WELCOME TO MY STUDIO!

On a recent shopping trip to AC Moore (my favorite craft store!), I couldn't resist picking up the most recent edition of ClothPaperScissors STUDIOS. Of course, I went right home & proceeded to read it from cover to cover! Afterall, who can resist peeking into artists' spaces and seeing them at their creative work?... Not me! :)

Inspired by all the colorful pics I found within its' pages, I decided to offer a mini-tour of my own home studio here on my blog... So WELCOME to "This Old House" and my creative space!

My studio is located in the back bedroom of our 1920's Bungalow and has LOTS of natural light! I have a great view out the window into my neighbors' English garden.

My art desk was a birthday gift to me from my sweet husband Joe!... The sideboard that holds my light box used to be the changing table in my sons' nursery! I have a single bed in my studio I use as a daybed... perfect for journaling, sketching, sipping tea, and snoozing! :)

This is the view from our kitchen into my studio... just steps away from my computer & our laundry room. I like being able to work on my artwork while keeping things going around the house!

My husband helped me improvise storage in my studio... It inspires me to have all my arty "stuff" where I can see it & within easy reach!

Our back porch is just off the kitchen and studio. It's one of my favorite places in our home! I spend LOTS of time out here on my computer. I can watch the birds, squirrels, and chipmunks at the feeder from my perch. My dog, Salem, often keeps me company here while I work. :)

I hope you've enjoyed this little peek inside my studio! I would LOVE to hear about YOUR creative space and why you enjoy being there so much!


To see my most recent creations, please come visit my Etsy shop, PHOLKART*BLESSINGS! :)

ARTFUL RESOLUTIONS

"Carolina Snowfall"

I'm not one to make New Year's Resolutions... Unfortunately, I've learned from past experience that I don't follow through very well on my best intentions!

But this year I hope will be different for me! I'm feeling the need to define what I'm doing art-wise better & simplify, simplify, simplify!! I want to clean out my studio & make it a cozy place to create (instead of a cluttered place just to store art supplies!). I want to step away from my computer & rediscover the joys of quiet time set aside just for sketching and journaling.

Most of all, I want to listen to my own heart & create art that reflects ME... and pleases GOD.


** As YOU enter the New Year, what are YOUR Artful Resolutions?... and how do you hope to achieve them???

Perhaps we can encourage one another as we grow as artists in the coming year!!

WITH MANY THANKS TO STACY!!!

Yesterday afternoon, on my way from here to there, I stopped at a local scrapbooking store I'd never explored before. As I'd hoped, it was brimming full of colorful papers and stickers and magazines and idea books -- the perfect place to come to get my creative juices flowing!!

One book in particular caught my eye -- the big picture, by Stacy Julian. Stacy's the founding editor of Simple Scrapbooks magazine, and I've been an admirer of hers for a long time now! After scanning the books' pages (and realizing that I had in my hand the only store copy), I hurried to make my purchase.

At home, with a cup of hot coffee in hand, I began to read; and as I read, my excitement grew. Here, on one colorful page after another, was laid out a philosophy of creativity and joyful living I could appreciate and really relate to!

Now, I'm not a photographer or a scrapbooker. I'm more of a craftsperson/self-taught artist/journaler (is "journaler" even a word?). I have filled up numerous 3-ring binders over the years with my doodlings and my writings. The writing has always been just for me. The doodles have been the way I've "played" with color and words on plain old graph paper ('cause I like having the lines to guide me) with markers & colored pencils. Sometimes I've used my little drawings as a springboard to an actual finished product (like the collages I've occasionally offered on eBay for fun -- more about that later... ). But, mostly they've been filed away in notebooks as an ongoing record of my interests and my growth as an artist.

Up 'til now, I've only rarely combined my writing and my artwork. Never really thought about doing that... don't know why. But, as I began reading Stacy's book, I got to thinking that I have the opportunity in blogging to do just that -- bring the words and the pictures together where they can be seen and shared. And that excites me!!

It may take me a while to figure this out -- I'm hardly a computer whiz. And, as I attempt this kind of blogging, I promise you that the artwork will be less than perfect – sometimes my little scribbles will be on graph paper, 'cause I don't want this to be anything but fun and real.

Many thanks, Stacy, for your encouragement toward simplicity and self-expression !! Your helpful ideas are both powerful and freeing!!!

Written 1/22/06