Round and Round and Round she goes...

You will have to use your imagination a little for this post. Come along with me into the studio. We will start in front of the large easel that is set up in front of the north facing window and under the skylights (station 1). The light is amazing. Never mind the horrific mess of paints on the table under the window. Actually right now it is organized. Really! Back on the easel I have a 24x36 painting that is in the "ugly stage" and if you turn right around you will see another two semi finished canvases leaning on the wall behind you. Oh...Looks like there's way more than two you say? Alright, truth be told….I have about 8 or 10 of them that I have lost interest in for now. It happens! I will get back to them eventually. I paint standing at the easel until it is time to leave the canvas to dry.

The Best of Both Worlds 24x36

(well past the Ugly Stage now)

If you follow me to the left you will find my green drafting table (station 2). In a sort of semi-organized fashion, you can see the table holds acrylic inks in a wooden tray, a tower of stone tiles, a few small random boxes with scrap paper and carving tools, a cool 3 tiered cookie rack for drying tiles (Costco!) and finally brushes and calligraphy pens sticking out of two large yoghurt containers. I will stand at the waist high table either sketching or painting onto tiles until I get to the point where again, its time to allow the work to dry.

Now we zig back over to my regular table (station3). Here is where I sit and write, sketch out ideas, assemble hanging hardware on the backs of paintings or just tidy up (because it is always a mess). At the moment you will find 3-10x10 canvases of poppies on this regular table. I have never painted poppies before but that has never stopped me from trying something new. I may work on that for awhile until I get to a point where it AGAIN needs to sit and we can wander to the easel to start all over again.

Some days it gets rather hectic in this circle and I am unable to break away to eat lunch. Other days is a more methodical one step at a time process. I always have my thermos of herbal tea with me in case I get hungry and am too obsessed with my work to leave. I am amazed at how hot a thermos keeps tea nowadays. I have grade school memories of my soup being almost cold by lunchtime (or my milk warm), but then again maybe my mother didn’t boil the soup before she put it in there. Probably a safety thing. Hmmm… Not only do I wander physically in the studio but my thoughts do as well.…. Care for a cup of tea? It's yesterdays and actually still hot! No thank-you? Ok, maybe next time. Come again!

FB update:

I have 27 members in my subscribers private Facebook “Self Taught Artist’ group so far. I wasn’t sure how it was going to go because it is all new to me but I am basically giving the members a glimpse into my studio with tips, videos and thoughts. I try to post something everyday and even though its a fairly quiet group I welcome posts and comments. If you haven’t joined yet you will need to subscribe to this webpage then head on over to Facebook.

Have a Happy Mothers Day! Yes. Its May already.