The studio

For some odd reason, and maybe I'm not alone in this, but I love to look at other artists' studios.
I love to see the area in which a creator works and the creative mess they leave while shelling out work.

My studio is a mess. I try to clean it out at least once a month, but with all of the projects I have going it seems futile. I always add to the pile no matter how much I clean. There's paintings and drawings everywhere; some finished and some still in the process. I have easels set up all over the place, but I still work on the floor.

Even when I got my first studio, it was small. It was a spare bedroom in my parent's house. In fact all of my studios and the one today, is a spare bedroom. I've only had one large studio before and that was in the very first house I lived in outside of my parent's house. This studio was huge! I had room to work and room for storage. But my new house that I bought is a small two bedroom and both bedrooms are about the size of my first studio, which is probably around a ten by ten room.

But I'm not complaining. I have a place to work, and in a smaller space I feel closer to my work. With my work all around me, sometimes even literally falling on top of me, it somehow inspires me to keep creating. I love to see the fruits of my labor shining before me while I work and have them around while I create more pieces to add to the collection that is building in my house.

I think as a creator, my wide and sometimes busy imagination tends to leak out into reality, which of course can be the cause of my crowded studio and house. Not only is the studio full of work, but it has leaked out into the hallway, into the living room and all the way into the kitchen. Before long, I can see myself painting, drawing or writing in the bathroom.

But whatever it takes to get my work done and to relieve the pressure that builds in my brain from all of these ideas I have, then I guess it's worth the sacrifice.