Summer is definitely here. At least in Slovenia. If you live in the northern hemisphere, you might have your summer already planned. But you might still wonder how to keep making art during summer.

During the years, artists I mentor have shared with me the ways they summer routines. The variety of summer artist types and routines is amazing. I am happy to share some of those with you (in case you need inspiration). So let’s dive into them!

The sketching-on-the-beach type

The sketching-on-the-beach type is quite practical. She likes to travel light, so she adds to her luggage just a few pencils, ink pens or an aquarelle set, and a sketchbook. She takes them wherever she goes and draws what captures her attention. Her eye captures the lazy cat in the shadow of a tree, the beautiful plants, the lighthouse… She loves the beach. All those different (almost) naked bodies laying around! She can finally practice her croquis drawing skills! Once she is back from her day trips, she often revisits her drawings and works further on them. Some even become inspirations for bigger works she will make at her home studio.

The outdoor painter

Nature is her best friend. She enjoys the sounds, the smells, and above all, the colors. As a painter, she appreciates deeply nature’s palette and would do anything to capture nature’s true colors in her paintings. She doesn’t mind getting up early and heading to her favorite spot to capture the best light, caring her easel, colors, and sunhat – of course.

The artist’s-diary type

Summer is the zen season for her. A time to peacefully research new ideas. She goes on vacation with her artist’s diary. She is not interested in capturing what is around her, but just being in a new surrounding may trigger new ideas. She writes, sketches her ideas, and may develop them when she comes back to her studio in whatever material. She is grateful.

The summer-workshop type

This summer, she wants to do something different. So she spent weeks searching the internet to find a summer art workshop that would make her learn something new and meet new people, and … she found it! It is in a city she wanted to visit anyways and she can’t wait to go! Such an exciting time!

The artist’s-cottage type

Relatives invited her to use their cottage while they travel, and she decides to set up an art studio there. She slows down, talks to the locals in the village shop, buys eggs and milk at the farm next door and savors her artistic summer. The series of works made there will become the base for her next exhibition!

The summer-photographer type

She doesn’t know why, but she can’t work anywhere else than in her small improvised home studio. So she leaves her art supplies at home and travels with her camera. She takes it out instinctively, reacting to whatever strikes her. It’s her way of collecting memories. Memories that she will later inspect in her home studio and use as inspiration for her future work.

The walking-collector type

Walking is her other passion. She gets up early and goes for a walk, always keeping a bit of free space in her small backpack. There she will put things she finds while walking. Things with beauty others have overlooked. She treasures her findings and takes them to her treasure room. There, they join other things without names that keep triggering her creativity!

The land-art type

Summer is for playing, she says. And she plays wherever she is, with whoever she is. She touches the sand, draws in it, arranges piles of stones, and makes a bracelet from little pieces of wood. She leaves her small artworks where she made them, for others to find and enjoy. One would think she doesn’t take anything to her home studio… But it isn’t quite true. When back in her home studio, one can see she has embraced her newly founded playfulness and put it into her new paintings.

So, what summer-artist type will YOU be this summer? Choose freely, cause there are no right or wrong answers. And if you have a routine I haven’t mentioned, please share it!