Studio Tour

When I first started writing this blog, I was using it as self-encouragement to do a painting every day. After all, there is no better way of improving one's art than to paint every day. I thought that the public commitment of promising to paint every day would be a strong incentive. Turns out I was wrong and it seems to be a common misconception. Not because any of us suffers a lack of commitment to our art. It is just that life gets in the way.

Creative Every Day is a commitment to just do something creative every day, and to recognize that creativity is a part of daily living. No obligation to create a finished painting every day - just to do something creative, instead of scurrying through life head down. That I can do, even if it just means that I spent 15 minutes working out the subjects of the chapters in a book I am writing, and even if the book never gets anywhere other than my imagination.

BWO is a little bit different twist - it stands for Blogging Without Obligation. No more guilt because I haven't lived up to my obligation to paint every day and post something.

It is early in the day, and I have no obligations to do anything today other than paint until supper time. However, I thought that you might like to see my 'studio' space. For most of my adult life, I didn't have a dedicated space where I could leave everything set up, and drop in to paint or glue when I had a few moments. I finally live in a house that is big enough to provide such a space, although I have to share it with our library. I have two large portable tables that, when put together, form a 4'x8' work space.

This picture shows the left corner of the table and my easel:

And since I like to work in a variety of media, I have created work stations around the table where I can leave the supplies for a particular medium. I know it looks like a bit of a mess, but there really is a loose form of organization to it. This is the encaustic station:

And the watercolor station:

This is the area next to my easel where I was painting with purple:

and this is another acrylic station, with two oil paintings in progress (there isn't quite enough room for all the stations I need):


I also have a huge storage area where I keep all my supplies (like wool for felting, and collage papers, and polymer clay and beading and ... you get the picture), and a spare bedroom where I store all my finished works.