Welcome to My Studio

My studio is above the main living portion of my home in a steep angled dormer in an old early 1900 Craftsman style home. We originally added walls and floors to make a room first for my son, and then my daughter. I finally moved my daughter to a smaller room on the main floor and moved my studio upstairs. As you duck and enter the studio, you see the world's ugliest couch which I intend to slipcover someday with a couple of baskets nearby. The baskets hold books that I have made or things that folks have made for me-I love browsing through them. Next to the couch is my t.v.-it is set up more for watching from my art table than the couch, although my daughter alters that view if she is lounging while I am making art!

Behind the t.v. is a rack that I made out of boards and dowels to hold my full sheets of wonderful papers. I found I was collecting papers but not using them when I had them stored. Now that I see them, I grab them and use them. They often inspire a book or project. Like a total dork, I originally put the paper rack in front of the one window in the main part of the studio. Then I had to cover the window so it did not fade the papers. I finally took the rack apart and moved it-it sits out in the room, but I use the are behind the rack for long term storage of boxed items.

Moving around the room you will see shelves of my treasured magazines and books, and the cigar boxes that friends and my father found for me. I just wanted a few and I ended up with more than I can use in a lifetime. I plan on sorting through the vintage books that I collected for altered books and giving those away or selling them, as I don't do a whole lot of altered books anymore. I have more than enough images and ephemera so I don't need to keep the books for that; and frankly, I can use the space! The screen hides a real closet where I store my off season clothing. I have really worked hard to eliminate the clothing I do not wear so no more no more excess there. My clothing now hangs nicely and without being crammed in and getting wrinkled. I keep lots of lavender in the closets to eliminate moths, and the fragrance drifts throughout my art space.