A Tour of my Studio

I've heard that art studios are as different as the people who use them. Mine is not pretty, nothing special to see, but there are some parts of it that work. Let's take a tour. It's in the basement of our home, past the basement man-cave, past the big screen, pool table, drums and hoopla.

Entering the doorway (above). Lighting includes inset ceiling lights, track lighting intended for the walls, and spotlights at each working surface. 

I use this drawing table for quick sketches and composition planning. The poster on the wall is Picasso, in the Think Different ad from Apple.

 

I use the easel for medium-sized canvases. Rarely use the chair, because of constantly stepping back to the doorway to see the work from a distance.

This nook was part of the unfinished basement.  I searched for a good worktable, and eventually my son and husband built this one for a custom fit. I like it! The bottom shelf holds tools for framing, the middle shelf holds flat things like paper and canvas. The top surface holds supplies within easy reach. The two pendant lights provide perfect lighting. I use this table for glue-ing, mixed media, and for painting. The lighting is better than at the easel. Underneath the table, there's a CD player/radio. I tend to vary between alternative rock and classic rock while painting. Two CD's at hand here: Constantine's debut, love it, and for when I feel techno-funk studio cool, a Tom Glide CD. Lately, I take Pandora in there, Maroon V station is great.

Supplies, left to right: Acrylics sorted in a silverware box, table easel (not visible here), markers, back corner oils in a box, some mosaic stuff, acrylic gels and mediums (love), paintbrushes both dead and alive, and various artificial flowers which make great organic subjects when experimenting with color schemes and techniques. White daisies are my favorite subject, they adapt to any painting mood (but they are absent from this pic for some reason.)

Supplies, different view. 

The inner wall, left of the worktable holds some of my favorite little sketches and color samples, thumbtacked to the wall.

To the right and behind you at the worktable, a display wall of framed work, some on the way to shows, some returning. It's always crooked, changing, and right now is looking weak with so many small ones; it has more impact when there's  big one there. Yes, I hang the ribbons and have a little stack of others-they encourage me! That blue ribbon one received a $500 award, but I never think about the money. When I think of the painting, I think of the first place ribbon it won and it makes me purrr.

This is me pretending to work at the easel.

Oftentimes I just move every thing to the floor,  where I can move around and reach it all. This painting is about to get some paper glued into it. By the way,the floor  is concrete, it's a basement floor. It's painted with glossy chocolate brown paint.

Let's go, I'll walk you upstairs to the front door.  

Upstairs to the main floor. I didn't paint that one.

This is where I watch a lot of tv!

This is the way to the door. I like to see the piano and books, even when too busy to stop. One of my favorite things about the house is the khaki color of the floorboards and trim.      

And out you go! Drive safely.                               

It seems this bunny found a patch of grass

that's better than the rest.