Open Studio

So….back from New York.  Took me a few days to recover and feel like myself again. There was not a lot of sleep to be had, and I had many firsts:  Knoedler Gallery opening, Korean food, Karaoke (!), The Strand bookstore, nighttime gallery hopping in Chelsea. I stayed with wonderful friends, and met some great people. Sensory overload!

 I adore the City, but I’m also really glad to be home again.  We are very close to San Francisco here, but I swear you would never know it. 

Winter here is austere and beautiful.  I’ve been walking in the late afternoon with Milo (my dog) since I got back, and it just -anchors- me.  I’ve also spent some time in the studio…

Here is a nest in progress.  I’ve got a xerox drying on there.  I’ll rub the back off to transfer the image, and it will be close to done.  A little tweaking, a little embroidery…I really like this one.  I’ll have to tell you the story of that nest in a future post.

 And, yes, that IS Ian in the background. Ah, the joys of the trampoline!

You can’t do anything around here without tripping over someone being creative.  Here, my son is turning our bedroom window into his canvas, practicing some Japanese characters (instead of doing his math!).   I’ve been busy myself today….finishing up some embroidery on new paintings.                                         I’ll have new work posted soon on my website. I will be disappearing  for a few days while I take a long awaited trip to New York City to see a dear friend’s show,  soak up some attitude, eat too much good food, stay up way too late, subsequently drink way too much coffee, widow shop, and see lots and lots of art. And all this with one seriously fabulous friend! I am feeling deliciously spoiled.  My only regret is leaving my new studio for five whole days.  Ah, well, what do they say?  Absence makes the heart grow fonder….. and I’m sure I’ll come home with a head full of ideas and inspiration.   

We actually woke up to some sun this morning.  Not that it’s particularly warm, but still nice. A hint of spring.  I got some time in the studio last night, and here are the remains….. and some of the results.

The painting on the left is something I’m working on, and the two on the right are some of the first bird theme paintings I did, and decided that they needed to be recycled.  I whited most of them out, and they’ll become something new.  And speaking of something old becoming something new, here is the table I mentioned. The one destined to become the encaustic table.

I know, it totally needs work.  It’s been sitting out in the fog and rain for weeks, and the veneer is peeling, but I think with a little thought and care, it will work out perfectly. I need to build up the top so that it is taller, and top it off with some plywood. I can’t wait to get the hot wax going in the studio.  It won’t truly feel like it’s mine until it is saturated with the smell of beeswax! 

Over the years, I’ve worked in many spaces.   Just out of college, I moved up to Oakland and had a beautiful, large live-in space all to myself.  Every morning - about 2:00 in the morning, that is, the freight train would roar by across the street, and I got so used to it, I stopped waking up.  Later, I had a little live work space in Santa Cruz, and worked there through much of my pregnancy with my daughter before moving into a larger space on the same property, with my growing family.  We turned our bedroom into my studio, and when my daughter was old enough, she would toddle in while I was painting first thing in the morning, and settle herself at her stool and banana box set up on the floor, and paint with mommy.  Along came child #2, my son, and with him, a move back to Oakland for a year in a live-work space, followed by several years in Berkeley without a space of my own.  My neighbor and friend let me use her space, when I could, but these years with small children and the wonderful, engulfing chaos that inevitably follows, were not very productive, artistically speaking.  Lots of home made play-dough and water colors on the porch, yes. But oil painting?  I kept working, but barely. Then we moved to Boston for 3 years.  I whitewashed a room in the basement for my studio, and was able to squeeze more work time in than before.  I started doing mixed media collage and painting in journals, and decided to take a break from oil painting.  I didn’t realize it at the time, but my work was taking a turn toward more of a narrative approach that would lead me in totally new directions once I started painting again.  I took a class to learn encaustic painting, and my work seemed to take off.  Soon, I was moving back to California, taking this new way of working with me.  I rented a studio for a while that was a bit of a drive, but had a wonderful little pot belly wood stove (really ideal for keeping the room extra warm for encaustic painting). Eventually, though, I found myself going less and less, and ended up moving my studio back home to our garage.  Not ideal lighting, to be sure, but I still found it easier.  I find that I get so much more work done if my studio is at home. I can make use out of smaller chunks of time, and work and life seem to mesh in a wonderful way.  My family can come and see what I am up to. I can go inside to make a cup of tea.  So when we moved into our current house a year and a half ago, we immediately started dreaming up plans to build a studio in the back yard.  This last fall, the construction started (thank you, Joe B.!) and finally……..                                                   A studio of my own!  I moved in about 2 weeks ago, and I am so happy with the space. It is just the right size - not too big or small. The photos make it look a little smaller than it actually is. Everything is a bit of a mess now, with piles everywhere, but I’ve carved out a corner of work space for painting, and am slowly putting things away.  My grandfather-in-law gave me an old table to set up for encaustic, so that is the next thing to do.                   I keep pinching myself……                                                                                                                 I feel so incredibly lucky and blessed.