What’s the opposite of discombobulated? Combobulated? Dupbobulated? Spellcheck is beside itself right now — need a little help recombobulating, Spellcheck?
In any case, I promised pretty pictures of Mike’s finished studio today and here they are…
and now it’s time Action Girl took a break. I could use a little R&R (Rest and Recombobulation) myself!
Remember this?
Well now it looks like this:
I realize to the uninitiated that may not look like an improvement but in fact what you are looking at is Part 1 of Phase 2, or the set up of Mike’s studio in what used to be Logan’s apartment.
This basically triples Mike’s studio space and gives him a working kitchen too which is great for washing brushes, inking block prints, and taking peanut butter breaks.
Tomorrow we’ll bring down the big dining room table and set up the side of the studio where I can join him and spread out big projects, or where we’ll have dinners with more than 4 people. Tres bohemian, no?
Pretty pictures tomorrow for Phase 2, Part 2, I promise.
At the other end of the skinny hall upstairs is my painting studio. It has an Eastern exposure and in the mornings when the sun shines through the Ikea stick blinds and throws rainbows off my foil stars it’s Joni Mitchell’s Chelsea Morning every time. Actually, I’m glad sunlight doesn’t really pour in like butterscotch and stick to all my senses because that would be pretty messy, and painting’s messy enough as it is.
My acrylic palette:
This space, unlike the other two I’ve already shown you will probably stay pretty much the same. I may need to get another small flat top table since I’ll be stealing this one to put into the studio where I work with all things paper but that’s easy enough. Maybe I’ll even find one which requires a little paint job of its own.
Meanwhile I’ll continue painting anything I can get my hands on, like these objects (which you can see more of over in my website in the Surface Pattern Design section):
In fact this lonely guy called out to me today at the Antique Mall, and a colorful coat of many colors is definitely in his future. Blue, red, green and gold to welcome you. Crimson crystal beads to beckon!
I have the whole upstairs to myself. It’s two rooms with a skinny hall between, and on the West end I have the studio where I play with all things paper. I have stacks and stacks of years and years of Martha Stewart Living (I have EVERY copy ever published and am therefore bound by some sort of blood curse to renew annually in spite of my taste having veered dramatically away from hers), W, Sunset, Elle Decor, House Beautiful, Harper’s Bazaar, Elle, O, Bon Appetite, as well as catalogs from Sundance, Pottery Barn, Anthropologie, Crate & Barrel, West Elm, and The Vermont Country Store. All of which are fair game for my scissors and glue stick when I’m composing my Inspiration Books.
Like my Sewing Studio, this room too will be going through some changes. I’m moving my drawing table with the angled top which is meant for painting into the new space I’ll be sharing with Mike, and a flat top table in instead which will work much better for spreading out my papers and journals and glue sticks and scissors. I also have a bunch of craft papers which are in my painting studio and they need to be moved into this one. I especially love the Asian ephemera I get at the Orient Market on Emerald Street.
Next time I’ll show you some of the things I do with all this paper I hoard. I’m a paper hoarder. A paper hoarder, and a visual junkie. Stick with me and it could get interesting!
Click the image to see the Tarpestry book
