Before and After

It is no secret that artists have a tendency to be disorganized and a bit, shall we say, scattered. I went to the extreme in the last few months trying to meet deadlines. So, I am letting you into my studio at it's worst, something that makes me extremely uncomfortable. After all, I am creative, organized, meet all my deadlines, and never, ever forget to return a phone call, right? Yeah, right. Well, here is how my studio looked yesterday.

 The floor is littered dog toys (remember, we have a puppy). receipts, paint brushes, and oil rags. Disgraceful!

 My "office" is a walk in closet. My wonderful husband created shelves and a desktop for my books, reference photos, and art supplies. Handy in that I can shut the door and lose the look of all that clutter. Notice, that I also have to share my space with fur.

 The cabinet to the left of my easel was made by a dear friend, Daniel, and holds the thousands of pastels that I have. I have them separated by color in each drawer. If you are a pastelist and looking for the perfect way to keep  your pastels safe, contact me and I will pass on his number. To the right of the easel is a taboret my husband made to keep my paints and pastels on. Also notice the flat screen TV that was a gift from him with a new surround system. blue ray, and iPod docking station. I am sooooo spoiled.

 Voila! It took all day, and a lot of elbow grease, but the studio is now functional again. My reference is filed, my receipts are in their proper place, my brushes organized and put away, the palette clean and ready for the next painting, dog toys put away, floors swept and mopped, Borco installed on the easel, and the lights re-installed.

 All I can say is thank goodness for Crate and Barrel and Target for storage.

Zoe gives her approval.

You might notice that I have a number of pelts in my studio. Do not be put off by this, I have collected these over the years from estate sales, antique markets, Native American friends, and the skulls, bones and antlers are collected from my property or from friends. I use these for study and education to better understand the animals that I paint.  I do not support the fur market and will not buy furs or pelts that promote the killing of animals for their pelts.