Steffanie Lorig's perfectionism was holding her back. Here's how she broke through to artistic freedom.
"Ten years ago, I was struggling to get past the inner critic, whose loud voice often showed up whenever my painting didn’t turn out 'perfect'..."
What would change if you were able to let go of all the second thoughts you have about your work, all the times you tell yourself your painting or photo or sculpture isn’t good enough? Don’t you think you’d be able to create more freely if you stopped holding yourself back?
Steffanie Lorig learned this lesson, and it opened up a whole new world of creative possibility. Today, her exuberant canvases are a celebration of everything that inspires her and excites her, which keeps her deeply engaged with the artmaking process.
Influenced by outsider art, surrealism, and folk traditions, her artworks are an exciting dream of birds, mythical figures, and amorphous shapes becoming recognizable forms. She calls it “controlled chaos.”
“My art practice keeps me connected to my creative childhood and keeps me curious,” she told Artwork Archive recently, “allowing my studio time as an excuse to play, create whimsy, reveal moments of delight.”
But when she first started out, she struggled with feelings that nothing she made was living up to her own standards. It’s a feeling so many artists can relate to, but that doesn’t make it any less frustrating when you’re going through it yourself.
Steffanie Lorig found her way through to the other side of perfectionism, and she has advice on how you can do the same. Read on to learn how she overcame her artist blocks and finally turned her art business into a thriving, fulfilling part of her life. Plus, learn what ten years of using Artwork Archive has done for her confidence, and her career.
Steffanie Lorig, Moon Garden Brings Hope, Mixed Media, 20 x 16 in, and The Music of Open Windows, Mixed Media, 20 x 16 in.
Don’t Let Perfectionism Hold Your Art Back
“Ten years ago, I was struggling to get past the inner critic,” Steffanie admits, “whose loud voice often showed up whenever my painting didn’t turn out ‘perfect.’”
She had a day job as a graphic designer, so she wanted her studio time to be fulfilling and invigorating, the way art used to feel when she was a kid. She wanted to be able to play and experiment, but instead, any failure on the canvas left her feeling drained.
“After each ‘failed’ painting, I would stop trying for weeks… or months… in order to quell the negative self-talk,” she recalls.
But art has a way of telling you the things you might want to hide, even from yourself: “At one point, I created a series of women with their eyes closed. I didn’t realize it at the time, but later I realized that it represented how uninspired I was by my own artistic limitations.”
Because she was so invested in getting things perfect, she had sapped all the life out of her art practice.
“To tell the truth, I was bored with what I was producing,” she remembers. “It all looked the same.”
Don't be so serious all the time: Steffanie Lorig learned that play, experimentation are the key to keeping her engaged in her art practice.
How To Fall In Love With Art Again
Steffanie needed to reignite her passion for her art, and the first step was to let go of the tight grip of control she had placed on all her artmaking.
Where she used to invest all her energy into one painting, she started working on multiple pieces at the same time. Instead of always reaching for the same paintbrushes, she started using anything that might make an interesting mark: spray bottles, bamboo whisks, knitting needles. She started adding a bit of collage, playing around with ways she could create interesting layers or shapes with cut-up images and paper. She was loosening up, letting the art making process guide her, rather than trying to impose her thinking mind onto her artworks.
Along the way, she had a powerful realization that many artists can relate to: her perfectionism wasn’t driven only by her high standards, it was also a way of preventing the world from criticizing her art: “I began to understand that that little voice is oftentimes fear disguised as protection.”
So the final step to reenergize her enthusiasm for her art was to hear that little voice but not let it direct her work, and to reassure it by sharing her work more with the world. She recognized that seeing someone else enjoy your art is a sure-fire way to get excited about it yourself.
“Over the years, showing up consistently has allowed me to share my joy with my followers in galleries and online,” she says. “Showing my art publicly was a huge step and I learned to let go of my perfectionistic tendencies.”
These days, she can have as many as 15 paintings in progress at the same time, and doesn’t put too much pressure on any one piece: “This lets me disengage from the emotional preciousness of a single work of art.”
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Steffanie Lorig's Public Profile on Artwork Archive.
Prioritize Your Art, Especially When Life Gets Busy
Steffanie is thankful that, ten years on from her perfectionist epiphany, she's much more confident as an artist today. Her studio is now one place she can always rely on to “create whimsy” and “reveal moments of delight.”
“I do enjoy my time in the studio, so it’s definitely not hard to keep showing up," she shares. “My studio is my sanctuary. It’s a welcoming and peaceful space.”
But she still has to protect her studio time, so that the rest of her life doesn’t eat into it: “As we all know, life WILL get in the way… so prioritizing what I’d like to be proud of at the end of any given week is important to me.”
She takes a balanced approach to her art practice, recognizing what she values and making conscious choices based on that. There might be little sacrifices along the way, but it all adds up to her creating the type of life she wants to live.
Steffani Lorig, Intertwined Preservation, Mixed Media, 15 x 30 x 1.5 in.
“I like to think of myself as a creator rather than a consumer, so I try to keep that in mind as I go about my day,” she explains. “I gave up watching television shows (now it’s only the occasional movie) so that certainly frees up a lot of time to meet that goal.”
Gallery shows and other obligations help her structure her time, and she uses Artwork Archive’s deadline tracking to keep her on top of all the submissions and shipments she has to make. But the ultimate motivation for her these days remains her love of her art practice.
“Painting is my a way of processing the whirlwind of thoughts—a calming way to center myself in the midst of a world gone crazy,” she tells Artwork Archive. “So it’s really just therapy wrapped in a paint-stained cloak and it makes me less anxious… and as we all know, there’s a physical benefit to that.”
Steffanie Lorig has turned her studio into a sanctuary, a place she can always rely on to energize and enrich her life.
How Artwork Archive Has Helped Steffanie’s Art Business
When Steffanie first started making art, she didn’t think much about how she should track her inventory. But as her canvases added up, she started seeing how a bit of organization might help her grow as an artist.
“I had just finished my 20th painting and was bemoaning the fact that Excel wasn’t going to cut it for long,” a realization that hits many arts after a bit of time with disorganized spreadsheets. “Someone, I don’t remember who, mentioned that they were using Artwork Archive and that I should check it out.”
She was hesitant at first—spreadsheets were free, and she wasn’t sure how much she could benefit from a digital inventory management system.
“But I soon saw the limitations of my system and the benefits of the many smart features that Artwork Archive offered,” she recounts.
Once she made the switch, she was hooked. Now, ten years later, she uses Artwork Archive as a vital, central part of her art business, and makes full use of the suite of tools that goes far beyond the inventory features she was initially looking for.
All of which makes picking her favorite Artwork Archive feature a tough question: “Oh my goodness… too many to list.”
She relies on the Location History in each Piece Record to make sure she’s always presenting new work in shows: “I am often invited back to show at the same places, and Artwork Archive helps me make sure I don’t put the same pieces in the next show so that it looks fresh.”
She uses the Notes function to record important details about each piece, and she loves that she those fields are fully searchable so she can easily pull up pieces that match her search criteria: “I can add things like if the piece is varnished or not. Or the color mixes that I used. Things that I don’t want to lose and information that will likely come in handy later on.”
She can’t imagine going back to a system that doesn’t let her see her art opportunity submissions and deadlines all in one place. And when tax time comes around, she’s able to quickly sort her sales by date, making income and expenses a breeze to calculate.
Artwork Archive has made Steffanie’s life easier by offering so many solutions that artists don’t even know they need until they use them. And, importantly, the platform has allowed her to find new ways to support her art practice, like last year, when she had a new client reach out who was interested in artworks in a certain size range.
“In the old days, I would not have been able to easily show her, but I dove into Artwork Archive’s Private Rooms function, learned how to use it in just a few minutes, and was able to provide her with a private viewing room of all the art that fit her needs,” she recalls with pride. That collector ended up buying two paintings from the Private Room that very day.
Private Rooms that impress collectors.
When Steffanie Lorig needs to share work with a collector, client, or gallery, she uses Artwork Archive's Private Rooms function to create a curated selection perfectly tailored to the opportunity.
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Steffanie Lorig uses Private Rooms to share customized selections of her artwork with potential buyers.
Over the years, she’s come to rely on the Artwork Archive team to be there for her when she needed support. She’s made suggestions for new features or product tweaks that the Artwork Archive team has implemented. (Have a suggestion of your own? Let us know!)
“I’ve never interfaced with an online program that constantly showed up the way they have,” she says of the Artwork Archive team. “It’s what has made me stick with the program for over ten years. And they keep making things better. I heartily recommend them to everyone I meet who is just starting out on their art career.”
Steffanie Lorig, Fur and Feathers, Mixed Media, 24 x 48 x 1.25 in.
Steffanie’s Advice For Artists Just Starting Out
If there’s one lesson that Steffanie has learned over the past ten years, it’s that artists learn by doing. The only way to get to your new creative productivity is to get in the studio and mess around. The only way to reignite your love for your work is to share it with the world. And the only way to get your art business organized is to start tracking your inventory as soon as possible.
If someone was asking her today about Artwork Archive, her advice would be simple: “I’d say start today. Because the longer you wait, the more work it is to upload all your content.”
She relied on Artwork Archive's video tutorials when she was getting her own account up and running, and she says the help documents are a great way to find out about features that might be available already but you don’t know about.
“Think of it as a silent partner in your success,” she urges. “It will keep you organized so that you can focus less on the administrative side and more on the actual making and selling of your art.”
Steffanie Lorig, The Gathering, Mixed Media, 20 x 16 in.
What Steffanie Is Looking Forward To In Her Art Career
Looking at the next ten years, Steffanie is excited to continue growing in her art career and experimenting with new materials and techniques.
She’s consistently showing her work in two galleries and several smaller businesses around Seattle, and is hoping to place her work more on the East Coast and in the Southwest, where she’s originally from.
She’s set up a special savings account to fund a yearly workshop trip so that she can reward herself for all the hard work she’s doing in the studio: “I love learning from artists I admire and I find that in a workshop environment I can dive in fully because I’m away from my day job and other responsibilities.”
And in a little less than ten years, she’ll be retiring from her graphic design career. She’s excited about all the free time she’ll have to experiment. “My modus operandi will be to try it, to fail fast, and then put my own twist on it to make it work for my style.”
And throughout it all, she expects to keep growing with Artwork Archive by her side.
“I love that I was an early adopter because I do see how it has evolved over the years,” she shares. “Now I consider it an invaluable partner in helping me track inventory, locations, sales, and clients. I’m at a spot in my art career that I’d be lost without this tool.”
Want to reclaim the freedom and excitement of your art practice by making your art business tasks as simple as possible? A bit of structure now can mean more time and headspace for the work you actually want to be doing.
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