New Studio

Over the past few days I finally finished moving into my new (smaller) space but I really, really like it.  My daughter had chosen this colour when we re-did her room previously and I've decided to keep it as my canoes look fantastic against it.  Maybe it's because I love blue which means I use a lot of it in my paintings.  The closet still needs a bit of reorganizing, but I'm being ruthless about getting rid of what I don't need or use.  The curse of an artist is to hang on to everything 'just in case'.  Well, I think it's time (once again) to share some of this bounty with the library's art programs.

I have never minded painting in a smaller space.  When I first married a quarter of a century ago I would tape plastic bags onto the dining room wall of our one bedroom apartment (the curse of living with an artist who loves to work large).  In our second apartment we had a spare room which was huge for me as in college I had to paint in my bedroom.  And since then I've always had my own space, the best one being a home we lived in previously.  It was a four level split which meant the lowest level had no windows, but the lighting was fantastic and we put in a vinyl floor so that meant spills wiped up effortlessly.  And it was always warm, which is an issue in our current lower level as it has so many windows and not enough vents, which we can't remedy unless we want to gut the whole basement and start again...not going to happen.

This new space has two large walls for decoration and to use as an easel if I'm working extra large.  I tend to prefer to hang work on a wall when it's that large in any case so I'm just glad for the space.  Plus I need a tidy, organized space in which to work (no distractions) so it will force me to clean up at the end of each session. 

Besides inheriting the colour on the wall, I've also inherited a hobbit hole which I've been told is not allowed to be covered.  But I have been asked if it can be replicated in the new room, of course it will be.  And, in any case, every studio should have a hobbit hole...don't you think?