An update on the building of my art studio, with progress photos ~and~ my latest painting!

Here is my latest painting of a coreopsis flower and a maple leaf~

Pastel on board, 6x6 inches

Available through Etsy

Also - we have made some good progress on my art studio, and I though it was time to post a few photos!

Just getting started...

Getting ready for the floor...

Sub-floor and heating vents are in...

The first wall goes up...

The view out of one of the windows...  not bad!  :)

Wall number two...

Wall number three is up and number four is on it's way...

Those huge windows (7x7 feet!)  in the front and back were free!  We got them as salvage from my husband's work - they were remodeling and were going to throw them out!  We have been storing them for over a year - and I am happy to see them in place.  They will be wonderful!

Then the rafters for the roof...



After receiving my commission from JoAnn Ross for a book cover, we decided to add a little loft in the back of the studio.  It will be just big enough for a small mattress - perfect for reading art books - or a quick nap!  We have named it "JoAnn's addition".    :)
In the photo above, my husband is standing on the floor of the loft while he works on the roof.

The inside of the studio with my lovely, foggy view!



You can see the floor of the loft and the hole on the right side to climb up into it in this photo.  I am so very excited for it to be done!  My husband has been so wonderful fitting in working on it whenever he has a little time.  I know he will be happy to finish the roof and get out of the rain to start working inside!  :)

Building an Art Studio

I am very excited - my husband is going to build me an art studio!  Presently, I am using the dining room table with a tabletop easel, keeping my pastels stacked in boxes on a chair.  When I am using my pastels, they end up spread all over!  This is, obviously, not ideal.  Suffice it to say, that we often end up eating dinner at the kitchen counter instead of at the dining room table.  Then there is the ever present problem of pastel dust.  I do my best to keep things tidy, but I worry about it getting into the carpet, into food, etc.  I would show you a picture of my current set up, but I am not that brave!

We have just begun the planning stage.  We have a spot picked out behind the house - a beautiful spot in the middle of a young grove of oak trees.  We have established that we are going to make it 12x16 feet, and have stomped around in the brush making sure that it would fit.  Ah, the excitement of the planning before the real work begins - my favorite!

I have gotten onto floorplanner, and spent some time trying to figure out how I will have things arranged in the new studio.  Did I mention that my treadmill is going in there too?  Floorplanner is a great website, where you make an account (for free) and they have all kinds of neat tools, not just to make a floor plan, but to fill it up with stuff (yes, they actually have a graphic for the treadmill). It is all to scale, and a very useful tool for getting organized.  You can not only see how your furniture will work in the room, but it is really handy for making sure that you don't make silly mistakes.  Like planning on putting your pastel table right where the door needs room to open.  Not that I am saying I did that....

I am working on how to most efficiently set up my pastels and my easel.  I would love to hear any advice from those of you who have gone through this process before.  I much prefer learning from other people's experiences, instead of learning the hard way by making mistakes!  I am currently thinking of having the standing easel towards the middle of the room but facing the front windows.  The light will be filtered, but fairly consistent, as it will be coming through the oaks most of the day.  (See the photo below)  I am hoping that there will be enough ambient light, at least on fairly bright days, but I am sure that I will have to have some additional lighting for those dark, rainy, Pacific Northwest days!  Then I was planning on a long table off to the side to hold pastels and to work sitting at when I am painting smaller pieces.  Or maybe a table for pastels, and a second table, arranged so as to make an L shape, for sitting and painting?  There will of course have to be some storage.  That treadmill is really going to be feeling crowded!

We are hoping to start clearing the site this weekend - wish me luck!  (Really, please do - we suspect that there is a nest of bald faced hornets in there somewhere!)