New Studio Update

Work is underway at the new space.

The bathroom has been roughed out, plumbing started, insulation added upstairs and it’s feeling a little less like a garage and more like a workspace with each visit.

I feel like I’m in a whale’s belly, or an upturned viking ship.

It’s hard not to get too carried at this stage and start hitting all the area thrift store for furniture (I mean, there’s literally no where to store it anyway…) so I’m trying to rein in the excitement and focus on other tasks. It is hard though, this is literally a dream come true.

So instead of finding the perfect slouchy couch for brainstorming I’m going through all my supplies in the home studio and packing things up. Sidenote; Daily Harvest boxes are really sturdy and great for moving!

I’m still doing a few projects from here, but most things are headed to the temporary space for the time being.

NEW STUDIO!

Welcome to my new art space!!!

(well, eventually.)

After many fruitless tours and meetings - I finally found the new home for my art practice.  And, it’s not what I thought it would be, but it’s perfect.

A three car garage with a nook and a loft and fits alllll of my criteria from my other post. Or, rather it will fit all my criteria - with a few adjustments.

We’re adding plumbing for a sink/laundry tub and bathroom, insulation and a mini-split for heating and cooling, drywall and track lighting, and eventually replacing the doors with frosted panels. It’s going to be a big, fun project. I think I’ll paint the floor as well? We’ll see.

A peek into the loft!

The nook. For shipping? Snacks?

The first floor will be a combination of workspace and show space; tables and rolling walls for painting and display. I can’t wait to host an open studio and roll around the walls for a nice, cohesive walk-through. 

The second floor will be mostly storage, maybe a small painting nook, and possible shelving for my plants by the windows.

I’m trying not to get *too* excited for the space as the remodel certainly won’t be quick -- but I keep finding myself sketching floor plans, mentally taking measurements of furniture, crossing my fingers for an affordable wine fridge to pop up on Facebook Marketplace...

It’s been a long journey to find this place and I am overjoyed to be able to call this place my studio. I’ll be posting photos of the progress here and there to instagram, so follow along if you want to watch the transformation.

Moving Studios!

As we have decided to cancel our move to Palo Alto (husband’s new office was shut down during pandemic and he is quite liking working here from home!) I’ve been on the hunt for studio space.

If you have been following me for a while you know I’ve predominantly worked out of my home, except for a brief period in 2019 right before we got our puppy (...and then I was too busy with him to justify renting the room!)

I love working from home.

I love waking up and stumbling down the stairs to get coffee and sit in my studio. It’s my favorite room in the house.

But.

I really need more space for the ideas I want to work with and the projects I’m currently working on.

So, now that we are 100% for sure staying in Ann Arbor - I’ve begun the process of checking out office spaces and artist areas for rent.

Here’s what I am hoping to find in no particular order;

• Natural light. (I have my own lighting kit for photos)

• Within my budget. Needs to make sense financially.

• Dog friendly. Chew won’t be with me everyday, but the ability to bring him along occasionally is really important.

• Easily accessible water/not a fancy sink. ( This seems like a silly list item, but I’ve toured some places with shared bathrooms WAAAAAAAY down the hall - too far to lug jars/brushes as often as I need to. Also if the only sink is a fancy one, I’ll be spending just as much time cleaning the sink as I am cleaning brushes. Laundry tub is ideal.)

• Moderate temperature control. I’m ok with underpowered ACs/heat - but I can’t have super high humidity when I’m working/storing paper.

• Ability to host events, bring collectors in for tours.

How pretty is this space!? A serious contender.

I’ve got a few more tours lined up for the weekend, fingers crossed for something to pan out soon-ish. I’ve got a lot of big ideas ready to go.

Studio Update (in Photos!)

I hope everyone is doing alright in this lockdown.

I’ve been working away in the studio, though with the move looming above us I’m a bit more focused on finishing up old pieces and less enticed to start anything new. We haven’t heard any word about a moving date yet, but as I’m not super anxious to get into a situation where we’d need to move immediately and none of my work is packed up - I’ve been taking inventory and doing a lot of ‘pre-packing’ if you will.

So for now, here’s a quick update of some cool things happening in my space!

My friends wrote a book!!!!!!!

The Motherhood of Art by Marissa Huber and Heather Kirtland came out on April 28th. If you follow their Carve out Time for Art community on instagram you’re familiar with their message, about staying creative and carving out time for art. I can’t wait to read about the artists featured in the book and see what these two lovely humans have put together. Purchase it here!

I am still in love with working on these roll canvases. That’s all <3

A ‘junior’ curator over at Jenner McGinn Studios picked my Wood Study to be a part of this collection! Pop over to the site to purchase.

Again, hope you all are doing alright in this strange time. Much love!

On giving up my off-site studio space...

(A copy/paste from instagram - but I felt it was written there exactly how I would write it here.)

I was going to retake this photo after Chewy moved his head, but I decided this is the perfect depiction of the caption I was going to write today. (It's a long one)

I gave up my studio space.

Not this space, this is my home - but I gave up my room in the beautiful decommissioned horse barn.

My reasons:

- I had to be honest with myself about my time, priorities and work flow and as much as I loved it, it wasn't working out.

- I work at odd times, sometimes in the wee hours of the morning, sometimes late at night and I just wasn't great at budgeting my time around the new space.

- I kept misplacing my supplies, I didn't want to keep two collections of the same paints, papers and canvases, so I'd forget and leave something behind. Rather than drive 15 mins to retrieve it, I'd work on something else, but that day's project would be pushed back by a day. Not earth-shattering, but I hate feeling unorganized.

- The pup. I've always had dog-shaped hole in my heart, now that it's filled - I love being able to work while he's napping, take breaks in the form of walks (instead of scrolling through the internet) and just be around him. With my husband also working from home, being able to paint, play with the dog, paint, talk with my husband, paint again is such a gift. I guess I grew a bit lonely working in the other space.

- Our house. We're in the midst of fixing things up, renovating, decorating, making it ours and I've signed myself up for a number of projects. Squeezing these in as I wait for paintings to dry has made for some decent progress.

So that's it, I'll be posting all my photos from here for the foreseeable future, puppy napping in the corner.

If you've made it all the way to the end, I commend you 🤣 Thanks for being a part of this 💙