A Safe Place

I've been so excited about having my own studio for a very long time. After college I used to use my bedroom and then in the next house I lived in I used the dining room. But in both of those situations I had to spend at least 20 minutes setting up and then about 40 minutes (or sometimes more!) cleaning up after every painting/ drawing/ sewing session. With all of that prep and clean-up, it was so hard getting motivated, let alone setting the time aside. So you can probably understand why I am so thrilled to now have a space where I can simply close the door and leave the studio in any condition. It's much better and so great to have a closed space to get away. I love to go in there in the late afternoon when the sun is really piercing through the windows, and blast the music and just lose myself in my work. So Good. Like sex. And chocolate. And vodka. Seriously. Here are some shots of the studio over the past year or so.

At the very beginning stages (after it was cleaned out and the paneling primed).



And in the middle stages...





Tiago painted the studio black for my birthday. I was really inspired by Anna over at doorsixteen, and all of her black walls like this one. I was so happy. He plastered and sanded all of the paneling (!!!) before priming and painting. Tiago is a house painter by trade, so he was actually really excited to paint. The walls are chalkboard paint- so great for an artist. Whenever I feel like it I can just whip up a sketch right on the wall. Any size I want! Which is great because I don't always have the right sized paper around.

Tiago first went to Sherwin Williams, his vendor of choice, to find the chalkboard paint, but he couldn't find any there that wasn't the uber-expensive magnetic type. So, feeling a bit defeated, he decided to stop by Home-Depot on his way home (totally assuming they wouldn't have it) only to find that not only did they have it, it was cheap! He used quarts of Rust-Oleum black chalkboard brush-on paint. We usually don't use paint from Home-Depot because it's cheap and doesn't cover well, but this stuff was great. (And coming from a professional painter, that's saying a lot!) Well done, Rust-Oleum!

(Side note: My niece calls Home-Depot the "Homo-Depot". She's five. It's great. Love her. You can read more funny things she says at my sister's blog.)




You'll have to wait until tomorrow to see the after pics. But I can say the studio is lookin ASS-SOME. (That's my word for awesome to the max.) Stay tuned.