I use the dining room in the house as my studio. In behind the computer desk there is a built in china cabinet that upon further inspection used to be a double width doorway likely built in the 1950′s that used to lead into a littler room which is now the laundry room. I use the china cabinet for storing most of my smaller original artworks, journals, sketchbooks and handpainted items. It keeps the dust off of them. And a newer single width doorway was added to enter the kitchen around the same time.
Old houses have history and if you begin looking hard enough you’ll find old doorways that have long since been forgotten about and nooks and crannies that you didn’t realize existed before.
I did a major clean-up of the studio this past weekend and took many before and after shots. Above is the computer desk area where my iMac is housed and the great big wooden bin that my grandfather built where I keep some of my packaging supplies. My cousin’s parents gave me the white desk shortly after I bought my house. And to the right on the IKEA shelf is where I store greeting cards, prints, packaging, certificates and other art supplies.
It was a disaster area in here and had become impossible to work in. I believe your workspace does reflect your state of mind. Below is the after shot.
Above is the drafting table area where I do most of my cutting, signing and assembling. I always keep a large paper bag beside it for recycling the bits of paper I do not want or can not use. I also create paper scrap packs to with the best of the recycled papers.
My Dad built the drafting table in 1996 as a graduation gift using a plan he found in a 1930′s Popular Mechanics magazine. The sides slide out and there is a deep drawer in front for storage to. I house my Xacto knifes, staples and some tape inside the drawer. The best thing of all is there is a working light table inside and the top can be adjusted into an easel to.
Below is the after shot of cleaning the drafting table area. One of these days I’ll attack the piles of paper underneath it and figure out what to do with the decades worth of printed graphic design work that I did in my twenties that is stacked on top of a vintage dark brown wooden sewing kit from my mom. I house various art supplies inside that to.
The printing area houses both the Epson R2880 and the HP Photosmart D7260 before and after shots can be seen below. The printer area doesn’t seem to get too messy although I do need to recycle the ink cartridges that are stacked on the window ledge. Staples will take them and once they get enough of each brand they’ll begin selling their own ink for the various printers that are available on the market. So do recycle your cartridges so it will drive the ink prices down.
The black plastic folding table I bought from Canadian Tire for $40. And underneath are two plastic bins full of supplies! The portfolios to the left house many original artworks and sheets of unused expensive papers from all over the world that I’ve collected over the last 20 years. It’s so nice to be able to dive into a portfolio and pull out exactly what you need. These are my tools of the trade!
A good thing to do is to vacuum your printers once in a while using a brush attachment with your vacuum cleaner so that you don’t damage your printer. It’ll get all the loose dust that seems to collect easily on top and just inside your printer. Do not vacuum where your printer heads are OK.
My whole life I dreamed of having a room dedicated to art creation. For so long I only had a bedroom, closets or the kitchen table to work on. And it brings tears to my eyes to think that after all these years I do have a studio. I worked very hard for this and continue to do so. The only area that is not housed in my studio is the painting area. I took over a corner of my living room that is dedicated to messy painting!
Tonight I’ll be packaging up a few orders that came in over the last couple of days and also retouching the photos that I took of the series of greeting cards made with these illustrations. There’re some pretty!
There is also only one set of boxes remaining in the shop. The three other sets that were listed in the shop sold this month. The other sets and ornaments in the picture will be listed soon.
One of these days I’ll get some art up on the walls in my studio… one step at a time…
Hope you are all having a wonderful day and thanks for touring my studio!
Pingback: Video Interview with Elastic Lab – Working the 9 to 5 job was killing me
Pingback: Thoughtwrestling interview – Jessica Doyle | Thoughtwrestling
Pingback: Handwriting is a lost art form or why I’m glad I learned to dot my I’s and cross my T’s