Top Tips to Start a Creative Practice — Advice from an Australian Artist
Starting a creative practice sounds simple. You make time, you show up, you paint.
The reality is messier than that. Life gets in the way. Confidence wavers. You sit down to work and nothing comes. You skip one session, then another, and suddenly weeks have passed without you making anything at all.
I've been through all of it. I'm Kirsten Katz — an Australian artist and surface designer based in Sydney. I make modern botanical and abstract wall art, homewares and gifts. Building a consistent creative practice has been one of the most important things I've done for my work and my business. Here's what has actually helped.
1. Set your hours and treat them like appointments
The single biggest shift in my creative practice came when I stopped waiting to feel inspired and started showing up on a schedule. Studio time goes in the calendar like any other appointment. It doesn't move for admin. It doesn't move for emails.
If you're just starting out, even two or three sessions a week is enough to build momentum. The consistency matters more than the duration. A regular creative practice — even an imperfect one — will always outperform the occasional inspired marathon session.
2. Set up your space so you can walk straight in and start
Friction is the enemy of a creative practice. If you have to spend twenty minutes finding your brushes, mixing your palette, and clearing space before you can make a single mark — you will find reasons not to start.
Set up your workspace so everything is ready to go. Backgrounds prepped, brushes accessible, paper out. Walk in and make something. The setup barrier is often what separates the days you paint from the days you don't.
3. Start with short sessions
When you're building a creative practice from scratch, don't try to do four-hour sessions. Start with thirty minutes. An hour. Something achievable enough that you actually do it.
Short sessions done consistently will build the muscle far faster than long sessions done occasionally. As the habit strengthens, the sessions naturally extend. But get the habit first.
4. Work on multiple pieces at once
One of the most practical things I do in the studio is keep three or four pieces at different stages simultaneously. One in the early background phase, one in mark-making, one in colour development, one being finished.
This means I never walk into the studio and face a blank canvas. There is always something to move forward. It removes the paralysis of starting from scratch every session and keeps the creative practice flowing even on days when the ideas aren't coming easily. You can read more about how I work in my studio process post.
5. Embrace consistency over perfection
This is the one I come back to most. Not every session will produce good work. Some days what you make will go straight in the bin. That's not failure — that's a creative practice working exactly as it should.
The work that surprises you, the pieces that feel genuinely alive, come from volume. You have to make ten paintings to find the two that are exceptional. You can't curate your way to a body of work — you have to paint your way there.
6. Experiment with different mediums
If your creative practice feels stale or stuck, try a different medium. Watercolour if you've been working in acrylics. Drawing if you've been painting. Collage if you've been drawing. Something that takes you out of your comfort zone and forces you to respond rather than plan.
Some of my most significant creative breakthroughs came from periods of deliberate experimentation. My Flowers of Oz collection — my first — grew directly from a period of pushing into new territory with mark-making and layered colour. From there the work expanded into a full range of botanical art prints that are still among my best sellers today. The discomfort of not knowing what you're doing is often where the most interesting work lives.
7. Seek inspiration — but don't let it replace making
Filling yourself with inspiration matters. Art books, galleries, time in nature, other artists' work. But there's a version of seeking inspiration that becomes a form of procrastination — consuming endlessly instead of making.
The ratio should always be weighted toward making. Inspiration feeds the creative practice. It doesn't substitute for it.
8. Don't hide the messy middle
One of the most valuable things you can do for your creative practice — and for connecting with an audience — is to show the work in progress. The unfinished pieces, the failed experiments, the sessions where nothing went right.
This is what builds genuine connection. Not the highlight reel. The real process. If you follow me on Instagram at @kirstenkatzart, you'll see exactly this — the studio process as it actually is, not just the finished work.
9. Reflect on what's working
At the end of each week or month, look back at what you made. Not to judge it harshly — to learn from it. What felt alive? What felt forced? What surprised you? What do you want to explore more?
A creative practice that includes reflection grows faster than one that just keeps moving without pausing to take stock. If you want to understand more about the story and values behind my work, the Art Behind the Brand page is a good place to start — it's the thinking that shapes every collection I make.
10. Find your people
Making art alone is hard. Not impossible — but harder than it needs to be. Find other artists you respect, even one or two, and build some form of accountability or connection with them. Share what you're working on. Ask questions. Let their practice inspire yours.
The creative practice doesn't have to be solitary. The best ones rarely are.
If you're curious about what a sustained creative practice looks like in action — the collections, the originals, the work that came from years of showing up — explore everything at kirstenkatz.com. And if you'd like studio updates, new releases and behind the scenes directly to your inbox, sign up to the newsletter here.
