Laura Robb paints living flowers in her studio, which limits the amount of time she has to paint and when. Laura also paints with natural light, which also defines the time of the day she can paint. If it is a large painting, she starts early, but her favorite time to paint is in the afternoon. Laura likes a situation where she has to hurry a little bit. She is not rushing, but she wants a vague, off-in-the-distance hurry. Knowing the sun is going down in the afternoon helps Laura focus and keep working. Wintertime also gives her a smaller window to paint. Painting from life has certain limitations, but they are all worth it to Laura. 

You could almost consider Laura an indoor landscape painter. She built her studio specifically to paint from life and utilize natural light. The windows in her studio start about 7 feet high and go up to 14 feet high. They are replacement glass for sliding doors and double paned. Another issue with painting from natural light is it comes in from one side of the studio most of the time. Laura has her still-life stands on rollers just in case she needs to move to get a different angle of light. Sometimes you have to change yourself since you can’t change the light. There are times when Laura wishes she had not fallen in love with natural light and odd-size canvases, but it is all worth the trouble because this is how she paints best. The “right” time to paint can differ for any artist, so find what works for you.

Sometimes, when Laura is not in love with her work, she will move so she can capture the flower from a different position. If she was using a photo reference of a floral design, she would not be able to see things from a different angle like this. Many of her paintings would not exist if she was painting from a photo versus life. Most artists that Laura admires have experience painting from life, and not solely from an image. Having experience with both makes someone a better, more experienced artist.

Want to learn from from Laura?

Join Laura in her self-study course, “The Puzzle of Painting,”or her FREE webinar “Composing with Flowers.”

You can also click below to find out more:

Listen more on Laura’s favorite time to paint on the Paint & Clay Podcast here.