I am delighted to be a member of
the Cre8ive Klatch. It is a wonderful
place where we share our cr8ivity and inspirations. Today I want to share with
you a part of my artistic journey.
Ever since I can remember, art and
craft making has been a big part of me. So, I guess I have been on my artistic
journey my entire life. I have a unique way of looking at all the things around
me and find creative ways to use and beautify my surroundings. It is a passion
of mine to find new ways to use gently used items and give them a new and
beautiful purpose.
I have been building my art
business over the last 8 years. Most of what I do is on the small scale, sold
locally and has given me a lot of enjoyment. I have learned a lot and feel
confident in what I do. Now I have the opportunity to expand and grow my
business and this is where you will be joining me on my journey, part 552.
I have been working in my home
"studio" which consists of a 9 foot work bench in my laundry room. As
you can imagine, it gets pretty crowded in there, especially if my kids are
doing their laundry while I am working. At times I have spilled over into the
living room, but working at the coffee table is not that comfortable. Recently
I tried using the dinning room as a place to work and teach classes. It was a
nice big space, but not quite convenient should we want to all eat dinner
together. I was having growing pains!
As luck would have it, an opportunity to rent studio space from my local arts council, Arts in Bartlett, materialized just at the right time. My friend Jenny and I are now new tenants in a small studio together. Jenny is a pastel artist and does wonderful bird and nature art work. I am a mixed media artist and working on refining my work. Since we both need a place to put some serious effort into our work, this seems a perfect solution for us both.
The space we are moving into was
formerly a beauty spa and salon. There has been a lot of work put into changing
it over for arts council needs. Cleaning, patching, painting, trim work,
plumbing, and more! It is exhausting but with all the volunteers, along with
our contractor, we are pulling it all together nicely.
Our studio space is smallish, but has a nice feel to it. We only have 3 walls as one has some gentle curves in it. I think it adds charm and movement to the space. We had a sink installed after I laid some tiles down. A coat of the lightest shade of lavender paint came next, the carpet was cleaned and now we are moving in!
Jenny has a portable table to work on. She fashioned a kitchen cupboard unit into a tableau with a nice counter top on it. This repurposing warms my heart! I have a folding table that I use for art fairs as my work surface, which will get a new padded table cover. Storage for my supplies will be next. I fell in love with a trendy turquoise cart from Ikea, so I bought 2, one for home and the other will go into the studio. A couple of chairs and we are set to go!
Being part of this group and
working in a gallery setting will be a new experience for us both. I am looking
forward to the new opportunities it will bring us. I for one welcome having
others around me more often. I tend to keep to myself a lot and have missed
interacting with others.
And so my journey continues down a
freshly painted new path. It's pretty exciting, don't you think?
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