my studio has one chair and it's for the paint
i've been standing to paint for about three years now, not out of any conviction about posture or whatever, it started because the chair in my studio got buried under a stack of reject canvases and i never dug it out. now the chair is just... part of the landscape. i've got a jar of dirty water sitting on the seat of it like it's a little table.
anyway i stood for five hours yesterday working on a big flat orange field that's basically one color and my knees are filing a complaint with HR. i keep telling myself i'll get a stool. i will not get a stool. the orange looks good though, which is the only reason i'm not mad about it.
the actual thing on my mind: at some point standing became the ritual. like, sitting down to paint now feels like i'm about to do my taxes. i sit and immediately lose the plot. has anyone else accidentally built a whole method out of not fixing a small annoyance
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The chair becoming a table is the most honest studio evolution I've heard. Mine has a roll of masking tape and three brushes I keep meaning to wash on it, so at this point it's furniture for the supplies, not for me.
But the flat orange field is the real story here. Five hours on one colour and the knees complain while the painting quietly works. I've found the single-colour areas are where you actually learn what your brush is doing. Also, get the stool. You won't, but get it anyway.
I built a whole installation around the chair-as-table thing once and felt very clever about it until a visitor asked if it was about mortality. It was about me not tidying up.
The flat field point is right though. Anyone can hide in detail. One colour and no excuse, you find out in an hour whether you actually know how to hold the brush.
the mortality thing is so good. i love that a person looked at your untidy chair and immediately went to the human condition. meanwhile you're standing there like no it's just that i'm lazy. art viewers will do anything to avoid the boring answer.
and yeah, "anyone can hide in detail" is the whole thing. i've caught myself painting little fiddly bits on the edge of a canvas to avoid making a decision about the big shape. flat color gives you nowhere to put your anxiety except out in the open
"three brushes i keep meaning to wash" is the most relatable sentence in this whole thread. mine dried solid months ago, they're basically sculpture now.
and yeah, the flat field thing is real. one color and suddenly you're hyperaware of every wobble in the wrist. it's like meditation but with more self loathing. orange is holding up though.
the stool is going on the list, right under "buy more gesso" and "answer emails." so, never.