Studio Purge Continues

Well the good news is I've made a lot of progress in the studio.  The bad news is now I'm cleaning, purging, and organizing about seven different things at once and it wasn't intentional but its a necessary evil.

I'm at the point where I moved my thread cabinets off of the big shelves and onto the cubbies, this is temporary until the place where I really want to live is freed up, but that space is currently occupied with stuff that either needed to go onto the big shelves or be given away.

I'm getting there, thank heavens!  When all is said and done the artwork right there in front of the cubbies, you know living on my studio floor, will soon have a home on the big shelves.  But first I must move my massive paint collection out of the blue dresser and onto the carts, and then the fabric living on the big shelves, well most of it anyway, can go live in the blue dresser.

Make sense?  Me neither.  I hope to have an update by this coming weekend.  The only thing standing in my way at the moment is the fact that the studio floor needs vacuuming before I can proceed any further.  And there is a huge dog sleeping in the middle of said floor.

Oliver, my faithful studio assistant who doubles as a paper weight.

Where Have I Been?

I have been in the middle of a studio redux, aka purging, pitching, and then setting the space up in a more organized manner.

I've posted photos of how my studio looked before, so there's no sense in belaboring that topic.  Since I've been asked before where I bought my studio furniture well John built all of the cubbies and shelf units you seen in these photos.

My self-imposed deadline to have the space vacated in front of that big picture window is tonight.  My self-imposed deadline to move my drawing table in front of said window is Sunday night, because there's a whole lotta cleaning, and further purging, that's going to happen between now and Sunday.

Studio Redux Part 2

Otherwise known as the overflow area!

Vintage dresser that's stuffed full of art supplies such as paints, etc.

Another view heading into my sewing studio, Oliver is not amused with all of this moving around.

This old chicken coop hutch divides my sewing area from the over flow area, as you saw in the previous post the backside of this hutch is where my extensive thread collection lives.  I want to get rid of the chicken coop, or find another place for it to live, but if I do so then I need to come up with a better way to keep Oliver out of my studio.  He's a thread, fabric, and paper thief, amongst other hobbies he has.

Cubbies filled with "stuff", an old Duncan phyfe table, my loom, several dress forms, deer antlers, skulls, and boxes and boxes of fabric.   You get the picture.

Shelf that holds painted papers, artwork, and the like, and the plastic drawer units?  Filled with silk, wool, cotton, and linen fibers.

More tomorrow, there shall be fiber kits assembled and ready to find new homes.

Organize Me!!!

I decided today to drop some coin on some studio organizational tools, I bought the Clip and Spin Organizer at Hobbly Lobby this evening.  I almost didn't make the purchase because I wasn't sure if I could fill it or not, now I see I should have purchased two of them!

Another thirty or so rubbing plates that I will clean up tomorrow, seems a mouse managed to make a nest in my storage tub, and will hang the remainder of these plates on the spinner.

I still have a dozen or so alphabet stencils that need to be hung on the spinner as well, yep it's really starting to look like I should have purchased two of these!  I have to admit it is really nice to have all of my stencils out where I can see them now, I have quite a few I forgot about that I could have used at Easter for cards and such.

My Black Birds in Tree Stencil looks so good  hanging on the organizer!  For damage control I backed most of the stencils with a sheet of paper to keep them from hooking onto the next stencil.

Yes, I definitely see another spinner in my near future!

Studio Purge and Color Wheels

On Purging and Creating: I decided to take the month of June off from creating, etc., with the exception of the Art Walk here in Ames on June 6th, to focus on paring down my studio.  I've already started lining up local artists that are interested in my excess fabric, wool and silk fibers, oh and the yarn!  I have to say it's exciting, very exciting.

I had hit the wall and that wall was I cannot create anymore until I get rid of the excess in my studio it is weighing me down.  So out it goes so that I can move forward with my new Canyonland Series, and my collections for licensing.

Watercolor on Bristol board with Sumi Brush

On Color Wheels:  I love certain colors, and I tend to work ONLY with those colors in my work.  After twenty years of producing work I've decided that this is ok and these are my signature colors.  So I've been busy making color wheels in watercolor, acrylic paint, and with natural dyes, and how I achieved those colors so that they are repeatable.

On Planning:  Something I got from Lisa Call a couple of weeks ago that has lit a fire under my can is this:  "Planning is Defining the Dream!"  I started working on my business plan again, laying out the road map to where I want to go and have began planning how I want/hope to get there, and doing so has lit a new fire within me.

Experimental Birds and Studio Clean Up

I have a bunch of altered papers so I decided to use my Three Crows Stencil to make some cut outs for some upcoming projects, so far it's a LOT of fun!

Shiva paintstik in iridescent copper and raspberry pink folk art paint on blue scrapbook paper.

Cleared off my drawing table, let the fun begin, well for me it's cleared off!

Am gearing down for my solo show next month, and another project that will be revealed about mid-month so decided it was time to do a little cleaning and organizing so I can focus!

I found this raised panel frame earlier, while organizing my paper storage rack, it's been hiding there since about 2009.

Studio Redux 092413 Contiues Onward!

The shelf has been moved over to it's new spot in the main studio, and soon there will be a newly rehabbed table in this spot for my new work station.

The shelf in it's new space behind the loom.  Now to get space cleared out of my office for the looms!

A mess, but also an obstacle for Oliver, this keeps him out of my sewing area and away from all of my threads.

The cheering committee, Oliver and Angel.  Notice the big yellow blob in the photos?  That's so you don't see the pile of laundry sitting on the floor that's slowly migrating it's way to the laundry room n the basement!

More Organization

The wall of wool has been moved, now to disassemble these wire racks and put the drying rack here, then it's time to set up the new computer work station in my drawing and painting area.  Some day that loom will be upstairs in my office with the wool, spinning wheel, etc!

On My Desk 081313

Before - See the media trays on both sides of the table?  Well Oliver noticed them as well, turns out he has expensive tastes loves those soft paint brushes and those spendy colored pencils.  Sooooo...

Hubs made me a shelf last night, out of mdf, for my media trays and other supplies.  One of the perks was a spot for my sketch books on each shelf, now they are close at hand.  The biggest perk is having a larger work area and a spot at the left hand of my table for my large sketch books!

Organizing Fabric Stash Leads to Found Samples!

Believe it or not the fabric in that suitcase really is organized!  While I was searching for piece of unfinished silk fabric I found my long lost stitched sample I had been looking for late last fall. 

Due to the sample of the rights disappearance, deep into a pile of folded fabrics, I made another sample to pratice some machine stitching on.  Both sample pieces consist of cochineal dyed cotton fabrics and are machine stitched.  The left sample, however, has been surfaced further using fabric paints, oil bar, and ink.  I'm thinking the sample on the right could use a good dose of color as well.

Studio Redux 013013

The last of the piles that need sorting and organizing!

My fabric stash and finished pieces need to be sorted and put in their proper places.

Angel keeping me company while I work, she doesn't like having her picture taken for some reason.

More Studio Organization

John moved my thread boxes into my studio this evening and I spent the better part of the evening organizing the contents.  Tomorrow I will be moving the rest of my studio supplies in while the temps are still bearable in the house, and right now it's downright pleasant!!!

Boxes of beads.

Organizing

Still working on getting my desktop organized, but with the help of my neighbor, I was able to get some of the computer issues resolved, one of them was replacing the network card and adding more RAM to the machine, the best part was  the addition of the second workstation moniter.  The new addition is already making video editing much nicer, ditto on writing in InDesign.

Sorting Fabric

Sorting fabrics for future projects, and more specifically looking for a piece of pigment painted fabric that I've been really wanting to work with in a new project.

Rust dyed commercial fabrics from 2005/06 sitting atop a pile of hand painted fabrics from 2003-2006.  The log cabin block piece I made back in 1994 when I took a hand dyeing class from Priscilla Sage at Iowa State University.

Bound Resist fabrics, top, from 1994 and screen printed hand dyed fabrics from 2005.

Some of my older hand dyed and hand painted fabrics that I've been sorting through for various projects.

A pink piece I made from my screen printing squeegie scrapings, from a class I took with Tim McIllrath in 1994.

Office Update 021512

Well the computer is still on the fritz!  There are a couple of things that are not working in my favor and one of those is that my power supply, a whopping 650 watts and top of the line back is 2006, is now out of date and too small, I need a minimum of 850 watts to do what I'm doing. 

My fear was what am I going to do now???

 Hubs tells me tonight that the east bedroom, our guest bedroom, is on it's OWN circuit breaker and it's a whopping 20 AMPS!!! How lucky am I, well this does present a challenge because this means I'll be moving my office AND the guest bedroom.  The flip side is more cleaning and down sizing.

Today I spent the day power cleaning my studio, organizing, etc., and spent a whopping 60 minutes stitching.  Tomorrow it'll be more like three hours of stitching.

Photos tomorrow of what I'm not sure but you can be assured there will be photos.

Studio Update 021412

Drying rack now organized, the rest of the studio space through the arch.

Hutch put back together and my work area finally organized.

The second tray finally has paint!

The first tray with it's rather "organic" paint job.

Pen Organizer

In August John asked me what I wanted for my birthday, I told him a desk organizer for my pens, copic markers, gel pens, etc.  Well being married to a woodworker is a lot like being married to a cobbler, family always comes last, customers come first!  Any bets on how soon I'll get my christmas present???

My plan is to clear coat the inside with some polyurethane and paint the outside, I just haven't decided on which colors yet.

If you are interested in purchasing an organizer please send me and email and I'll shoot you an PayPal invoice, please allow three weeks for delivery.

Studio Update 010512

Emptied and ready for the shelves to be removed so that I can paint the bead board back a very lovely shade of fern green.  John has some repair work to do to the shelves, I'm hoping  to be able to load it up come Monday or Tuesday.  Until then...

I have a ton of stuff on both my work table and my drafting/drawing tables!  Working on some storage solutions, for all of the ink I seem to own, for the hutch.

Studio Redux 073011

If all goes well I may actually get to watch Paula stream live tonight from my new mixed media area in my new studio!  John hasn't found the ends for the dsl wire yet, he has to make a new longer cable for me. 

The knee is feeling slightly better, after last nights horrific fall on the back landing.  John didn't look to pleased when I told him that I was going to be putting non-slip rubber duckie decals down on the floor.  It's the one place in the house that I have consistantly hurt myself on in the last 10 years and it's because that floor becomes ultra slick with even the slightest hint of moisture.  This time the moisture was left by a 12 pound tri-color sheltie who decided she couldn't wait any longer.

Angel the puddle maker.

Studio Update 071211

Tonight I spent the better part of the evening in the wood shop helping John construct another shelf system for my studio.  The end result of our time out there was not one but two different shelves being concieved for my new studio space... which he is more than willing to do so long as it means that I'm NOT bolting anything into the walls.   Tomorrow night we will finish the first shelf and Thursday we will finish the second shelf. 

I'm loving my new studio space, I was stressed that I wouldn't be able to create in the new space but much to my amazement the creativity has been overflowing.  The lack of central air during these very hot and very humid days has been the biggest deterent so far.

WIP - I am going to create a special page for the new pieces I've created this past week, all proceeds will be going towards my new central air unit and furnace.  Seems when the new smart meter went in most of my appliances went "uh no I don't think so and died" this would include the central air and furnace.