Sanctuary

Originally, I meant to have the studio ready (tidy, presentable) for a big reveal at the end of February since I posted teaser shots of it in progress last year.  However, when I go up, I tend to jump right into creating or clean up a little so I can create more easily (or do yoga, etc).  Even my 2+ hour cleaning efforts a few days ago barely put a dent in it.  Clearly, that tidy and presentable space won't be happening any time soon and if I took pictures, you wouldn't have any idea what you were looking at. ;)  Since I am a recovering perfectionist, I'm not going to wait until the space is "perfect" to show it to you.  I'm posting these pictures I took a couple of months ago after we had a cleaning service come in (didn't have them come back because, though the job was OK to good, it was expensive enough that it should have been Excellent-Perfect IMO.  Not sure if that really happens with cleaning services.)

If you would like to see full progress, first see this and then this post.

Stairs leading up to the attic.  There are some amazing pictures on Pintrest that show painted/mosaic tiled stairs and would love to do that here.  My "Peace, Joy, Freedom" reminder at the top so I see it every time I go up. 

The belly dance and yoga space.  The mirrors and foam floor tiles are from the public studio I ran in Morgantown (Earth Movement Studio).

Shelves of distracting supplies.  It's great having them open and available, but I often have trouble being present with my practice thinking of all the things I want to make.  Maybe a curtain or sliding closet doors are in the future here?

View looking towards the stairwell.  Do you see that pocket door sawn in half?  I don't know who did that, but it breaks my heart.  (There's additional storage behind the mirrors, so that corner gets oversized and spill over items.)  There's a bathroom to the left.  Very convenient for washing brushes and palettes. 

View from the belly dance and yoga area into the mixed media and sewing area.  That's Josephine wearing the witch hat.  Her dress is to the right.

The mixed media area.  Just a couple of days ago, I started re-arranging things here to suit the way I am currently working.

Closer look at the really cool vintage shelves my husband found for me.  I think it's made of cut up wooden crates.  It looks like words/advertising on the bottom inside of those cubbies. My boxes of paint sit on top of this beautiful chest my brother-in-law carved and he and my sister made as a bridesmaid gift.

Sewing area with the cutting table in a regular state of piled up stuff when I'm not sewing.  Angelo's easel and art table are here too.  A fabric organizer will go on the wall to hold more of his art supplies; yes, yes it will.

When I walk into this sacred space of mine, I am washed over with happiness.  I just love being in there.  Even just going up to get something or drop something off makes me smile.  In here, I know my Soul gets to speak, and I am so grateful.

Another post is coming soon!  Some Art Journaling sneak peaks for ya!  Have a great day, my friends! 

My Mother's Art

Interestingly, I came across most of these pieces when I was working in the attic on Mother's Day. In the attic, where I'll be working on my art, I was bound to ponder how my Mother's art and craft has influenced my creative life. Though I no longer do pottery (I have a few pieces around here that I made as a young child, most likely with my Mom) and most of my paintings are either backgrounds for collage or just messing around, I know that growing up seeing my Mom create has encouraged me to do so myself. She also sewed, knitted, crocheted, macramed, airbrushed, made candles, did woodworking and surely some other things I've missed. We may not work in the same mediums, but I've either inherited or learned my Mother's "just try it" attitude. Except for knitting... for some reason, I have some sort of resistance to learning to knit. Weaving, however, is high on my list of "things to try".

So, it's really my Mother's fault that I have so many supplies in varying mediums. Ha Ha!

Thank you, Mom! :)

More Attic Progress

Another couple of weekends, a few nap times and morning sleep times later and here is how I've progressed on the attic. DH helped me move the rest of the boxes over to the other side and then painted the trim and ceiling for me while I was out at the Social Hafla. (oh, and he did the priming too...) Yay!

As you can tell, lighting is an issue here, so that's something we're working on. (I had to play with the exposure so you could see what I was photographing in most of these.)

The shelves are behind the boxes on the right.

I couldn't wait to put the sewing table back up, so had to get a strange angle on this one too. The details around the windows are influenced by paintings in the chapter "The Rural Dwelling" in "Indian Style", Henna patterns and some lovely decorations in "Enchanted Adornments". This last window ended up being more Fey-like and less Henna like. :) (Partly due to the wondrous nature of Enchanted Adornments and partly because of Spring, I believe.)