My Studio: Up Close and Personal

Apparently, there are people out there in Cyberland who want to know what the life of an artist is really like, so I thought I'd give you the 10-cent tour of my studio . Mine is pretty small; it was my son's room until he went to college. The main section is about 14 x 14 feet, not including the 6 x 10 "dressing room" section, which is mainly occupied by 3 dog crates right now (I may have to kick them out). There are 4 windows: 1 in the northeast wall, 2 in the southeast, and 1 in the southwest. I don't have a lot of storage space here, so some larger things are kept upstairs in the attic. Above you can see my easel; I keep a large piece of masonite on it because I usually work on paper, and also so I can work on more than one piece at a time if I want. There's an ugly yellow shelf beside it, containing the supplies I usually need when I work here. There's also a large light above it.

Proceeding around the room in a clockwise direction, my antique drafting table is in the corner next to the easel. It belonged to the live-in artist boyfriend of my grandfather's very wild (by the standards of that time) sister. My grandfather gave it to me when I was about 12 or 13. As you can see, it's frequently a mess, but I do reorganize after each project. I do most of my collage work here.

In the opposite corner, I have a beat-up metal flat file for keeping papers, scrap artwork, and works in progress that I've decided to put away for a while. On top of it sits an old apothecary cabinet, turned on its side so the drawers are horizontal. Scraps and cut-up pieces of monotypes and other assorted bits are filed (somewhat) in the drawers, so that, without too much aggravation, I can find them when needed.

By the window between the apothecary cabinet and the computer desk there was a huge Norfolk Island pine. I've had it for 2 and 1/2 years, and I'm amazed because they don't normally live that long around here. I couldn't get to the other side of the room without walking around my press, which is smack-dab in the middle of the room, so it has since been moved upstairs. The press will sit next to the window when I'm not using it.


My computer desk, with computer, printer, etc. I really don't want to talk about it.
You can kind of see one of the dog crates beyond the the filing cabinet. There's a closet in this section, too.


On the wall by the door is a bookcase which stores more art supplies. On this day, I had dampened an old artwork to try and get something unstuck (is that a word?) from it, and placed it between 2 heavy towels to absorb moisture and keep it from curling. My assistant, Scout, wanted to make extra sure it would stay flat, so she laid down on it. So helpful!


I'd love to see the studios of other artists. If you'd like to share yours, post a comment with a link so we can all take your 10-cent tour.