in the jar.
Batching helps you separate admin time from painting time.
That separation matters more than you think, and it comes down to momentum.
When you are ready to paint, you are in the right mindset. You may have a small window of time, like the Millers. You want to use that window to move forward.
But if you haven’t batched your admin work, you can’t actually begin. Because you have to stop and prep a board. Now there’s a task between you and the painting.
Yes, sometimes you will need to solve a problem in the moment. That’s part of life.
But if you want consistency, it helps to remove obstacles before they appear.
You want to lower the friction between you and the work.
Batch-prepping your surfaces is one of the simplest and most powerful ways to do that.
Put It to Practice
Start with your surfaces.
What do you paint on? Panels? Canvas? Watercolor paper?
What prep do they require before you can begin?
Schedule a 90-minute block this week and prepare as many as you can.
This is ideal for low-energy days because you do not have to make creative decisions. Turn on music. Watch a show. Keep it simple.
When you’re done, especially if you start to feel like, “This doesn’t count, I didn’t complete a painting” remind yourself that this work is what makes future work possible. And not just possible, EASIER.
Then, the next time you walk into your studio, notice what that effort makes possible.
Notice how easy it is to sit down and begin.
That is the power of smart studio admin.