Inside My Studio

Ok, I have been really enjoying Inside the Painter's Studio. I have settled into reading just one section at a time, then later I look up the artist on the internet to see more of their work and learn more about them.

Also, while reading the interviews I found myself thinking about what my responses to those questions would be (um, cause the world does revolve around me after all) and even though I have talked about some of these topics here before, it occurred to me that I could answer all these questions too, here on my blog. So I tracked down the book's author, artist Joe Fig, and asked his permission to use his questions and encourage other artist bloggers to do the same on their blogs. He said 'go ahead' (and became my new Facebook friend too!) and here we are. So consider this a tag if you are reading this, just be sure to give credit to Joe, mention the book title and link back to his website and maybe to me too if you do it, k?

Well, here we go:

When did you consider yourself a professional artist and when were you able to dedicate yourself full time to that pursuit?

After finishing college (University of the Arts in Philadelphia) as an illustration major, I tried to work as a freelance illustrator. Which actually meant that I needed to get a job doing something else, and quickly. The job I got led me to doing some other things for a few years, then I got married, we adopted a nephew, then went on to have three babies. So I put aside painting for about ten years in order to be a full time mom. When my youngest started school in 2003, I began painting again during the day and have considered myself a working artist since then.

How long have you been in this studio?

Just over a year. My previous studio was in one of the living rooms on the first floor of our family home. It's a beautiful room, but rather small to work in and was also open to the rest of the house so the kids and cats and dogs were constantly coming through. I was always having to fix up the paw prints in the gesso or clean up hairballs or whatever.

Is your studio separate from your home? Is that what you prefer and does that affect your work?

I have always preferred to have a studio within or connected to my home, and now that I have a family I can't imagine working somewhere else each day. I still have to do a lot of multi tasking and I am able to spend time with the kids even if I am working. Sometimes my youngest daughter will come in and read to me while I am painting and I love that. I have moved around a lot; from Minnesota, to Philadelphia, Connecticut, Utah and now in upstate New York and even when I wasn't painting I always had some sort of workspace within my home. I like being home all day, although I do have to make a special effort to go out for lunch or dinner with friends. Sometimes I forget to be social and then when I do go out I feel like an alien!

Did you have a plan for the layout of your studio or did it develop organically?

It was planned, although since it is an attic space and we were on a budget there weren't a lot of options. Actually, we decided to finish the attic so that my husband could move his office into it and then I would get the connecting living rooms downstairs for my studio. But about midway though the project I decided it should be my studio. My husband graciously agreed and despite a few drawbacks, it is a wonderful space to work in. It even has storage!

Has the studio location influenced your work?

Well, living out here in the country has certainly affected my work. I never painted landscapes or barns before moving here and while I am not a plein air painter, most of my subject matter comes from the scenery around my home. And learning how to see things differently really changed how I express myself.


As far as the actual studio goes, well this studio is a very comfortable and peaceful space, it has a good feeling, which I think is reflected in my work. I also have more room to experiment with different things and to store the work that is pretty good, maybe not good enough to show or sell but not bad enough to toss out. Heh. It's actually quite freeing to not to have to decide right away about what to save or to throw out just because of space issues.

But as much as I like this studio, there are some drawbacks to it, which make me think I may have to set up something else someday. I feel rather cut off from the rest of the house which is nice in some ways but kind of irritating too. I miss being able to multi task easily, like starting dinner while finishing up a day's work in the studio, or to answer the door or let the dogs in and out. Even though I have north facing windows there is not a lot of light in my studio and while I don't depend on natural light to paint by, I much prefer a nice bright room to spend my time in. I would also like to have more vertical wall space (most of the walls are sloped) so that I could have a painting wall and more drying/display space.

Please describe a typical day, being as specific as possible. For example: What time to you get up? When do you come to the studio? Do you have specific clothing you change into?

I get up at 6am, shower, get dressed, then get the kids up by 7 and out the door to catch the school bus by 7:45. I feed the cats, the dogs, and take care of the chickens and other chores, depending on the season. In the summer I usually take a 3 mile walk around the block early in the day and when it's colder, I take the walk around lunchtime. Anyway, next, I have my breakfast up in my studio in front of my computer and I answer emails, maybe write a blog post, then do some social things like reading other artist's blogs and Facebook. I try to get to work by 9am, but sometimes it is more like 10 or even 11am (oops). I work for a few hours and then break for lunch, which I either have with my husband (he works at home when he is not away on business) or I eat at my computer. Then it's back to work until I have to rush out the door to go pick up a kid or three from their after school activities, usually around 4 or 5. Sometimes my husband will pick them up and I start dinner, or if he is out of town I stop working earlier to get dinner started and then go pick up the kids. Usually, everything is a blur of crazy activity from 4pm to 9pm each weekday! In the evening I go back up to my studio to look at what I am working on, and sometimes I spend a few hours on the computer, catching up on the news, surfing the internet and socializing on the time sucker that is Facebook. Other nights I watch some tv, knit and then I read for at least an hour before I go to sleep each night. I try to get to sleep by 10:30 but it's usually closer to midnight. I use the weekends for family activities and also to catch up on things around the house and yard, so I don't usually work in the studio then, unless I have a deadline coming up or if I have been unproductive during the week.



Do you listen to music, the radio, or TV when you work? If so, what, and does it affect your work?

I listen to Howard Stern every morning (if it is a live show) and then for the rest of the day I usually listen to my iPod which has every song on it that I have ever loved or even just liked. I had it on shuffle for years which I enjoyed but about two years ago I realized I missed hearing albums so I have had it set to album shuffle since then. I never work in silence; listening to talk radio or music that I connect to is really important to me. My mind gets to wander off, listening to other people talk or feeling certain lyrics or the emotion of the singer and I can just paint by instinct without over thinking or overworking.

What kind of paints do you use?

I like the quality of certain brands; Vasari, Schmincke, Old Holland, Gamblin, Rembrandt are my favorites but mostly I go with color over brand. My palette shifts every so often and I don't do a lot of color mixing so I like to have a good variety of colors on hand. I have a huge collection paints; probably more than I will ever be able to use!



How long have you had your painting table, and how did you decide to set it up?



I bought this metal serving cart from Target when I was preparing to move into this studio this year because I wanted to have something that I could move around. I keep all my photographic references on the lower shelf along with some supplies that I like to keep handy. It's too small to keep my paints on it (those are in a flat file drawer right behind me) and I just use the top surface for my palette (I use disposable palette pads) and jars of Turpenoid Natural for rinsing my brushes. More about my palette here.

Do you have any special devices or tools that are unique to your creative process?

Yes, I picked up a few soft scratching tools at the art supply store at the Vermont Studio Center when I was there for a residency a few years ago. I have used them ever since and in fact scratching into the paint is a big part of my new work. And Liquin is an important element as well, crucial for getting the kind of glazes that I prefer.

Are there specific items here that have significant meaning to you?

Yes! Almost everything in my studio is important to me! I have a dusting brush that belonged to my grandfather; I use it all the time. My desk belonged to my father in law, our contractor who is practically on a retainer for our money pit and is also a friend/collector built me a storage cabinet which means a lot to me. I have a drawing table that I bought in college 25 years ago and I have dragged it all around the country with me ever since. I love my new project tables so much that I want to just hug them every day. The owner of my NYC gallery gave me a huge flat file when the gallery closed and I love that thing. I have a number of small paintings by friends and fellow bloggers on my walls as well as pictures and art by my kids. I like to work in a homey sort of space, and I like having all my things around me. As much as the classic, white walled, spare artist's studio appeals to me, I really don't feel comfortable working in a space like that.

Do you work on one project at a time, or several?

I work on several paintings at once, due to the nature of applying glazes. I can only do a little bit of work on a painting each day so in order to utilize my time in the studio better, I always work in groups. Lately I have been painting different subject matter and I try to work in clusters with those too, although that has been a challenge since I usually have to put them aside and work on landscapes which are mostly what I show. But going back and forth has been good for me, I think. It is nice to have more flexibility after being so focused on landscapes for the last several years.

When you are contemplating your work, where and how do you sit or stand?

I just review each painting while it is still on the easel, so in that case I am either still seated if it is a small panel or standing if it is a larger panel. If I decide that the painting is right, I put it up on a the wall, on a display shelf while the glaze dries and I often spend more time looking at it there, trying to determine if it is done or if it needs more layers.

How often do you clean your studio, and does it affect your work?

I am a clutter bunny, I like having a lot of stuff around me, yet it is a fairly organized clutter and I spend a little time each day reorganizing and putting things away. Puttering like that really gets me into the work groove and helps me settle in for the day. I feel a bit unsettled if things are really a mess, although I am still able to keep working if I really have to, like if I am on a deadline and am feeling too crazy to tidy up.

Every month or so, I do a more major cleaning, sweeping and dusting the wood floors. Again, I don't need a super clean space but I do prefer it not to be filthy.



How do you come up with titles?

With the landscapes and barns, I usually use a fairly descriptive title like Red Barn with Trees or Yellow Field. I also use song titles or lyrics if I can think of one that seems appropriate; "The Big Pink" was perfect for a pink barn that I painted a few years ago! But I have painted so many landscapes over the last few years and the well is a bit dry concerning new titles so in my recent work, which is more abstract, I have a name for the series, then numbers for each piece. The portraits that I have been doing usually incorporate the name of the person or maybe something that the person is wearing.
All I Have To Do Is Dream, 2009, Oil on Birch Panel, 9x9

Do you have assistants?

No. But before the economy stuff happened, I was much busier and sometimes my husband would help me with putting the hangers on the panels and that sort of thing. When things pick up again, I may hire my teen age son to help me prep panels. I could also use some help with keeping track of my painting inventory and one of my daughters would be perfect for that job, although she is not yet aware of that. heh.

Did you ever work for another artist, and if so, did that have any effect on the way you work?

I have never worked for another artist.

Do you have a motto or creed that as an artist you live by?

When I find myself second guessing what I am doing, worrying about whether a particular piece will be exhibited or will sell, I remind myself that I get to do whatever I want. So I do that. I can't say it always leads to a better painting, but I at least feel good that I followed my instincts and usually that does work out eventually.

What advice would you give a young artist that is just starting out?

A few things I guess. One is to paint from your heart (I know, sounds sappy but you know what I mean) because if you feel it, it will show, and others will feel it too. Two is to keep working; having the discipline to work regularly is so important no matter what you do. Also, learn as much as you can about the business side of art, so much more information about that is available now because of the internet, and it is way better to be empowered in that area, than not.

I Am Utterly In Love

I just received Inside the Painter's Studio by artist Joe Fig the other day and I am so in love with it that I can't actually sit down and read it. I keep it near me all day and have paged through it, have looked at all the pictures but I am enjoying the anticipation of reading the interviews with the artists. So much so that I don't want to spoil all that by actually reading them. Makes sense, right?

Like most artists, I REALLY REALLY like seeing other artist's studios and learning about their studio habits. I like to enlarge the photos I see online and just pore over every detail. Love seeing all the art supplies, art in progress, along with piles of junk, and all the quirky little things most artists have on hand for no apparent reason. Here is a good article about Joe's book, along with some good images of the painter's studios.

And in a feeble attempt to position myself as a painter with a real studio (that's a self-deprecating joke, people!) I am posting a photo of my project table, which I love almost as much as this book.

Cool!!

Big, super exciting studio news! We finally installed an air conditioner up here in my attic studio. I tried to delay the inevitable for as long as possible but this week's heat and humidity overwhelmed me.

In the six years we have lived in this house we have never felt the need for AC or even a fan. Our house is old, has thick walls and there are a lot of shade trees surrounding us. The house is also located on a rise, at the opening of a valley, and so it is just a bit cooler (and that includes cooler in the winter too ;)) here, plus we usually have a good breeze through here too. I like having windows open to catch the breezes and also at night the house cools down and retains that coolness for a good part of the day. There are usually a few days each summer though, when it is really, really hot and we are pretty uncomfortable from the heat and humidity. We all walk around grumbling and debating about buying a few fans at least. Usually though, by the time we decide to do that, the intense heat passes and we forget about buying more appliances.

All bets are off with the attic though! Last year when we finished the space we splurged and spent a small fortune on foam insulation which was a very good decision. Instead of the 200 degree temps up here before the renovation, it now only gets to about a hundred and twenty on a hot day. heh. Last summer I only worked in the studio in the mornings while it was fairly cool from the night, but this summer my schedule is a bit less predictable. It is VERY uncomfortable in the studio in the afternoons and especially if I have the lights on over the easel. ICK! So last week, before Doug left to go out west we decided to install a window unit. Good thing because we have had a bit of a heat wave since then!

So even though it is kinda like a nice cool heaven up here now, I am trying to use the ac VERY minimally. My own rules are that I leave the windows open all night and then only run the ac when I am up here working and if I am actually sweating. The space cools off pretty quickly once the ac gets started and I have yet to set it lower than 68. Ooh and it has a remote control! I thought a remote was totally ridiculous at first but now I do admit to sitting at my desk not four feet away from the ac and using the remote to turn it on AND enjoying the sheer laziness of that!!!

And Doug and I were remembering how back when we lived in Philly, it was pretty much a necessity to have air conditioning. Of course we couldn't afford one though and I recall buying a used, smelly crappy old window unit from a guy (who was probably fencing them) for like $20, which promptly broke down in the middle of a very hot July. Glad our situation has changed since then and that we can buy a new one (with a warranty!), yet there is still a little part of me that feels a bit guilty about the indulgence and also about further expanding our carbon footprint.

But I gotta work and it is pretty dang nice to have a relatively cool space to do that in.....

About a Bird!

So a few weeks ago I noticed a lot of bird activity in the oval window at the front of my studio. When I checked I saw that a bird nest had been built between the screen and the slats. Within a few days there was a blue egg:


then two the next day:


and then finally five:


A google search told me that this is an Eastern Bluebird nest and that the eggs would hatch in about two weeks.

Since then I have been worrying about the mom when she is out, and also noticed that she would leave the next whenever I walked around the studio. So I hung a cloth over the window because I wanted to make sure she could spend enough time on the eggs. We have all been checking on the eggs everyday and there has been much interest in my updates about this on facebook!!

Yesterday morning, I heard a lot of noise from the window and when I checked there was a floppy, ugly little creature with about 4 fuzzy feathers flopping around on the other eggs! Super exciting event here in the studio!!!


And today there looks like three little birdies in the nest:


It's hard to tell, because all I see is a mass of gray downy beings!

I am very worried now though about the mother, and about all the ways that birds die out there. How will I feed these little babies if she doesn't come back? Should I make a cut in the screen to drop insects in their tiny little mouths and do they need water? I am sure everyone will be fine, but I am crossing my fingers for the mama bird's safety, anyway.

But besides the worry, I am enjoying this fun little studio event. Sometimes, it's the simple things......

Working Space

Deep Tracks, 2009, Oil on Birch Panel, 16x20

I am making some progress on the paintings for my upcoming show in April. However, it looks like my husband has to do some traveling at the end of March, plus I seem to have an incredible number of meetings and appointments during the week of the 16th. So I am going to try and finish up the remainder of the work that I need to do in the next two weeks. Huh. That should be fun. I am planning to do one huge piece, a few sorta big ones-24x36-ish and maybe a few more 8x10 pieces. Those along with the ones I have finished and the eight or so that are in progress will give me plenty for the show.

But because I really have to hustle for the nest few weeks I have decided to make this a more visual blog during that time. I like writing my posts and prattling on and on and I seem to have an audience for all that silliness, but putting everything together sure can take a chunk out of my day and I can't lose that time right now. What I am planning to do is to put up finished work each day, as well as photos that will illustrate the gradual deterioration of my usually tidy studio while I am preparing for a show. I have always wanted to document that and now seems like a good time.

So this is what it looks like today:

The project tables are where I prep my panels and also paint the edges of the panels, and put on the hanging wire after the paintings are finished. It's also where I stack the stuff that I don't know where else to put.

I used to have all of my paint tubes on the top of the flat file, but I put them in a drawer so that I could have more room to stack the rest of the stuff that I don't know where else to put. Heh. Right now it is loaded with finished paintings for my sales blog and also piles of reference photos for the People You Know series. I also keep the small scale paintings that are drying in between glazes on the tabletop easels here.

I do most of my painting at this easel.

I use this easel for the in progress paintings. Right now two portraits are there, but I will need to move them as soon as I begin the large landscape panels.

They both need more work but here are some close-ups of the portraits. They look a little washed out in these photos, but you get the idea. I am very happy with the redhead in the bottom photo and Doug really, really likes the seated woman.

The Sanctity of My Studio Has Been Breached

Church, 2008, Oil on Gessobord, 5x5

It's been such a pleasure to have a pet free studio. No cat hair floating around, no hairballs, no little paw prints running across the wet gesso, it's like heaven now. I do allow Mr. Wilson to come up with me in the mornings for his nap, but we have a strict rule that he must stay in his cushion next to my desk. He is NOT allowed to walk around smelling things, which always leads to him having to lift his little leg, usually at the corner of a very expensive birch panel. heh.

Once in awhile the one cat or another (we have four) tries to come up but I immediately send them packing. However a few nights ago, Jones must have slipped by me, then had to spend the night after I closed the door for the night. I almost felt sorry for him when I heard him meowing desperately to get out the next morning, but then I was just ticked off after I found that he had left me a smelly gift. Yuck! Guess he just couldn't hold it all night.

I used to be able to leave my door open a bit so that I could hear what's going on in the rest of the house. Now though, I am keeping it closed tightly, so that I don't have to start keeping things put away like I had to do in my previous studio which was open to the whole house.

Jones has ruined things for the rest of us...

Early Snow and the Old Studio/New Living Room

It looked like this out front this morning:


Not too bad and the kids went off to school. Halloween decorations clash a bit with the snow, but there you are.

By midday it looked more like this:

and then it got even worse. The kid's practices, football games and boy scout meetings were all canceled and everyone made their way home eventually.

Our internet was down most of the day, but just popped back in so my productive hours of painting are probably over now. Heh. And even though we had a few flickers, the power did stay on all day so that was good.

Anyway, in other super exciting news (I think I need to get a life:), our new rug finally arrived yesterday and now the old studio/new living room is pretty much finished. Still trying to scrounge up some art to put on the walls (I hate empty walls), but it is a very comfy room and I plan to take a day soon and just sit on my new couch and read. Well and probably nap too since I can't seem to read without falling asleep anymore. But I digress....

This is actually the second rug we bought for this room. The first one (you can see it here) was beautiful and I loved it. But it arrived before the furniture came, and then the deadline to return the rug passed too. So when the furniture did arrive, of course, it did not work well at all with the rug-the warm tans in the rug made the neutral sofa look slightly pink. Subtleties that could not be seen on the computer screen while ordering, alas, and the kind that drive me crazy. It was close though and I tried really hard to like the combination, but after a few days I knew that the mismatch was always going to be the first thing I would see in that room. I am obsessive like that. So I managed to get the return deadline waived, sent back the old rug and ordered a different rug, with fingers crossed. I had a good feeling about the new rug though, especially because it was cheaper than the first one. When I unrolled it yesterday, the room looked perfect, the choir sang and the whole world seems right again....




See how easy I am? It only takes eight gallons of paint, brand spanking new furniture and two rugs to make me happy. Oh yeah and a new studio which made all of that possible. Ok, so maybe I am a bit high maintenance....

Here Comes the Night

Crazy Fields, 2008, Oil on Gessobord, 6x6

In the old days (before kids/husband/any kind of responsibility whatsoever), I only felt comfortable working in my studio at night, after dark to be exact. When I had to, I could get some work done in the daytime classes but that was definitely under duress. I was a night owl through and through and loved the night. The quiet, the darkness, the solitude, the pool of light at my table, even my scratchy eyes from being awake forever. I loved all of it and always felt as if I did my best work at night.

After the kids though, the nights were not my own anymore. They belonged to crying babies, breastfeeding, changing diapers, a snoring husband and the desperate hope for at least a few hours of sleep. Studio time, day or night, was not an option then, at least not if I was going to raise my kids the way I wanted to so I put it all aside for many years.

When I began painting seriously again, everything was different. I still felt like a night owl, but wasn't anymore. I had started waking up by 6am each morning and all of my activity was during the day; getting the kids off to school, cleaning, cooking, after school kid stuff, etc. By evening it was all I could do to stay awake until 9pm, I think because I was really working against my natural inner clock that wanted to be up half the night and then sleep in a few hours or so in the mornings. But I also decided that if I was going to work, it would have to be while the kids were at school only and that when they were home I was all theirs. This has worked pretty well for the last five years and I have been incredibly productive, even (gasp) making pretty good art in the daylight!

Now though, things are gradually changing. I still get most of my work done during the day (um well, I would if I actually had any lately, but that's a whole different post, hehe) but ever since I have gotten my own studio, which is a bit separate and even has a door that closes, I have been spending a lot of evenings working under my comforting pool of light. Not so much actual painting, but other things, like preparing supports, doing sketches, organizing ideas, etc. and quite often on the weekends I HAVE done some painting well past sundown.

I am totally loving my own time in the studio late at night, still with my scratchy, tired eyes, and cloaked in darkness. I even have some patchouli incense which totally makes me think of college, but mostly helps to get rid of the musty attic/new construction smell. My iPod has made listening to music while painting much easier (no getting up to change the album) and every song I hear now is my favorite. I even love it when Doug comes up and we talk about art while I work. Maybe this is the grown up version of studio time at art school.

I sleep even less now than I used to and although I know I could actually fall asleep at any time, anywhere, each day, I don't. And when evening comes I get my second wind and enjoy my studio time all over again and I marvel each time about how cool it is to have my nights back.

PS. Well I should add that I do go to bed a bit earlier several nights per week now that the TV season has begun. Oops, so much for the love of art. Heh. Sometimes mindless wins out.

Odds and Ends

October Trees, 2008, Oil on Gessobord, 5x5

This is a good day for a few odds and ends. The painting above is from the batch of small paintings that I have been working on and I posted it because it is pretty much how it looked here yesterday. Bright blue sky, vividly colored trees and yellow fields. We tried to get some outside work done but it was actually rather chilly and I ended up inside mostly, cleaning and baking, neither of which I have done much of recently. But the grass got mowed, hopefully for the last time this year, the first batch (many more to come!) of fallen leaves got raked and put into the mulch bin and Doug finally brought down the pumpkins from our garden. This wasn't a very good pumpkin year around here, too much rain but oddly, ours did pretty well. I actually forgot about them-we planted them in the far back corner, then everything got really overgrown and I never even did go back there to check on them. Which is probably why they did so well, no one was messing with them. heh.

So they are out front now and I took a few gratuitous shots of Mr. Wilson perched on the big pumpkins.



And since Ginger is involved in everything, here she is too.



This image of Ginger reminds me of a photo that I recently came across. It's a (vintage) school picture of me in 1974 (when exactly did the 70's become vintage?), in fourth grade, same grade as Ginger is in this year. Slight resemblance, eh?



New studio news: Even I didn't think it was possible to fit one more thing into this room, but I managed it anyway. I decided not to hook up the baseboard heating this year (although I may regret that decision in January) and make do with a portable electric heater. I found a nifty one with enough btu's to heat the whole room AND it has a fake fire? What a find! I was a bit disappointed when it arrived however, as the fire is pretty realistic, well as far as fake fires go. I was hoping for a cheesier display maybe with a spinning paper log or a foil background but I'll have to just settle for improved technological illusions.


And this time of the year always reminds me of when Doug and I met in Philadelphia in 1988. This year marks 20 years for us which strangely seems like forever (almost half my life!) yet it has passed in the blink of an eye. Nothing special in the works to commemorate this anniversary, we are just trying to appreciate each day with each other and with our kids a little more than usual.

Next!

Becky, Oil on Gessoed Paper, 7x10

Usual busy weekend. Doug and the boys finally got the garage cleaned out (I have been pestering him about doing it for months, actually since last spring which is when it really should have been done) so that we will have a place to store three cords of wood for the winter. I spent a lot of time delivering children here and there, and it was also the first weekend of soccer. I managed to finish up cleaning and organizing the house and also spent quite a bit of time in my studio prepping panels. I am totally loving my big flat table surface. I can prep at least twice the number of panels than I could on the old table I used previously, PLUS there is room for a pile of junk or two as well. Pure luxury!

And shown above is the second portrait that I have been working on. I will probably work on it just a bit more today, and the photograph of it is a bit funky but you get the idea. I am not quite sure about it yet, but I definitely don't hate it either.

Baby Steps

Horizon Lines (Four), 2008, Oil on Panel, 4x4

By sheer force of will, I managed to get myself going again and get back to doing some creative and productive things this weekend. It wasn't easy and I am still not my usual self, but I am getting there.

I guess this sounds as if I were sick or had some horrible event however, that is not the case. I seem to be the kind of person who truly gets more done when I am overwhelmed with things that MUST be done. Show deadlines help me organize everything else and since I haven't had any of those I have been aimless. And it's not like I haven't had things to do. I have been so busy painting in the last few years that I let some things slide, like cleaning closets, drawers, the garage, the basement. Not to mention that I have done a terrible job keeping up with paperwork and record keeping, and even correspondence. In August I was given the gift of time to do these things and I just couldn't accept that gift.

But I have decided to try and give myself a break. I have had an incredible year, filled with so much activity and a few events that I will need time to adjust to. I had a great show at the beginning of the year, while on the verge of burnout, I went to a month long residency which I loved but also rocked me a bit. I moved my entire studio into the attic (not to mention that I first painted the walls during 90 degree early summer days) and even though I have prepared for one small show in it, the new studio hasn't really been tested yet and a breaking in period is probably still necessary. We did major physical work in the vegetable garden. My daughter became ill. Sales have slowed down and I am really feeling the urge to take my work in new directions which is somewhat frightening even if it is a good time to do so. So many things converging at once, but having nothing that HAD to be done was such a relief, I suppose.

Mostly importantly though, I haven't painted for well over a month, closer to two actually, and Doug thinks THAT is what is making me feel all crazy about all of this. He might be right.

So tomorrow, my goal is to be painting within a half hour of when my kids get on their bus. I do really need to get back to it.

Wish me luck.

My Dearest Drawing Table

In 1983, during my freshman year in college at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design I spent an incredible sum of money on a drafting table. Well, at the time $95 seemed like a fortune, representing almost two months worth of grocery money and a good portion of my student loan money for that year. I was hurting financially for a long time after I bought the table but in retrospect it was one of the very best purchases I have ever made.

The drawing table has been with me ever since, moving along with me, in and out of sixteen different "studios" all located in a variety of dorm rooms, crappy apartments and loft spaces, nicer apartments, crappy houses and finally into the last two nice houses that we have lived in. I have lugged that thing up and down stairs, elevators, shoved it into small car trunks and it still has the numbered sticker on it from the commercial moving company that we used for our last cross country move. This table has been completely comfortable and useful in every surrounding that I put it into and it has always been the place where I have done most of my art from student work to developing the landscapes when I got back to serious painting five years ago.

After I began to work on larger panels a few years ago I gradually shifted over to using an easel and my dear drawing table was shuffled off to the side, still valuable though, as a surface to hold junk, an occasional still life set up, and the space underneath it was perfect for my sand down pile.

When I moved my studio up to the attic, I did not plan to include the table this time and it has been sitting in the old studio space along with the stuff that I still have to sort through (waiting for the kids to go back to school before I tackle that room, only because they ALL want to help me paint the walls and good grief, I can't bear that thought of that particular kind of help!) and still with the sand down pile underneath it. There was some talk of setting it up in my son's bedroom, but I just couldn't bear the thought of it being lost in the junk that piles up, well, everywhere in his room. My table deserves better that that!

I finally decided that I had to have it in my studio, even if it was just for sentimental reasons. This weekend I scooted my new project table back towards the wall a few feet, which left some room in front of it for the drawing table but I wasn't exactly thrilled about this spot because it looked like it was going to really make my studio crowded. Exactly what I didn't want to do and exactly what Doug says I always do in my workspaces anyway (he's right).

So for the seventeenth time I took the table apart (easy) took the top off (needed help with that) carried the pieces upstairs and put it back together (hopefully for the last time).

And it turns out that it is perfect in this spot and in this studio, just as it has always been everywhere else. I now have an extra big, high, flat surface to work on AND space for a new sand down pile. Still not too crowded up here either.

But really, that's it. No more furniture in my studio. I mean it. Really.

Storage Space!

OK, just one more post about my new studio and then that is it. I promise.

When I decided to steal this studio from Doug, storage was very high on the pro side. There is knee wall storage on both sides of the room (41"x35') accessible by two doors on each side. Handy, yet just awkward enough because of the sloped ceilings and low doors that I have gotten more than a few bruises while going in and out of the space. However, most of my injuries have been inflicted due to my not paying attention as well as the size of my butt. Heh.

After the space was sprayed with the foam insulation and then having the attic floor sanded (the floors inside the storage space did NOT get sanded, I didn't have the nerve to ask the poor floor guy to do that), the floors were pretty dirty. So I paid my 13 year old son to get in there on his hands and knees to sweep out and then again to wash the floors before I started moving stuff in. Best $30 investment ever!

Anyway, I have loaded the space up with the things that need to be handy, but not on a daily basis. In one door I have packing supplies: boxes (both new and used), bubble wrap rolls as well as two bins full of used bubble wrap (I reuse everything) and a few bags full of wadded paper and those air bags that I often receive in boxes of supplies that get shipped to my house. This looks messier than it actually is:


On the other end of the same space, just inside the other door, I have two bins of older work that has not sold, yet is too good to sand down: some bins of the cotton rags I use when I do underpaintings
and a few more shipping related things. The styrofoam corners were a particularly good score from the project table shipment:
Across the room, in the other space I put my eight bins of yarn (gulp, yes I used to be a bit compulsive about buying yarn and now I have an insane amount of yarn in storage), my sewing machine which I seldom use but that makes me feel grown up when I do:

and boxes of our family photographs and negatives which are now nearly extinct since we have gone digital in the last few years. I also keep my bins of show notices and other printed stuff relating to the exhibitions that I have participated in over the last five years. Further down are several boxes of junk which had been stored in the attic before we did this project and since we couldn't find a better place to store any of it (barn AND garage is full-I think we need to have a yard sale:)) we just decided to put them back into the attic.

The access door to the storage that is located at the top of the stairs has the electrical panel right inside, so there isn't much I can put into that side, although I suspect I eventually will, out of sheer desperation, toss a few odd items in there, off to the left where there is a bit of room: These boxes are to the right of the electric panel:

I still have a lot of space on each side for more junk although I am trying to not fill it all up. I know, I know, famous last words.....

Oh and on a completely unrelated note go visit Melody's blog to read her account of her family's visit to our home last week. We had a great evening and both Doug and I think that Melody and her family are at least as cool as we are. Heh.

Project Table(s)

The one thing I really splurged on for my studio (um, well, except for the whole studio renovation project) arrived last week.

A big ol' flat work table in my studio has always been on my wish list. Something that is a bit higher than a regular table so that my back and shoulders don't hurt when I want to stand and work. Something that is big enough to prep a decent number of panels at one time, as well as do other kinds of projects that aren't practical to do at an easel. And because I am a shallow gal, something that looks good, like real furniture.

I also felt I should utilize the space underneath in storage (can you tell that I live in an old house with two closets for all of us, everything we buy must have some sort of storage element!). After spending an inordinate amount of time on the internet, I found these project tables here and promptly ordered two. Each one is 55"x38" and two put together equals a big table that fits perfectly into the spot that I have in my new studio for a flat work table. Each table top fits onto two bookshelves, so I have plenty of storage there, plus there is more room between the shelves so that I can pile more crap under there.

Another plus with these tables was the damage the tables got in transit. The corners were mushed a bit (not packed very well) and there were a few dings on the top surface. None of which bothers me too much. I will be putting some sort of covering over the top to catch the paint and the corners will probably be covered too or at least taped. I did call the company though and managed to get $150 credited back to my card for the damage. They were happy to replace the table tops for me, but I couldn't seeing using up the resources (fuel, packaging, etc) for something that wasn't a big deal to me.

The project tables also came with many cute little baskets for the cubbies and even though I am not really the cute little basket type, they are going to come in real handy. I put all of my framing stuff and prep supplies like paint cans, sanding blocks on one side and then just junk and other odds and ends are filling up the other side.

Oh and I had a wicked debate with myself about the color. I ordered white but kept thinking I should have gotten them in black. I didn't because I thought dust would show too much, but I do still wish I had ordered the black. I'll get over it someday. Maybe. I have a tendency to second guess these kinds of decisions....