New Studio

Although my new studio is not quite complete, I have started moving in, and thought it would be fun to do a little retrospective of its progress.

Here is a photo of the studio I worked in for thirteen years (before that, I was a potter, and when I started doing freelance work and painting I used an upstairs tiny bedroom in the house).

Though this upstairs in a barn served me well for many years, its main challenges were the knee walls and gable ceiling, and the lack of running water in the building. No sink, no bathroom.

Beginning to pour concrete for the foundation

The deck is done and framing the walls begins

Second floor and loft framing begin

Beginning to close it in

Interior, sometime in the summer

Exterior, awaiting exterior insulation, strapping, and siding.

Drywall defines the space.

Exterior is insulated and strapped, shingles are going up.

Here is a brief tour of the studio after the first day of working in it.

New Studio Construction

My new studio is finally under construction; it is an addition onto my house, which will be very convenient. Unlike the current studio, which is the upstairs of a barn, the new one will have running water - YAY!  A sink where I can wash my brushes and change my paint water. It will also have lots of vertical wall space and high ceilings. Here are a few photos from this week:

The digging begins.  The little building to the right is the back and side of the post office.

The digging is done.

Footings are being poured.

I'll post occasional pictures as it progresses.  I hope it will be done in the spring.

Movable Walls

Some of you have asked about my movable walls.  I got this idea from Melinda Tidwell, whose work I adore.  She has a new website that is the inspiration for the re-design of my gallery site.  THANKS, Melinda!

You start with wire shelving racks, which I actually got on Amazon.  I got the ones that are 48" wide, 72" high, and 18" deep, WITH casters (wheels). 

These are easy to assemble if you have two people working on it.

Then you fasten a partial sheet of homosote,  which is a sheet of material that is similar to drywall, but much more porous, easy to stick push pins into.  It comes in 4'x8' sheets.  I used one sheet and used a 4'x4' piece on each wall.  I primed both sides before mounting.

Here is the second movable wall.  I did not tack paper over the lower part, as I did in the other one, so you can see how easily you have access to shelves beneath.  I used bolts and large washers to attach the homosote to the shelving unit.

Each unit has five big, deep shelves.

A view of the other side.

Two of these units plus a large easel are plenty for me.  As you can see, my studio has knee walls and slanted ceiling, so wall space is limited.  Hope this explains adequately.

Photo Shoot

I am re-designing the front page of Jane Davies Art Gallery, and making the navigation easier.  In preparation, I had a photo shoot today with George Bouret, who is not only an excellent photographer, but he is fun to work with.  I'll post some of the studio shots he took next week, but meanwhile, here are a few shots of him, and of my studio rearranged for the shoot:

Photographing the Photographer

George took photos of me dripping paint on these canvases, so they had to dry flat.

After the studio shots of me working, George took photos of some finished work, including the stripes you see here on my movable wall.

Thanks for visiting.  

Notes from the Studio in May, or How Do You Know When Your Piece Is Finished

Back in the studio it's slow going.  After being away for a while teaching I usually feel a bit tentative coming back to the studio routine.  Out of my groove, flailing around looking for something I don't know what.  So I went back to these 20"x20" pieces I started in March, and worked on them a bit.  I'm working on some 3'x3' canvases too, and smaller pieces I started during the workshops on Whidbey Island (see previous two posts).

One of the drawings started here.

Several layers deep here, beginning to take shape

This might be done, but I'm not sure.*

I'm not sure where this started, but it is one of the drawings begun in March, which you can see here.  I seem to be on a roll with these orb shapes.

Or not.  This got a makeover, or a fresh start, or a "monkey wrench" at this point.

Back to the orbs I guess.  Still in process.

 * I am often asked the question:  How do you know when a piece is finished?  There is a long answer, which I try to give at workshops.  And as I give the long answer, I'm trying to find it for myself as well.  It is not a neatly packaged answer, but involves tangents and detours.  The short version is this:  you know that a piece is finished when it isn't bugging you for more development.  When the piece gives you that "a Ha" feeling, and there isn't one thing about it that is niggling at you, then it is done.  When the conversation is over, your piece stops "talking" to you and stands on its own two feet. 

If you don't know if it's finished, it is not finished.  About my piece above, third image from the top, I say I'm not sure if it's finished.  So it's not.  It may only need to sit for a few days, at which time I may declare it finished.  Or I may see what has to happen to move it forward.  So, even if your piece does not need another mark, it isn't finished until it says it's finished.

The practice is not How-To-Finish-Your-Art in ten easy steps; and it isn't about going through a checklist of compositional principles (though that can be helpful if you don't know what is bugging you about a piece).  The practice is being honest with yourself (not rationalizing or explaining) and cultivating awareness of that gut feeling that tells you the piece speaks to you, expresses YOUR voice.  Key word here is "cultivate".  It's an ongoing practice; keep cultivating.  Namaste.

Studio "Orgainization"

I agreed to have my studio included in this summer's issue of Studios Magazine, thinking that it would be a good excuse to tidy up and give my lack of organizational skills some serious thought.  Writing the article and having my studio photographed achieved both goals.  Taking a hard look at my relationship to organization and tidiness revealed the following insights:

•  First of all, it didn't take a monumental effort to tidy up, because I have made monumental efforts to create homes for everything in my studio.  Monumental because organizing does not come easily to me. Having a home for everything, even if I don't put things away, is immensely soothing.  Clutter doesn't bother me so much if I know I can put things away when necessary.  My efforts in recent years have really paid off.

•  I really can come up with organizational systems, like the wall I build on the back edge of my worktable you see above, if I put my mind to it and analyze the problem.  In this case, the problem was: everything gets buried on top of the worktable, and I can see it.  I need everything in front of me where I can find it and put it away.  Solution: put everything in front of me.

•  I have made some organizational units modular, so I can take advantage of awkward spaces and move them around easily.  My bookshelves consist of cubes built of pine.  I have them stacked at the end of my east worktable, but they also fit under the gable roof in a tight space behind the new wall (see the first post on Working Large).

 

I elaborate on all of this in the article in Studios Magazine, so I'll keep this short.  My point here is that I discovered I'm not as bad as I'd thought I was.  I'm sure an organized person could come up with more efficient solutions to my studio space, but I have come up with workable solutions.

Here are a few more shots of my "Working Large" space:

 The front gable wall:

 

 The New Wall, where I hang works-in-progress:

My makeshift rolling paint cart:

 

My latest work-in-progress: