Studio Creep and Studio Envy

For the past 7 years, my home studio has been in one of the extra bedrooms in our home.  It is a rather small space and it has become smaller over the years.  (With the acquisition of all of my "stuff"!) I finally gave in and appropriated an adjacent room as additional studio space.

I blame studio envy for my decision.  It started in March when I had a chance to see Dianne Hricko's studio in Philadelphia.  Ohhhhhh what a space! You can see photos of it on her blog.  It is huge - probably the size of half of my house. It has wonderful high ceilings, lots of storage space and a huge 12 foot table.  Actually I don't know the size of the table, but it seems like 12 feet.

Then last month Barbara Schneider, another friend of mine, moved into a wonderful studio space. You can see photos on her blog. Her space has high ceilings, lots of natural light, plenty of room to move around and even space to hang finished work.

I was feeling too cramped in my small 10' x 13' studio, so the sunroom is now my design studio.  By moving the futon, bookshelves and design wall out, I have room for another work table in the wet studio. My new studio "suite" still feels too small, but it is certainly better than before. Maybe in another few years studio creep will kick in again and I'll take over the dining room!

Happy Birthday from the President

Alright, alright, I'll admit it. I didn't really receive a birthday card from the president, just one with a photo of the president on it. Still, not a bad way to start the day.

My father called me in the morning and said that I get to call the shots on my birthday and to do whatever I want. I told him I was already on it. My husband took the day off so we could have a fun day, and I had the whole day planned. We spent the morning hiking in one of the local parks and went out for lunch. Most of the trails at the park were sunny, so we decided to try the Shady Creek trail. It was not well named, because most of the trail was in the full sun. We also hiked up to the observation tower. It had a great view of the city and the surrounding hill country.

The afternoons have been too hot to be outside, so I thought it would be a great idea to rearrange the furniture in my home studio. That may not sound like a fun way to spend one's birthday, but it was exactly what I wanted to do. I've had the itch to reorganize my studio for a few weeks now. I'm sure many of you can relate - the "stash" has gotten so big it's spilling outside of the closet and has taken root on the floor of the studio. I heard about a contest Dick Blick is having for a studio makeover. My husband said that if I sent them photos of what my studio looks like now, I would be sure to win! I realized that not only did I need to organize all the "stuff", I also needed to rearrange the furniture. It now is laid out much more efficiently, and I have more room for working. I'm now researching storage and organizing systems to figure out what will work best in my space. If anyone has any suggestions, I would love to hear them!