Busy Time of Year

There isn't as much time these days to draw and paint as I'm trying to clear some space for company. I don't know about you but when
I'm doing a lot of drawing and painting the materials that I'm working with seem to end up anywhere and everywhere until you can't spot a tabletop to set anything on. Fun when you're working but a bit scary when you're done.

This is the Art Studio side of the room.

The red thing on the bookcase is my hydroponic planter. We've got Miniature Tomato plants in it. As you can see they'tr doing pretty well.

As you can see I've done my best to organize and label things to help keep them under control.

I've also been trying to design some last minute products and presents on Zazzle. 

My entire world is contained in an 11 by 14 foot room which at the same time struggles to be my living room, my art studio and my dining room. As you can imagine this presents it's own problems.

This is the opposite side of the room which mostly gallery space for the most recent paintings.

Under this is a table, a desk, a restaurant coffee station and a scanner/ printer. They aren't in the photo because they're still a mess right now.

I'm having company tomorrow but that should be the end of it until next year.

I designed these door pulls for furniture that you don't want to put labels on. The font for each one is chosen to give you a visual clue of what it is before you even read it. The mix of styles isn't obvious from a distance but it adds a bit of charm and whimsy to what could be something boring.

The best thing about the handles and knobs is that I've made them for all sorts of crafts and hobbies so you'll never loose track of your precious supplies and projects again.

I've got so many ideas spinning that i can't wait to get back to the paints.

Horsing around with simple brushstrokes

I never know when to stop. I enjoy painting and just keep going until I get tired, run out of space or sell the thing I'm working on.

 Even this was pretty "busy" but I just kept going.

I thought sure I'd ruined it when I began adding the black but it settled in to the rest of the design when I added the white dots over it so I guess that was alright.

As long as I had the black paint out I thought I'd take the idea a step further and I'm not sure what I think of that so I'll put away my brushes for the night and take a fresh look at it in the morning.

Regardless of what becomes of these it just feels good to be painting again. I have no idea what I'll be working on next but it feels good to have studio space set up in the dining room so that it will be handy whenever I'm ready for any serious painting as well as days when I do things like this.

The other half of the photo

The large photo I was recycling as I cleaned off the worktable today was a picture of an old painting of mine that I'd printed to use as part of the summer decorations at a local senior center. Now that they're done with it I figured I'd share it with some more people.

I did some drawings on the first card so I thought I'd just try an assortment of brushes with watercolor for the 2nd one. By the time I got to the envelope I figured rather than paint another lily I'd take my inspiration from the postage stamp.

I did get some more cleaning and organizing done and donated 3 bags full of things to a local thrift shop today but it made very little difference in the clutter level around here so I'll try harder tomorrow to clear enough space to bring in some of the projects that I want to work on over the winter.

Yes, I'm STILL using the dining room for studio space, an office and a sewing room so it's always a challenge in an 11 foot room but my friends in other countries remind me how lucky I am to have that much space for just 2 people and you inspire me to make better use of the space.

Art, crafts, life and a blue horse

I keep wanting to start a painting but continue doing wooden horses because I've got a chance to send them to a sale next month and any money earned will be needed for supplies before I can get back to art.

For me there really isn't a difference between art and crafts but there's a lot of debate on the subject. I really don't care what people call things because everything I do is creative in one way or another.

Yes, I enjoy some things more than others but even cleaning and organizing the parts of the dining room that I use for studio space has been an exercise in composition, balance, function and color and the results are beautiful to me.

Doing the little wooden horses allows me to relax, try new brushes or brushstrokes and play with pattern and color . In a way its an exercise that limbers me up and gets me ready for the paintings to come.

The lovely thing is that selling the horses allows me to buy more brushes and things when needed so that I can continue to paint. It all works very nicely together whether people respect it or not.

Timeshare, multi-purpose rooms

I was ready to settle in at the worktable and get back to work on those horses but my husband is working on one of the computers and needed the space to spread everything out while he made the repairs and replaced the light for the screen.

While that's going on I threw a load of laundry in the washing machine and headed back to work at the computer in the living room/office.

The lemon tree next to my desk is pretty sad, there are only three leaves left on it so I'll try to find a sunnier window for it and hope it survives until I can put it on the front step this summer. That always seems to help and I someday if I'm lucky I'll actually have fresh lemons growing here. I think it would really cheer the place up a lot.

In the meantime I'll head back to work designing those ipad covers and will post again, later.

Holiday for the worktable

 I'm sure this doesn't look like much to most people but the candle ring is from my sister in law,the fabric was from my Mom and the imari pattern china is from the very first set of dishes I ever picked out back in the 1970's. Of course guys don't generally like to use tiny teacups so the mug is from our product line at Zazzle. The image on it is from a Christmas stocking I made about 20 years ago. These are the things that make it special to us.

I was surprised to discover that almost all of the thread I have left around here is heavy hand quilting thread so the sewing machine wasn't an option which of course explains why I was only able to hem the table topper in time for Christmas. In the background you can see that there's a LOT more of this fabric I can do things with for next year. I think it's time to ask Mom "what were you thinking?" and see if she'd still like to have any of the things she wanted to make. I'll do that today before I make any plans for the rest of it.

As you can see, most of my projects didn't go very far but it helped to make that list and set some priorities for them so I'll tackle the most important ones first when I get back to work
.

In the meantime I plan to enjoy things, how about you?

Teatime in the studio

The fun thing about having company in the studio today is that the design on the mugs is from one of the paintings that hangs on my wall in there. I'm looking forward to seeing if anyone notices and what they think of the idea.

 A lot of my projects are piled up and waiting quietly on the sidelines until I get my worktable back.

A friend crocheted the pad under the teapot and I sewed the napkins. My tea selection is pretty thin while I wait for some new sales and can afford more but I think we'll manage.

Computer challenged

I found a great picture of one of my oil paintings from the 1980's that I wanted to share but I'm not quite sure where it went when I tried to upload it so I may just go back to sorting things out around here and do a bit of cleaning to get away from the computer a while.
Yesterday I was in love with the computer because I was redesigning some of my Christmas cards on Zazzle and finding ways of combining up to 5 images on the front of some of them.
Oh well cleaning off the dining room table has made enough space for me to get back to drawing and painting and I've got to say that I'm more interested in that than my old work.
As I was putting things away I went out to the studio space we started to build in the garage (before we ran out of money) There's so much I'd like to do here, with enough time and money this place could be amazing but as usual it's time to stop dreaming and get back to work.
I hope to have interesting pictures to post soon.

Sorting and organizing

I "found" the table, Now what? I'd take a picture but I packed my camera in the bin to take to painting group and that's under 2 other bins right now. Do you ever have days like that?
I often feel that the harder I try yo get things cleaned up, the worse things get. Things would have been finished sooner but I "discovered" 3 letters in different stages that I'd started but lost in the shuffle. A truly organized person would have had a special place to put them but I just sat there and finished them so that I didn't keep people waiting any longer than I had to and they'd go right out in the mail.
In my defense I will remind you that my bins are all current projects and the items in them keep changing as I work..
Everyone has to find what works from them. It's not about buying the perfect system and investing in a lot of things you may never use.
The most important thing to remember is that you need to organize your thoughts before you can organize your house.
It's about knowing what you need and want and being able to get to it.
Don't give up! We're all in this together so feel free to leave comments, questions and tips.

Between Projects Again

I won't be sure about that last painting until I try the image on a few different sorts of products. You never quite know what will work when you resize it or use it in different ways.

As I look around my work area I'm not sure whether to start another painting (maybe acrylics this time) or get back to work on one of my wood projects (dala horses, furniture, boxes).

By the time I do a little sorting and cleaning in my studio area (the dining room table) I'm sure I'll be drawn to one project or another, you never quite know where the ideas will come from.

Organizing the studio/multi purpose space

 Most of the room is still a mess but I seem to have this corner sorted out and working well. The various cabinets and storage boxes run all the way to the ceiling!

So far this space is a dining room, sewing room, craft space and art studio...and it's less than 12 ft. square!