Studio Space.....

It seems like such a small thing....studio space, space to work, to think, to get the visual clutter out and some clean space IN so I can fill it with ideas, new projects, etc. My studio is not a fancy magazine studio, but a working one. That means, it gets MESSY. I seldom photograph the whole thing; something is almost always scattered.....besides my brain.

The City Dump....no, wait....MY STUDIO. omg.

I have to admit that after working non-stop before the health issues started last year, the studio had become a place I turned my back to; I didn't have the energy to deal with it. When you have too much work and not enough time, things pile and pile. The amount of time to clean it up at the end of the day is usually when I am hustling off to fix dinner, and when that was done, so was I.
But, it had hit critical mass.....and something had to go---the *stuff* or ME, and it wasn't going to be the latter. 

If the sweeper is out, it must mean action is afoot....

I had a friend tell me to focus on one small amount at a time.
And I did. Just one little area, then the next, then the next.

WHAT? There's a TABLE THERE? And the killer shelves...

And finally, after several weeks, I discovered I had a workable space again. 

OMG~~there's ANOTHER TABLE....

With STORAGE! I can FIND THINGS! :-)

It was NOT fun. All the time, there were other things I would rather have been doing, but the little-by-little approach kept me from crash and burn, and left me with *my* space back.

Dang! What a view

 To work.

First project for the *NEW* space!

To think.
To ponder.
To use things I had FOUND....

2 weeks lost; making meatloaf triggered the brain cells and I found them....

And in between it all, a place where a short break let's me have time to smell the flowers.

This is my idea of a Luxury Studio....

Life is good, I'd say!
How about YOU???




Pax....

A Lovely Ending.........

(ran out in the cold to shoot this the other evening; one short moment of completely exquisite glow & then gone)

.......to a long and arduous project. Yesterday, early in the afternoon, the banners were safely moved to the living room, the tables knocked down in the studio, messes in the process of being cleaned up and sorted, and me.....not knowing exactly what to do with myself!
I will, before e-mailing the church, do one more look over for loose threads, anything that is not quite perfect and then, when sure and happy, send that e-mail out asking for a delivery time!
It is odd, because even when I did Advent banners for my church, they were strenuous and gave me grief. Most people like that set the best, yet I have the same feelings about them as I do these; I am glad the project is done. At the time I did ours, I had no budget for them, no heat in my newly built studio, and as I recall, about the same amount of time to get them completed. I vividly remember miserably cold fingers that could not grasp pins even with a tiny heater going full bore. (we were in the process of getting someone to install a furnace and hit an early cold spell for the year--typical Indiana)
It seems that I always like the Lent banners the best. I don't know if it is the time of year I work on them or if it is the difference in how they are constructed. Easter is usually pretty easy and my feelings are ambivilant on those; I just want the letters balanced evenly on the two pieces. I enjoy creating the letters, that is what captures my attention and after that, it's just grunt-work.
I am happy that I now have a little breathing room, that I have time to clean in the studio, or go lounge a bit and knit. I can set up my most nonprofessional camera background and have things easier to photograph for the blog. I can consider rearranging some of the furniture in here. I've been going through that in my head since I first started these and could not move a thing. I also need a big studio purge, and I don't have the time I need for THAT! Does anyone have a spare year they would like to donate to a good cause???
I sort of feel like I have just received a release from prison! And that is not right to feel that way about paying work! But I felt exactly the same when I was working on the first set of Advent banners, in the cold.
Maybe it's just ME.
Maybe I am remembering the other set.
Maybe there were too many distressing events going on during the construction process this time.
Maybe I'm thinking way too much again.....  ;-)
At any rate, I have no idea what I want to do creatively at the moment, and that is just plain ODD!!! And give me a day or two to get my acerbic humor back; I think it's buried in the studio somewhere......!
So I will leave you with a wish for a beautiful creative day, with ideas abounding, and no housework, and something good to relax with as the sun sinks this evening.

Pax.