I spent the better part of a week going through my studio and reorganizing it to suit my purposes. Something that hasn't been done in about 3 or 4 years. Before this overhaul, my studio had gotten so cluttered that I could barely move, let alone find what I was looking for or painting. I had intended to clean it out this Spring, but other issues postponed it until this month. So, by the time I got to it, I was READY to get to it.
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My studio is a small in-home space, a converted guest bedroom with a bay windows and a closet. I'd put DIY shelves in the closet a few years back, but that wasn't quite enough for all my stuff, mainly my canvases. This overhaul, my first order of business was to put shelves up in the studio itself. It never ceases to amaze me how much more room you have with shelves. What a relief. Yes, it made the room look smaller, but I chose to arrange my bookcases so that I could create little cubby's between them and the shelves where I'd arrange lamps and trinkets and tuck paintings I like to display as inspiration.
**Early May I had the opportunity to pick up a gorgeous wicker reading chair for the unheard of sum of $60. I did not know where I was going to find a place for it, but I insisted that when the overhaul started, I'd make room just the same. And now I have a lovely little reading place nestled against the bay windows, a perfect location to begin and end each day. In the week since I completed the overhaul, I've inhabited that chair good lengths of time with a good book, a journal or my notepad, marking my intentions for the next day. The cats are also quite fond of this chair. It gives them a high perch for sunning themselves and for pretending to stalk the birds and lizards that dart around outside.
**My dream studio will be much larger with less "stuff" all around me, but my present studio manifests the best the space has to offer me, and I am happy to let it be what it feels it should most naturally be. Eventually I will add a TV/DVR/DVD combo to the high chest of drawers that sits next to my studio desk. For now, though it's barely visible, closed up next to a lamp, I keep a portable DVD player that does the job nicely. And I still have my stereo on the other side of the room, and my battery operated replica Caddyshack dancing gopher.
**Oh, and one other thing. No studio would be complete without it's very own
Pablo Villicana Lara Executive Junk Food Drawer, containing at least 50% chocolate.
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