Studio Life Part 2

As I was saying last week. Trying to count back through my studio spaces since my career began, I count to now six including “our” latest one. Of them all, only one was actually purpose-built to be my studio.

That studio was used for over 15 years and is the place I produced most of my work and certainly the most amount in terms of dollars. It also acted as a gallery for several years and did so in good fashion.

My Virginia studio used for a show for my paintings and Linda's fiber art.

During that 15 years or so Linda became quite an artist, even an award-winning one. She works almost 100% in textiles. In fact, she’s done about everything you can do with textiles, but today most of her work is in working with silk. Dying it, sewing it into scarves and even 2-dimensional wall pieces. But she also makes clothing and many other things, some just for fun.

With both of us now “semi” retired, a studio brings a new sense of life. Gone are the days in which a studio must help in making a living. It’s not to say that income will not come into play, but play will come as well if not first. Our new studio is something which also has the job of keeping us youthful and active. It’s a place that must keep us mentally stimulated.

Our studio is now above the garage with great storage!

With our new studio, I think it was important to establish personal working areas for both of us. The reason for this might be broader than you think. Studio space for many serves a function of being a work area, but also a spirit enhancer. Often you will see little odds and ends placed in a studio that are feel-good things. Having your space and your things is very helpful to some. In fact, I’ve written how sometimes when artists are having problems, creative blocks, or unhappy results, that it’s not actually them, it’s their studio space. Now studios don’t fix themselves up. We have to make them into the places they need to be to help us do what we do. Sometimes an artist overlooks this and in the process finds themselves treading water instead of swimming.

Looking into the studio with our two work areas.

With this studio, we used it linear depth, (much like a bowling alley), to our advantage. Linda gravitated towards the end where there is a window that she liked. It gave her a birds-eye view of interestingly enough, the bird activity outside. We got her set up first and I took the other end, the entrance end if you will, as I wanted my space to be more flexible. As there are four dormer window areas, these, while offering natural light, also offered some storage area, but we knew way more suitable storage was needed. So we ordered all wood cabinets from Lowe’s which I installed along a 15-foot inset wall area. Now we have a place for everything and everything in its place. It feels good.

We currently have multiple work stations, most of which again are flexible. Linda’s sewing machine area allows for her standard and two other serger and cover-lock machines in one fashion or another. The centrally located work table allows for silk or sewing projects. Folding tables along the wall give greater flex space and then my area allows for my fine-scale model projects, or easel set up for painting. I’ve already done two painting commissions and by the photos, you can’t even tell I’ve done so.

Looking back towards the entrance - it's great space!

Pandora brings music to the room and this space has perhaps provided a closeness with the two of us we have not experienced in the past. We are enjoying creativity in what feels like a whole new way. Life is good! Our creative life, even better!

Live an artful life,
Tom

PS - If you have any studio questions you would like to ask me to cover, please feel free to email me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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