Studio Snapshot: Aaron Schuerr | Artists Network

A Montana plein-air painter built a studio from scratch with a little help from YouTube—and a lot of help from his wife.

Aaron Schuerr is a pastel and oil painter who paints on the landscape—everything from seashore to mountains—en plein air, in all four seasons. He’s also a stage actor, poet, and CrossFit coach. Aaron and his wife added “studio builder” to that list when they decided to build a new studio on their Montana property. We caught up with the artist recently and asked him to share the results of these DIY-building efforts. 

Tell us about how the studio project came to be.

For a few years, I rented a large studio in downtown Livingston, Mont. The rent was reasonable, but my wife pointed out that if I kept paying rent, I’d never have a studio of my own. So, I moved back into my old studio—a converted alley garage—and we started saving.

The original idea was to build a simple shed design, but—after conversations with friends—we decided to build a two-story space with an apartment on the ground floor and a studio on the top floor, accessed by an external staircase.  

Over the first summer, my wife and brother-in-law worked to build the shell (constructed of insulated concrete forms), while I helped when extra muscle was needed. After that, it was just my wife and me. We joke that it’s the house built by YouTube. When we were stumped, we watched how-to videos. We did nearly all of it, only contracting out the concrete work, drywall on the high ceilings, and the electrical work.

Building a studio from scratch is just hard. For a time, I was able to use the upstairs of a bookstore as a temporary studio, and then I worked in a small bedroom in our house. I needed to keep up on painting to keep money coming in, but that meant I wasn’t making progress on the studio. Thankfully, my wife looked at it as a puzzle to solve, so I really had to trust her that it would all work out. I can’t stress how much this project was her vision. She spent countless hours sketching on graph paper, designing and redesigning the studio. 

Now that it’s done, I love it. I have good natural light. And I have separate stations for pastel and oil, so it only takes a few minutes to set up one or the other. We have a great tenant in the apartment space, and that rent is going directly into paying off the building. And I’m more productive and creatively energized than I’ve ever been. 

You are mostly known for painting en plein air, so I’m curious how you use your studio. 

That’s the funny part. If you take a walk around my studio, 90 percent of the work you’ll see was at least started en plein air. The plein-air work piles up, and I finally take time back in the studio to touch up and finish paintings. The studio is a home base—a place to return to, to take stock, and to finish the thoughts started in the field.

A larger studio has been a game-changer because I can see all the work in progress. If I get stuck on one, I set it aside and work on another. I’m surrounded by paintings, so it’s a matter of deciding which ones are ready for finishing. That way it always feels fresh. 

What is the best or most unique thing about your studio?

I installed a slat wall to display and store works-in-progress. I got the idea from Suzie Baker, a wonderful artist who also built her own studio. It’s the kind of wall you’d see in a shoe store, with plastic shelves that slot into horizontal boards. It’s quick and easy to reconfigure it, so I can arrange wet paintings easily. 

Did you learn anything along the way that might be helpful to other artists who want to build or renovate a studio?

You can do more than you think. I have some construction experience, but only as a laborer. Carefully analyze what you can do and what you need to contract out. We did most of the work ourselves because contractors were hard to find, and because we could, but it’s not necessarily the best path for everyone. Also, be prepared to adjust plans if need be. At every step I thought, “I’m going to mess this up,” but somehow it worked out better than I could’ve imagined. 

Tell us a little about your regular art-making routine. What’s a typical day like?

There’s no such thing as a typical day! I wish I could say my days are filled with painting, but business takes up more time than I like. Sometimes I spend a whole day catching up on business. Other times I budget a certain amount of time and stop no matter where I’m at and get over to the easel. I’m also an actor and writer, so that comes in and out of my daily practice. Sometimes I’ll be running lines for a play and painting at the same time! 

Today is a good example of a typical untypical day: This morning I put in a second plein-air session on a 14×18-piece at a ranch, near home. Then I stopped at the CrossFit gym for a workout. Now I’m finishing up this interview, and then I’ll head back out for an evening plein-air session. My two constants are regular exercise and napping. It seems counterproductive, but if you really want to be productive, take time for both. 

What’s a piece of advice you would offer about making the most of your studio time? 

Relentlessly carve out time to paint. I look at galleries and shows as a means to keep doing what I love to do and a way to share the experience. Galleries are not the goal. Plein-air painting, writing, and acting are the goals. I’ll push back against anything that gets in the way. Do the thing first and figure out how to pay the bills second. 

More practically, I’m learning to be better at cleaning up after myself. I always have a lot of things going at once, so it’s easy to leave little messes, and that quickly compounds. 

A Gallery of Paintings

Take a look at some of the artist’s recent landscape work in both pastel and oil.