This paper draws on my experience of supervising research degrees undertaken by practising artists, mainly painters. It is driven by the question of whether and how practice might be incorporated into the review process to encourage the development of more relevant research skills for practitioner-researchers. The aim is to develop methods of search and review for practitioner-researchers which take into account the types of projects practitioner-researchers are engaged in as well as the types of knowledge at play as a result of the role of practice in the research. Beginning with the concept of the literature/practice review and the aim of locating researchers' work in relation to that of other practitioners through the creation of a lineage of practice, examples of creating a lineage based on the experiences of four artist-researchers are presented. In addition, strategies for creating a lineage, which require the researcher to engage in creative practice, are outlined. In conclusion, ways that practitioner-researchers from different practical domains might share experiences to develop more relevant strategies for undertaking, assessing and presenting results of search and review within practice as research projects are discussed.