and the Toothless Wonder
Filled with family birthdays, quick visits with friends and family, Valentine delivery at school, some figure skating and a competition, it’s been a whirlwind of a weekend filled with fun! Plus lots of knitting, baking, crafting, building (my studio got some shingles added to it, it’s coming along…) plus lots of I Love You’s!
Now it is school vacation week… I love having my little girl home and just pacing our day however we please. Let the chilax-sation begin!
Thank you to everyone who stopped by for my Open Studio tour on Saturday and for all the wonderful comments and suggestions you made.It was the most relaxing studio tour I’ve ever had! I didn’t even have to be there.
Now, let’s talk paint! I need to pick a color to paint the clapboards on studio front and 1 side (the rest is shingled,) I’m hoping to match our house. Now, the front of our house is a rustic orange, so something complementary to orange would be good. I don’t want the clap boards to be a beacon of light where the boats from the harbor will start heading my way…I was thinking of a subtle green, a light olive, something that blends with the trees and allows the space to become one with its environment. Painting a large space is tough, it always comes out different from what you imagine!
Here’s a pic of the shingle side of our house. You can see the trim color around this lovely old window. It leaks cold air like a sieve, but was so precious and funky we had to leave it in when we first bought the house. I love the old blown glass and even the chipping paint. There’s a story about that window somewhere. We did seal it shut, not that we ever got it open to start. The siding is a year old now and sure beats the Asbestos siding that was there prior. This window will reflect the studio nicely but I’m not certain which color it will be…stay tuned!
Welcome, so what you see here may not be like most open studios currently, but it’s quite open at the moment. It’s a studio in progress, a studio in transition and in creation!
I will love my studio once it’s fully complete or to the slightest degree usable. My tree house, my room of one’s own, my escape to a little creative universe or hub of crafty goodness.
To begin, I have always wanted my own studio since forever. I have always been drawn to and good at art and crafty things, it’s what I thrive on. Luckily, I also married a carpenter who tends to have lots of tools and acquires lumber and future studio findings through work, friends and wherever. It quite a frugal studio, the most we’ve put into it is a land survey, in order to make a suddenly spirited neighbor be quiet. Now we’re continuing our building on weekends to hopefully complete it SOON…
I first planned on the studio to just be a creative space. I want to sew, spin, weave, do pottery, paint, collage, craft and design in a lovely space. I would like to use this space with my daughter (who is 7) to give us a place to create together, a sanctuary of sorts, somewhere creativity is invited. I live directly, on top of an elementary school which my daughter attends, so we see lots of kids and giveaway lots of juice boxes and band aids. I would love to be able to host a small after school program for kids to be creative but have in depth themes (as in depth as elementary will take them)- maybe a week of fiber arts, a week of pottery, a week of photography, or a week of creating hula hoops whatever that would entails a new avenue that steers them away from a piece of paper and a typical crayon, just a space to let something new be born, to find out what else lurks inside them that they may enjoy…because sometimes when you get the opportunity you can make magic and it sticks like glue for the rest of your life so you can hopefully pass it along…
Currently my sofa is my studio….this is where most of my crafting ventures take place and maybe the kitchen table as well. The sofa is especially nice for knitting! I find it’s a great portable craft especially when it can take my mind of of larger projects I want to do but don’t have the space for. My studio will be a place of lingering creativity where the day ends and you can just step away from your work, and the next day it waits quietly for you untouched, undisturbed and you can see it with fresh eyes, aaaahhh! We have a small house, well at least for someone who has lots of hobbies, storage can be quite a challenge so I hope to be organized in the near future and have all my creative endeavors high on the hill behind me.
I love the idea of setting a deadline for a project. For being able to have completed something, submit it and enjoying the journey along the way. Illustartion Friday, a site that let’s you know a word theme for the week and every friday (or earlier) you can post how you interpret that word. Use different mediums, genres, and concepts. It’s like a little test kitchen for yourself, they even have a childrens area that they can submit their art, how cool is that.
I have yet to be successful in completing a final project and posting it at Illustration Friday, but this blog is where I can keep you posted when I do get lucky one week. I am disciplined, really, I am. I’m just slow at summing up and posting individually about things I get done…
The above two concept sketches were for illustration friday: the first was the word “Welcome”. When I walk through the woods near home there are all these little nooks and crannies that beckon your feet to follow. I love finding somewhere new in something that looks hidden. You move a branch on the darker side of a forest to reveal a beautiful sunlit lake and budding flowers.
The second word was “Infinite”. All I could think of besides the universe was the assembling piles of laundry I had to look forward to. UGH! I rather have worked on the sketch more than the laundry, but it was staring at me and I hate piles of chaos so in it went!
Check out the word of the week at Illustration Friday and think of all the new and exciting concepts you can. It will surely ignite and inspire some creativity and it’s exciting to see everyone’s posts at the end of the week and the amazing artistry, detail and concepts folks can some up with!
Interweave Press produces several creative magazines including, Cloth Paper Scissors’ Studios Magazine.
In the Fall 09 issue they are featuring Open Studios and creating a virtual space for blog studio tours as well— check back here on October 3rd for images of my creative space, and bit more about it and me….
Looking forward to seeing everyone’s creative spaces…
Finally receive my hand cards, yippeee! I’m very excited. I have a wonderful dog who is a mut and part austrailian cattle dog and sheds like crazy! I made his day by brushing him and collecting some fur. I combined it with some wool and presto chango, I now have some wonderful fiber to spin! I’m not sure what I will knit from it, or weave…something playful and fun. Something, since the woof is almost 11, to always cherish. Perhaps an ornament like a little sweater? The carders are som much fun to use and I’ve caught the hubster and child playing with them as well. Although they don’t understand the ebb and flow of fiber.
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