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Spring Cleaning!

I did a little Spring Cleaning over the course of last week. I seem to gravitate to wanting to clean  out stuff that's been sitting around to long and throw open the windows and doors for fresh air naturally.

So when Alison Stanfield’s newsletter came in this morning, it was synchronicity! These smart, easy-to-do suggestions for cleaning up the studio this spring could apply to your sewing room, home, office or anywhere you follow your dreams and create the life you want.

Alison suggests:

"1. Clean out your studio. Throw out dried-up paints and other unusable materials that take up space; catalogue and organize your artwork; dust the shelves; and mop the floors. Give yourself a deadline to organize any material you have been collecting that has piled up without a specific home.

2. Clean out your "ideas." Most artists collect ideas, which are actually tangible things like magazine articles or newspaper clippings. You think you may get to them one day, but somehow they keep winding up at the bottom of piles. Getting rid of them will provide mental and physical space for fresher ideas. For the paperless ideas that keep haunting you, journal about them so that they're not lost or forgotten.

3. Clean out your schedule. Get rid of items you don't have to do in order to make room for what you really want in your life.

4. Clean off your desk. Make your office a place where you want to do business, where you want to spend the 50% of your time that you should be devoting to marketing yourself and your work. Create systems so that your workspace never gets out of control again.

5. Clean out your paper files. We all have files that have become unruly and ones we know deep down that we no longer have to keep. Get rid of the stuff. 

6. Clean out your files in your computer as well. Consolidate and make computer folders with headings similar to your hard-copy folders so that they are easy to find.

7. Clean out your opportunities. There are so many things waiting to take up your time and energy. You can't do it all. You can't say Yes to everything. Let go of the commitments that aren't serving you and trust that someone more suitable is waiting to take responsibility for them. "

While I haven't accomplished all of these tasks yet, I feel lighter and less bogged down, more in touch with the natural rhythm of things. I like the energy shift in my house, in my studio/office and in getting neglected projects and chores done and off the tattered and dog-eared To-Do list.

To sign up for Alison Stanfield's weekly Art Marketing Action newletter or read her blog, ArtBiz Blog, visit Artbiz Coach.

A Room of One's Own

Okay, so it's been a few weeks. I've had a bunch to do in preparation for getting the equipment for my new workspace.

I had to transform this:

To this (with some help of course):

Doing that meant moving the furkids into the kitchen and finding a place for everything else, which is no easy feat nor for the faint of heart.

We live in a small house that is positively CRAMMED with stuff and so when you move one thing, you have to move at least three other things. It's a bit like living in a jigsaw puzzle. So when you move substantial things around like storage space or furniture or furkids kennels, it takes awhile. Then add me and my spine to the mix, it probably takes 3 times as long for me to get anything done even with help.

But it is done now and once I got to work in here, I realized how much I missed having a space of my own in which to write. I had been working and writing at a station in the living room which is perfect for web surfing, light e-mail reading and photo editing but it lacks the flat space and the environment conducive to productivity and writing. And it's nice to have a desk again with a good comfortable chair in which to lean back in and think deep thoughts about social media and writing and and art- whatever pops into my head to feed my insatiable curiosity and active imagination.

Though I share this space with the washer and dryer and an art making nook, I have really been enjoying  have a space where I can be alone, that is mine to write in again. In her book, "A Room of One's Own", Virginia Woolf wrote, "'a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction". I don;t have a lot of money so I don't write a lot of fiction but I have to say it has been lovely to write and work with no other person in the room; no TV droning on and on with programs I detest. I have caught myself wondering if this isn't more important than having having a studio. Perhaps not.  Perhaps they are equally important and I am just a space hog.

What do you think?  How important is having a space in which to create where you can be alone ? Do you have a space of your own at home where you can be alone to blog or do art or write or mix music or whatever it is you do? If so, how important is it to you? If not, how do you manage?

Studio Tour

Since I've been busy in the studio, I thought I'd give you a mini-tour so you can see where I create my art. Some of you have been asking for awhile now so here you go. As usual click on the images to see a larger version.

As you enter the studio, this is the first view. In the center is my main workbench. This is where I journal, work on altered books, paper collages and do the preliminary building of my assemblages. To the left are the carts where my unmounted rubber stamps, papers, ephemera and scraps are stored. To the right, my drill press, tool and hardware drawers, and supply storage.


If you look further to the left as you stand in the front door you'll see the soldering and metalworking station (hidden behind works in progress) and an antique letter sorter I use to store bits and pieces. On top of the sorter is my collection of dolls, otters and other odd stuffed toys.


From the front door to the right, you'll see a storage rack filled with plastic tubs and bins filled with papers, ephemera, odd and ends and junk I saved for assemblages and sculptures. There's the supply shelves and cabinet as well.


Here's a front shot of the letter sorter filled with various and sundry goodies with the dolls and stuffed toys on top. They live in my studio because they creep Manthing out.


This is the encaustic station. The old crock pot holds my encaustic medium and the peg board keeps my metal working tools handy. Directly to the right of the encaustic station is the soldering and metalworking station (not pictured).

And finally, here's a close up of my workbench. The top shelf serves as a bit of an altar. The middle shelf holds reference and idea books, supplies, materials and tools. The workspace also hold not only the latest project (which were altered cabinet cards that day) but more supplies and tools.    Now you have an idea of what my studio looks like! Whatja think?

*Note: You'll also find an album of these photos called Studio-Summer 2007. Click on the link to your right.

Studio Peek

Since I've been busy in the studio, I thought I'd give you a peek so you can see where I create my art. Some of you have been asking for awhile now so here you go. As usual click on the images to see a larger version.

As you enter the studio, this is the first view. In the center is my main workbench. This is where I journal, work on altered books, paper collages and do the preliminary building of my assemblages. To the left are the carts where my unmounted rubber stamps, papers, ephemera and scraps are stored. To the right, my drill press, tool and hardware drawers, and supply storage.

If you look further to the left as you stand in the front door you'll see the soldering and metalworking station (hidden behind works in progress) and an antique letter sorter I use to store bits and pieces. On top of the sorter is my collection of dolls, otters and other odd stuffed toys.

From the front door to the right, you'll see a storage rack filled with plastic tubs and bins filled with papers, ephemera, odd and ends and junk I saved for assemblages and sculptures. There's the supply shelves and cabinet as well.

Here's a front shot of the letter sorter filled with various and sundry goodies with the dolls and stuffed toys on top. They live in my studio because they creep Manthing out.

This is the encaustic station. The old crock pot holds my encaustic medium and the peg board keeps my metal working tools handy. Directly to the right of the encaustic station is the soldering and metalworking station (not pictured).

And finally, here's a close up of my workbench. The top shelf serves as a bit of an altar. The middle shelf holds reference and idea books, supplies, materials and tools. The workspace also hold not only the latest project (which were altered cabinet cards that day) but more supplies and tools.

Now you have an idea of what my studio looks like! Whatja think?

*Note: You'll also find an album of these photos on the main page.

Mini Studio

Though it didn't rain today, it was still icky outside. The a/c thing in my studio hasn't been figured out so it was too hot and humid to work out there. Too hot for encaustic. So, I set up a mini-studio in the utility room.  I hauled the acrylics in to work on some more collage paintings. It's way cooler in there.  I've got lots of ideas.  Let's see where they go.

It's set up in front of two of the house's many bookcases. But I can also look out the window and watch the squirrels break in to the bird feeder and watch the birds chase them off. And watch the cats watch the activity and make funny, kitty noises.

I started a few today. This is the  bigger one.. Anyway, here's a couple of snaps of the mini  studio.  Yup, paints, brushes,  chair and easel = mini-studio.

I also made low-carb donuts and low-carb tacos for dinner and finished the laundry. I'll load the fishwasher in the morning.

YAWN... time for bed....