A Peek Inside my Artist Studio

I lived in Austin, TX for eight years and was very happy with my friends, my home and my very art-friendly city. So when my husband suggested we move to San Antonio, I have to say I wasn’t very gung-ho over the idea.  But then he said the magic words- new artist studio.

In my old house I had the easel in my living room.  It was the room right next to the front door.  It had big beautiful windows, but it was by the front door.  Did I say it was by the front door?  I felt I needed to have the room perfectly picked up at all times.  I’m not a messy painter, but as an artist I just had stuff and more stuff.  So lots of canvases started migrating across the foyer to the dining room. etc etc etc… Any-hoo, my husband “had me” at NEW ARTIST STUDIO!

The Painting Corner

 

 

 

This is my light-filled painting corner. As luck would have it, the studio has north facing windows. The perfect light for painting. I have large windows on three sides on my studio, painting heaven! Outside the windows I have several bird feeders, so when Sophie isn’t supervising my process she is bird watching.

Across from the easel I have my comfy chair. Perfect place for my muse to taker her catnap. I’m surprised she isn’t in this pic.

 

 

 

 

                                                                              I love this wonderful antique bookcase that I my husband collected about 30 years ago. It has been used for many things over the years. I found these handy-dandy baskets, which fit perfectly in the shelves. Love when things like that happen.  I separate my paint by color- yellow, red, blue, greens. So now it is super-easy to find a tube when I’m painting.

 

Storage!!

I was able to custom design the room to have storage for my canvases, books, papers, shipping materials and equipment. Now all that stuff has a home.  I made the storage closets 5′ deep and added shelves up to the ceiling.  In the closet to the left of the sink, I added a counter with file cabinets underneath to put my printer on and other messy stuff.  The Christmas before we moved into this house my Dad gave me a nice Christmas check, I used the money to add a sink.  A sink!! It feels like such a luxury. In my others homes, I was always washing brushes in my kitchen sink, so this is so fantastic.

 

Finishing Touches

On one wall I have an old mantel that my husband and I found in a antique store when we lived in San Diego.  It has moved several times and found a home in my studio. It serves no function other than I think it’s cool.  There is also an extra easel to put my paintings as they are drying. I think all artist studios should have an old mantel in it, ha!  The painting on the easel is called Orchid Ovation.

 

This sweet little chair is what I designed the room around.  I loved it’s color it the inspiration for  the drapes, paint color and the rug.  Above the chair is a piece of art I bought about 25 years ago.  It is a whimsical painting of a kitty.  It wasn’t until a couple years ago that I realized that I now own a real kitty that looks a lot like this art.

 

And there you have it! Let me know when you’re in the area, I’ll give a personal tour.