My Art Room

I hesitate to call it a studio as it doubles up as a spare room even though we do have a another couple of spare rooms for visitors but I always like to have plenty of everything... a mind set  which is now leading me into trouble in my room as well!! It is small, though I like to think bijou is a better word and sounds more artistic!! Read on to be enlightened.......

My room has had two beginnings the first when my older son moved out and I exchanged contracts quickly before he had chance to change his mind (thankfully he still hasn't felt the need to return!!) and the second after my younger son moved out and I took overall possession again after his girlfriend who had been living with us had used part of it for her clothes rail.......as the space isn't very big it was a bit of a squeeze to fit me in as well so when they left just over a year ago, it underwent another face lift and I have been in there ever since.

I had felt lonely being there when the rest of the family were elsewhere in the house and had started to paint downstairs again, the conservatory being a favoured location (still go in there from time to time as it gets lovely and warm when the sun is shining and I find myself invited in there) but now the house is quiet and I am no longer in fear of missing anything I can retire to my room quite happily and paint and get messy to my heart's content!!

I suppose the reason for me writing this post is that over the weekend I had a good sort out... well managed to throw a whole plastic bag of stuff away but more importantly,  in the process, managed to clear most of the bed which normally fulfils the function of a desk extension... it is a 3/4 size bed and was absolutely full of mount card, paintings, books, and goodness knows what else....... I usually wait until we have someone coming to stay before I have this kind of sort out but it was even getting on my nerves and obviously enough for me to feel I had to do something about it!! Not only did I have no desk space, there was no space on any other horizontal surface in the whole room and I realised it was going to stop me painting as I couldn't face the mess and there was nowhere to paint anyway!!

The trouble is I get so engrossed in what I'm doing I am really oblivious to what I am dumping where... heaven forbid I should actually put something away in it's rightful place!! I  probably do have enough storage space... well would have if I didn't have quite so many provisions... I have drawers full to bursting of paper, (watercolour, smooth rough, 140lb,300lb, Bockingford, Arches, Saunders, Fabriano, Hahnemuhle, full, half, quarter imp, acrylic, cartridge, pastel........etc etc)  in the divan drawers of the bed (in fact they are dropping off their rails under the weight!!), I have drawers and drawers full of old paintings which I know I should  get rid of but they are so much part of my journey I am reluctant, every so often I do part with a few but generally I keep hold and cannot really understand why I am so reluctant when they are all so terrible!!

Then of course I have mount card, books, DVD's, mount cutter, brushes, canvasses, easels, watercolours, painting boards, charcoal, pastels (oil and chalk), pencils coloured and watercolour, acrylics, gouache, oils (yes I even have a small unused selection of oil paint), files of reference photos, glue, glitter, you name it I have it...and am sure I will have forgotten something, but I think you get the idea in fact the phrase "All the gear no idea" springs to mind!!!

So I am a bit of a hoarder and no, before you wonder I didn't have a deprived childhood, I didn't go short of things I just have this predisposition to keep and get things "just in case" and of course I can't resist a bargain!!! So I am doomed whenever I visit Ken Bromley's and I find they have a deal on something or have something reduced because it may be slightly damaged... I may have no immediate need for it but who knows when I might need that very thing in the future!!

I am currently taking myself into needing a good camera and it is one of the next things I will put money towards when I have done a few more workshops and maybe sold one or two more paintings, my son has just got one and I am sure it is just what I need as well!!

Here are a few pics of my now very tidy art room, believe me this is tidy!!!