Creating Your Space
To: A lover of art and nature
Even if it’s just a small table in the corner somewhere in your house or garage, the space that you work in should be all yours. That space no matter how large or small is your creative sanctuary. Find some small ways to make it your own. Choose somewhere with great light coming in over your desk. Put up work that you’ve done on the walls. Include your vision board if you have one. Maybe scatter some beautiful pot plants around the area. Make it fun but not cluttered.
A cluttered space means a cluttered mind so put away all of your art tools that don’t pertain to the medium that you’re working in at the moment. I mean it. One of my mentors told me this Deeane Palmer and when I changed things it made a significant difference to my art practice. You can be easily distracted by all of those other lovely tools. If you’re not using oils in your work currently then put them in a clear container, label them and preferably put them in a cupboard out of sight.
If you are doing art just for your own pleasure then it’s not as significant but if your’e becoming an artist and planning to be a professional, then you need to set up the space that you work in as though it’s a professional studio - no matter how small. Deanne told me to imagine that an important collector or gallery owner was coming to visit the studio. What do you want them to see?
My studio is my sanctuary in so many different ways. It is a place that is all mine. I don’t have to answer to anyone else. I can play my music in there or go in there for total silence. I don’t have to meet everyone else’s needs in that room and it’s so freeing.
Often I work in my studio in the early hours of the morning or late at night. It’s far enough away from the bedrooms in my house not to cause anyone else any disturbance.
If you have a busy family as I still do your studio can become an important place for you to recharge your batteries.
Sincerely,
Alison Mulvaney