My Studio A small world unto itself
My studio is in my home.
It’s not large, but it suits my needs well… and it’s a rather odd dimension – 8’ wide by 20’ long (2.5 x 6 meters).
When I bought my house, the room was listed as a bedroom, and the previous owner was using it as a den.
To me, it made no sense for either use.
But I could see right away that it would make a perfect home studio, since it allowed a reasonably long distance view from an easel placed at one end – and I like to step back and look at work in progress from as far away as possible.
At the time, I had a full studio in one of the local artists’ buildings – a converted 19th century mill.
I maintained both studios for about a year, but found myself using my outside studio less and less, so finally I moved everything into my home studio.
Working at home is not for everybody, but I have come to love it.
The space has something of the flavor of an old Chamber of Curiosities.
There are shelves and closets filled with my collection of props – probably in excess of a thousand items – and that collection has spilled out onto nearly every flat surface.
It has a little bit of a chaotic feel to it, but that actually leads to most of my inspiration.
The origin of my paintings is the experience of seeing some object in a new light – having a moment of strong visual connection and recognizing something beautiful about it that maybe I hadn’t seen before.
In this studio I can look in almost any direction and see things that are wonderful to me, so I am frequently having that experience throughout the day… and many paintings are born that way.