My New Studio Reveal!

Last December I moved into my new studio space.  It is actually the space that I was in, but now the whole thing is mine.  Luckily, I have a very handy husband and he renovated the whole thing for me. I showed you some in progress shots, and now I'm excited to show you the entire studio!

This was the space when I moved in three years ago.  It needed some work, but that north facing window sold me on the place immediately.

And this is how the space is today.

I am so happy to have my own studio.  Now that I am not all cramped up and I have a place to store my things I have gotten so much painting done in there.

This is my original still life shelf.  Now that I have the whole space, I put another on the opposite wall.  This way I can work on two paintings at once.

Please ignore the dirty paper towels.  Just keeping it real.  Painting is a messy business.  

The room is a rectangular space so we (and by we, I mean my hubs), put drying racks up along the length of the longer walls.  He made them out of pieces of molding and they work perfectly.

This is on the north facing wall in between the two windows.  I have another on the opposite wall as well as two smaller racks on either side of the still life shelf.

One of the best parts of having the space all to myself is that I now have a closet.  Artists have a lot of stuff and it is nice to finally have somewhere to keep it all organized.

I keep everything in the closet that I don't need on a regular basis, but have to keep in the studio.  On the top shelf I have supplies.  Paper towels, trash bags, cleaners, my smaller blue and white props and two bins on the top shelf.  The bottom bin has my travel supplies and you will think I am crazy but the top bin is filled with large folded plastic bags.  I saved the bags for a few years every time I bought a frame or canvas and that is what I use to cart my paintings to shows.

I also keep my french easel, my extra canvases, and my handy porter carry boxes in there.  Having all this stuff put away has made such a difference.  It is a lot easier for me to work when there is not clutter all over the place.

The hubs made this cart for me (by the way, he has a name, but is completely internet averse, so he shall forever be known as the hubs).  It is on wheels so I can move it anywhere.  The top shelf usually holds my brushes and other supplies and I keep my heavy props on the middle shelf.  I can also use the top shelf for still lives if I need a set up lower than the height of my normal shelves.  The gray box (painted the same color as the walls) acts as a tool box.

One of the few things I purchased for this new space is this cart.  It is the Winsome Wood cart and I got it on Amazon.  It too is on wheels.  I use it for storage and as a desktop as it is the perfect height for my laptop.

I've had this cart for years.  It holds my palette and paints.

This is the famous art cart from Ikea that everyone with a blog is talking about.  I got this when I was still sharing the space because it holds a lot and is on wheels so it can be moved around.  Having everything on wheels makes life so much easier.  I can use all these pieces as I need to when painting, or move it all out of the way for open houses and receptions.

I have a bulletin board on the closet door.  I keep notes for suppliers there, cards I like and notes regarding shows.  I use an index card and write the name of the show, the drop off, reception and pick up dates and the name of the painting.  Shows seem to happen all at once and this helps me stay organized.

I know it's a cliche, but I also have an inspiration board.  I keep my ribbons there as well as cards of Ganesh (remover of obstacles) and Lakshmi (goddess of prosperity).  Who could not use help from either of them, right?

This board started out as a plain cork bulletin board from the Container Store, but I wanted something a bit fancier, so the hubs had the idea to cut a piece of wood the same size as the board and attach it to the back.  He then wrapped the fabric around it and stapled it to the back the same way you would reupholster a seat cushion.  I love my bulletin board and it really makes the studio look nice.

I have one more cabinet in the studio.  I keep it under my still life shelf and this is where I keep my fabrics.  I used to have them stuffed into a bin and it is so much easier to find what I want now.  The top drawer has old hand towels.  A white hand towel that has been washed a million times is very good for cleaning the dust off of paintings.  The box on the top is a paint keeper.

I hope you enjoyed this look at my studio.  I know it was a lot, but I always like to know how people are using their workspaces, and I thought you guys might want to see what I'm doing. If you want to go back and read about the renovations, that post is here.  

I have to send out special thanks to my talented hubby.  He not only renovated the whole place for me, he also covered bulletin boards and painted boxes to match the walls even though he thinks I am nuts with that sort of thing (I am).

Thanks also to Shauna Haider of Nubbytwiglet and We Are Branch studio.  I took Shauna's Blogcademy class years ago and followed her long before that.  She wrote many posts about moving out of her house and into her first office space and it really inspired me.  Shauna made a good point that you are going to be spending a lot of time in this space, so why not make it as nice as you can.  She also wrote about panicking a bit when it came time to sign the lease.  I did the same thing, but just followed her nothing ventured, nothing gained approach.

Sources:  I'll make the list as complete as I can.  If you have any questions, leave me a comment and I'll do my best to answer.


Wall Color - Benjamin Moore Herbal Escape

All Renovating Supplies - Lowe's

Blue Art Cart - Ikea

Wood Cart - Amazon

White Cabinet - Gifted from one of my besties, but originally purchased at Wayfair.

White Art Cart - Purchased many years ago from Cheap Joe's

Bulletin Boards - The Container Store

Paint For Small Bulletin Board - Benjamin Moore Country Life

Fabric For Inspiration Board - Already in my stash, but purchased years ago from The City Quilter

Still Life Props - Ebay, Craigslist, and The Enchanted Home Shop

Easel - Bought years ago from Richeson

Desk Accessories - Poppin and The Container Store.  The business card holder is a tiny easel I picked up in Paris years ago.


Anything else you want to know, just ask.  And as always, thanks for reading!

Metropolitan Museum Of Art, China: Through The Looking Glass Exhibition

Last night I had the most enjoyable evening I've had in quite some time.  I saw on Instagram that the Met was staying open until midnight last night to accommodate the hordes of people flocking to see the China: Through The Looking Glass exhibition before it closes on Monday.  The Met really hit it out of the park with this show.  Everything in it was absolutely amazing.

House Of Dior, John Galliano

John Galliano had many dresses in the exhibit and I loved every one of them.  He was interviewed by Andrew Bolton for a chapter in the exhibition catalog and it was great to read about his design process.  He was very interested in China because of the way the country was portrayed in the movies.  He later travelled there to find out about the country and culture for himself.

The headpieces were done by Stephen Jones and they were amazing.  I loved every single one.

Mixed in with the current fashions were Chinese robes from the 18th century that resembled the newer creations.  It was easy to see how Chinese fashion is still influencing designers today.

One of my favorite pieces in the show was this Ralph Lauren tuxedo jacket.  I took all of these photos in a very dark room through glass cases so it is a bit difficult to pick up on the amazing work that was put into these pieces, but take my word for it, this jacket is to die for.

Another John Galliano dress.  The dress was gorgeous and had the most amazing train.

This dress is by Balenciaga.  The detail work on this dress was unbelievable.  Just incredibly beautiful.

The piece above is a 19th century rubbing of a 10th century stone carving.  The print influenced Christian Dior in his design of the cocktail dress "Quiproquo"

Next we got to my favorite part of the show.  The blue and white room (of course).  So many unbelievable treasures in there.

This is a small sampling of the blue and white porcelain on display.  Of course I was thinking about how I would love to take them home to use in my paintings, but the truth is the designs and shapes of these vases, gourds and ginger jars are still in use today.  Some of these pieces are centuries old, and would work perfectly in any decor today.

Li Xiaofeng, The Weight Of The Millennium, 2015

This sculpture was insane.  I was not able to get a shot of the whole thing, but it was a dress made out of blue and white porcelain!

And now, on to the blue and white dresses.  They were amazingly beautiful.  The above photo is Valentino.

Giambattista Valli

John Galliano

Roberto Cavalli

Rodarte

House Of Chanel, Karl Lagerfeld

I have MANY more photos to show you, so I think I'll continue this post tomorrow.  Hope you are enjoying this peek into the exhibition.  The show is closing tomorrow (Monday) so if you are in New York City, please go see it for yourself.  You won't regret it!