Sign-In
Cart
When the Studio Goes Sideways: A Field Guide for Working Painters
Paperback
Publisher Price: $19.95
Publisher: Fairview & Evergreen, LLC
Published: May 16 2026
Pages: 164
Weight: 0.50
Height: 0.35 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
Every working painter has had the same morning. You walk into the studio ready to paint. The coffee is made. The panel is waiting. And something is wrong. You cannot name it. The room looks fine. The tools are in their places. But something inside the room is saying no, and within twenty minutes you are standing there feeling like a fraud who has forgotten how to do the thing you have done a thousand times before.
This book is for that morning.
When the Studio Goes Sideways is a field guide for working painters who have hit the wall. Not a theory book. Not a motivation book. A practical, plainspoken guide to diagnosing what went wrong and fixing it before the day is over.
The book is built on three diagnostic questions every painter can ask when the work stalls:
What is wrong with the room?
What is wrong with the routine?
What is wrong with me today?
Eight chapters move from the outside in, covering the physical studio, the daily routine, the noisy mind, the failing canvas, the interrupted life, the dried-up source, medium-specific special cases, and a final chapter of checklists designed to be torn out and taped to the wall. Each chapter offers ten or more practical approaches, exercises, pull quotes worth underlining, and questions to sit with. Take what helps. Leave the rest. Come back next year.
Written by Steve Puttrich, a working fine artist and painting instructor with more than four decades of experience in oil, watercolor, and plein air painting. Steve teaches at the Palette and Chisel Academy of Fine Arts, Morton Arboretum, and Chicago Botanic Garden, and is faculty at PACE (Plein Air Convention and Expo). He trained at the American Academy of Art in Chicago and is the inventor of the Fairview Finder(TM) and the creator of Wonder Walking(TM). His core teaching framework is simple: Design gives clarity. Story gives meaning. Freshness gives life.
This is Book One of the Studio Reset(TM) Series. It is meant to be read once straight through, then kept within reach and opened whenever the studio goes sideways again.
Which it will.
Also in
Individual Artists
Herve Tullet's Art of Play: Images and Inspirations from a Life of Radical Creativity
Tullet, Herve
Van Der Linden, Sophie
Hardcover
Awake in the Dream World: The Art of Audrey Niffenegger
Niffenegger, Audrey
Wasserman, Krystyna
Sterling, Susan Fisher
Hardcover
Dragonart Ultimate Gallery: More Than 70 Dragons and Other Mythological Creatures
Peffer, J. Neondragon
Peffer
Hardcover
Insect Anatomy: The Curious World of Bees, Beetles, Butterflies, and Bugs
Rothman, Julia
Hearst, Michael
Paperback
E Is for Edward: A Centennial Celebration of the Mischievous Mind of Edward Gorey
Hischak, Gregory
The Edward Gorey Charitable Trust
Hardcover
Wildlife Anatomy: The Curious Lives & Features of Wild Animals Around the World
Rothman, Julia
Paperback
Disney Dreams Collection Thomas Kinkade Studios Disney Princess Coloring Book
Kinkade, Thomas
Paperback
Uneasy Elixirs: 50 Curious Cocktails Inspired by the Works of Edward Gorey
Miller, Virginia
Hardcover
The Art of Jacques Pépin: Favorite Recipes and Paintings from My Life in the Kitchen
Pépin, Jacques
Hardcover
All the Colors of Life: Deluxe Gift Edition: An Illustrated Coffee Table Book for Occasions and Celebrations
Aisato, Lisa
Hardcover
Casa Kahlo: Frida Kahlo's Family Home and Sanctuary
Romeo, Frida Hentschel
Romeo Kahlo, Mara
Romeo, Mara de Anda
Hardcover
Beneath the Moon: Fairy Tales, Myths, and Divine Stories from Around the World
Yoshitani, Yoshi
Hardcover
Art/Work - Revised & Updated: Everything You Need to Know (and Do) as You Pursue Your Art Career
Bhandari, Heather Darcy
Melber, Jonathan
Paperback
Anne Neilson's Angels: Devotions and Art to Encourage, Refresh, and Inspire (a 40-Day Devotional)
Neilson, Anne
Hardcover
Expedition: Being an Account in Words and Artwork of the 2358 A.D. Voyage to Darwin IV
Barlowe, Wayne Douglas
Hardcover