Sunday, December 11, 2011

Finaly...

After many detours I have completed my 'dream studio'. Welcome...


The bottom floor, and work area were a no-brainer. I just decorated like I do all my living spaces, making do with what I have on hand. Just like my real life studio, every available space sports bowls, boxes, and shells flowing over with pretty, shiny, and potential useful items. I had no qualms using brass tacks as curtain holders because I have been known to use a staple gun to hold up my curtains. To me, decorating is all smoke and mirrors and pragmatism.


Much the same as my own worktable, there are pots of brushes and pencils, and bowls of things I may use someday. The windows are strung with beads and light catching baubles, and the walls are covered with some of my favorite things. In my own studio I have a workbench (made out of an old chicken feeding trough) but I generally use the little space remaining on my table in the middle of the floor to work.


No space of mine would exist without some of my granddaughter's art on the walls and at least one picture of them, and so this bulletin board does the same. On the top is a 'bumpersticker' that has hung in every space I have inhabited for the last 31 years. I have it mounted on a piece of oak. The corners are curling off and the background has faded, but the message is as good today as it was then, and so this work space must have the same message, focus and simplify...


The desk area fits nicely into the bay window. What a lovely place to sit! This desk actually has more open work space then my real one but given a little more time I will probably have it as cluttered!


It was the upstairs I really had to ponder. If my studio had a second story, what would I want it to be? (In case any observant observer should see there is actually no way to get to the second story, I should explain...the staircase that came with this kit was just too cheesey looking and took up too much floor space. I had intended on making a ladder, but the more I think about it, I will just suspend a knotted  rope to ascend and descend.

So after much thought I decided what my upstairs would look like. It would be a space dedicated to relaxing and recharging my batteries. A place to ponder and wonder and reconnect with the God that brings me peace. I wanted the feeling of outside, because it is nature that brings me swiftly to praise. I covered the walls the scenes of wonder to lift my heart visually to that place.


I am really proud of the 'bed'. I would want a place to recline, but I wouldn't want a bed per se, and cots are too cot-ish. So I took a part a little wagon and mounted the wheels on a plank that I padded and upholstered in a lovely felted wool. If I didn't live in a bus I would  make one for my living room! I love how I can leave it in the bay for more floor space, or pull it out to lay in front of my alter space.


Being of the Orthodox persuasion, it is icons that help lead my mind and heart to worship, and the bay is a perfect nitch for my little alter. In my real studio I have a whole corner that holds my collection of religious art and I often look towards it for energy and insight.


Birds are a big part of my life. They are a constant reminder for me that God watches over the sparrow, and He watches over me. And no place of wonder would be complete without a giraffe. How can anyone question creation after seeing a giraffe? I mean, really...

The world is full of wonder. This is what I need to remember...


Making the mobile was a challenge! I had planned to make several, with all sorts of things hanging from them like I have in my studio and my etsy store, but oh man, these hands don't want to do the little stuff anymore!


There she blows...my studio within a studio...and since she sits in the middle of my worktable, it is time for her to be shelved so I can move on to making Christmas presents... and I better get busy because the time is slip- sliding away.

Merry Christmas to you all, and God bless you.