A look inside Luis Manuel Lambrechts' studio

Is your studio influential in the work you create?

My studio certainly influences the work I make, but this is mainly due to the collection of objects, books, and artifacts that I have on display. The space itself has little to do with the themes of my paintings or the techniques I use. On the other hand, I do feel that the size of my paintings would grow if I worked in a larger studio. However, I don't feel restricted by the size of my current studio.

What material do you prefer to work with?

That's a difficult question, as I regularly switch techniques. If I had to choose, I prefer working with oil paint, oil bars, and oil pastels. There's a kind of grittiness in that material that I really enjoy. With oil bars and oil pastels, I feel like I can both draw and paint on a piece. That variety is quite enjoyable.

Do you have a fixed way of working in your studio?

There's a sort of pattern to my working method, but there's no fixed sequence in which I do things. I enter my studio in the morning, and either I continue working on something that needs to be finished urgently, or I start 'playing' around. This helps me warm up to start a new piece. I structure my week so that I can paint and draw for at least two full days. On the other days, I dedicate half a day to artistic work and the other half to tasks like accounting, emails, marketing, website updates, and so on.