The Visual Artist’s Listening Room

“Rosy Glen”, detail, oil, KGT

My musician brother Bob has a listening room in his home. It has no keyboards or horns, and is his place to review music and think, and maybe make new decisions on the next steps to take in a composition.

Where is the “listening room” for a visual artist? Do you have a place to go and think about your art, shut away from busy life? Determine your next plans or projects, or revise a current piece?

Away from the easel, I can take an unfinished painting to a new place, new light, even outdoors. Sometimes I take a photo of the piece, like this one, and have a new look at it on my computer screen. Things sometimes jump out at me that I like (or don’t like), and I suddenly know what to do next to complete or fix that painting.

My listening room is sometimes in a chair with art books to rediscover. Or I can take some sketchbooks outside and see some of my former drawings, and remember things I once explored and see a progression of ideas. Often I’ll want to grab a pencil and get a new idea on a page after this, or scribble a few notes about a technique I want to revisit or strengthen.

Do you have a “Listening Room”?

-Karen