I can finally say that I'm settled into the new Studio - a real labour of love, long planned, and now it finally feels like home and the sanctuary I need it to be. This first picture shows you my working space, with a splendid view of the garage!! However you can't have everything, and anyway I plan to be way too busy for much gazing out of the window .... I've got pictures of my lovely daughters, my box of Truth Cards, and all my essentials close to hand, not to mention the restorative coffee in the pink spotty mug! The furniture is all Ikea - two Vika tables - the longest ones available) and a variety of chests to fit underneath.
If I turn to my right this is the view of the door end of the room, where you can see that I've even managed to fit in a small table and an extra chair (also basic Ikea), just in case I can persuade anyone to come and play (working on that already)! Notice the gas fire (result!!) which sits right behind me - the days of freezing in the winter months may actually be over ... You also get a glimpse of the pink bunting I made, thinking the massive expanse of white ceiling needed one final cheering touch. Almost everything is stored in Really Useful Boxes collected over a number of years. Its on the open shelving I inherited with the room, which wouldn't have been my first choice (it means you can actually see just how much stuff you've accumulated, never a good plan) but you have to work with what you've got don't you? One day I've promised myself that I'll have an American style Studio all fitted out with kitchen units so I can hide it all away and make like I've hardly got anything and really need more stuff .... he he he ... good plan eh?
The pink spotty curtains are another cheerful note in the white room - after all to paint the walls pink would have been overkill, right? Yes, that's what I thought too. The light is pretty good in here, the room having 3 windows (even if the main one faces north) and I'll be able to have my daylight lamp up too, whenever I discover the safe place in which I put the clamp which holds it to the desk. Duh, so safe I haven't found it yet.
Over the fire I've hung my noticeboards, one filled with little gifts and reminders of dear friends, and one soon to have parish rotas, lists of churchwardens, and other necessary stuff on it. Below is a picture of my other desk - with the computer and other business-like essentials, and my trusty sewing machine. The first shelf above the desk is dedicated to sermon writing and other churchy stuff, but all my sewing essentials are above, though unfortunately I need steps to get to the highest ones. Hey ho, nuthen's perfect.
In the corner there's a meter cupboard which I'm stuck with, but since its pretty sturdy I put it to good use and hung Ikea bygel rails on it to hold my collection of punches. I confess to actually needing a couple more rails to house them all, but these are essential tools aren't they, and you can never have too many, right? The pink buckets above my desk are Ikea and since this photo was taken I've actually hung them from the window ledge, which helps to keep the worktop clear. At the moment I have my SU inkpad collection in a CD unit to the left of my desk, but am hoping to invest in a purpose built wall hung unit soon.
The Vika drawers on the right of my workdesk (the wide shallow ones) are where I keep my wood mounted stamps - its perfect as I slide out the drawer and can see exactly what I have. They're arranged by theme - people, nature, words, and shapes. My clear stamps are in the A5 ring binders on the Expedit unit to the right, with my papers in the slim 12 x 12 boxes above. In the A4 ring binders I keep collage sheets and my catalogue of stamps - vital if I'm to find anything! The left hand set of drawers contains (going down from top) 1. Distress inks and small items such as eyelets etc. 2. Other ink pads and my collection of acrylic blocks. 3. Tools such as heat gun, cropodile and stamp wheels. 4. Yet more punches, ribbons and tapes, eg adhesive and foam. 5. The bottom drawer contains all the little mini books and albums I've made, such as the Christmas albums I make each year from the Shimelle class.
So that's the full 360 degree tour for you! As you can see the Studio is stuffed to the gunwales with the embarrassingly large amount of stuff I've collected - although in my defence I should point out that it has been the work of many years to accumulate all this. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!! Please tell me if you like my room - I'm rather proud (oh sinfulness) of how it has all turned out, and just dying to have somebody to admire ... ooops I mean SHARE it with!!
Am editing to answer some questions people have asked ... the floor isn't hardwood but is in fact a rather brilliant vinyl which is doing a seriously good imitation of wide oak boards. Nobody seems able to tell that its not what it is pretending to be, and I love the ease with which I can clean up. I did buy a clear floor mat from Ikea just in case the wheels of my chair damaged it, but it doesn't seem to be a problem so far. The lighting is another Ikea fixture with 4 spotlights, of which three are directed towards my workspace (or creation station as my man calls it) and the other onto my computer/sewing desk. Will have to wait and see if this is adequate in the darker winter months, in which case I may replace it with a fluorescent tube - less attractive but more practical. If you have any other questions I'll try to answer them.
Well I'd woken up this morning feeling a bit sorry for myself - making friends in a new place is slow and our new life not yet established. Then I look at these pages made just a few days ago and am reminded that this is nothing worse than a down sort of day, and that actually I am .... as the page says, very lucky! That's Pollyanna's thought for the day then. This page started with a sheet of Basic Grey paper - I love these backgrounds they do, just perfect for journalling on. I use papers some of the time to strengthen the pages of this book, which aren't that strong even with two sheets stuck together. Then I set to with another of the gorgeous Artchix collage sheets Helga sent me - love those vibrant pinks and the leopard skin I'm always threatening to take to wearing (daughters would disown me)!! At this stage I genuinely had no idea what I was going to write about, but then I put the words "I'm so lucky" on the big house shape, and I was off!
And then (as you can see) I just sort of wandered all over the page doing what comes naturally ... which is why I tend not to prepare pages ahead, that doesn't really seem to work for me at all in what is a truly organic process. More often than not I don't know what I'm going to say when I begin a page, say how can I know what images will work?
And then when I've said everything ... I fill up the gaps (can't seem to allow blank spaces anywhere - is that a character defect??) with doodling. Its just so relaxing doing that - I let my mind drift off, usually on the subject I've been writing about. That's why I love art journalling so much - for me its such a reflective process.
But the truth is that I'm wishing I could recapture the spirit of thankfulness in which this page was made just a few days ago. Now I seem to be cranky and out of sorts. Maybe I'm a bit tired, it certainly can't be the weather which is gorgeous and sunny, if a bit nippy out. Actually I do know what it is - I need friends to ring up or press my doorbell and for weeks now almost nobody has (except for church business anyway). We do have plans for tomorrow's Royal Wedding and I've got all sorts of secret bunting, flags to wave and plastic tiaras to wear stashed away for a surprise. But the truth is that spending the day with two old ladies isn't quite how I'd imagined it ....
