Workshop Wisdom: Kazland
Tell us about your work.
It’s been my job for 13 years now, but I think I’ve been doing it for maybe 17 or 18. I was originally a full-time musician, but I got pneumonia. I couldn’t tour or work for about a year. During that time, the band separated, and I needed something to focus on to keep my mind busy. So I decided to focus on my art more, it was something I was already doing in the background but didn’t have much time for. It took about seven years to become an actual working business. That’s why I ended up living in my studio - it was the only way I could afford to live in London and be a full-time artist.
Now I do collections, collaborations with my wife, and I still play in a band. I just got back from a tour. It’s an improv band I was in before I got sick. They didn’t mind that I took a few years off. So now I’m kind of doing both again - art and music.
-How would you describe your workshop?
Messy is a boring answer, but that’s it. Even at its tidiest, it’s cluttered. There are piles of unfinished work, supplies, finished stuff, half-finished stuff, and things yet to be started. I’ve got instruments in here too - clothing, plants, toys. I used to work in my house and then in a live/work space in London, so I got very used to being surrounded by things. I don’t like working in a room that doesn’t have that homey, full-of-stuff feel. Like a messy home.
It’s only organised because I don’t move things around. Nothing has a dedicated place. I’d like it to, but I’ve never gotten around to it. Things go where they can, and once they’re there, that’s where they stay.
-What is the usual day in the workshop like for you?
Every now and then, I try to have a routine, and I do work better like that, but I hate it. If I can do the office work - emails, orders, that side of the business - before lunch, then I have the rest of the day to make things. Those are the best days, but it’s hard to make myself do that.
When I lived in my London space, I used to wake up, have breakfast, and start work immediately. I’d work all day and hit a good flow around 7 p.m., then go until 2 a.m. That was perfect for me. But now I live outside London, I’m married, I live in a flat and have something like office hours. I’m mentally healthier, but I’m still not used to not painting late into the night.
-How do you best like to work? Music, podcast, silence?
Definitely music. But I’m my own worst enemy with this. I’ll pick a movie I know well, put it on, watch an hour, get frustrated, then put on music and immediately start working better. For some reason, talking doesn’t help. I think I want the visuals of a movie but the audio of music. I used to have movies on silent with music over the top - maybe I should go back to that.
-Who inspired you when you were starting your creative career?
My friend Ziggy. He used to paint on bricks and leave them around town. I started making stickers that reacted to the brick paintings and putting them near his. I thought maybe I’d meet this strange brick painter - and it turns out my band’s drummer knew him. He lived five minutes from me. We went to the same college, and he was in the room above mine.
One night, he invited me over, and we stayed up drawing. The next day, we painted this old screen printing screen together. I still have it. It’s weird but special. It was all because of him. He doesn’t really paint now - he does woodwork and screen printing and whatever he wants.
-What themes, inspirations or concepts drift into your work?
I usually just start with something - a scribble, a colour, a mess. Then I sand it down, do it again, keep going until there are some pleasing shapes. I’ll keep the best ones and paint around them. I keep doing that until I start to feel something from it, then develop it further.
When I got hit by a car in October, I had to take it easy for a while and work from home. I couldn’t paint like usual, so I started drawing on wood instead. I couldn’t work the same way, so I started drawing small - automatic drawing, really. I kept drawing houses and farms, maybe because I was at home and stuck indoors.
I also have lots of half-finished paintings. Some take years before I know what to do with them. One was just a red background I really liked. I kept it for years. Then one day, I drew a chair and light on it, and it was done - in twenty minutes. Sometimes it’s just waiting for the right idea or surface to match up.
-Do you have a quote or motto that you say to yourself? Do you have any rules or rituals when working?
For the longest time, it was “Don’t ruin it.” Me and Zigg used to say it to each other because we’d always overwork things. It was so fun painting that we’d just keep going and ruin it. Now I’ve learned to stop and look at what I’m doing. You can always add more, but you know when it’s done.
I also used to because I didn’t want a bad page. So I’d use scraps of paper, cut them up, and store them in boxes — one for drawing, one for using. I still do that now, years later. Eventually, I got over it and started using sketchbooks again. Now I’ll even write a title for the sketchbook on the first page like “Good Ideas, Bad Drawings.”
-What is your favourite tool to use?
Paint brushes, I guess. My favourites are the ones I’ve had for years and years and are now really battered and frayed. Not super useful at all for fine work but texture and laying out ideas there’s nothing better than an old brush you trust.
-What advice do you have for another maker?
Draw every day. If you’re going to be a painter, even something small helps. It loosens you up and gets you used to drawing shapes and experimenting. Not everything has to be good. People get caught up thinking everything needs to be a masterpiece.
I have boxes of practice drawings of ladders and chairs. I’d get annoyed they weren’t working, but you need the bad ones to get a good one.
