My Craft Studio

Several years ago, I found a quote in an issue of Legacy magazine, and it has stuck with me: "Art is work that is created by an artist. Who is an artist? Anyone who labels himself as such." That changed my thinking...or at least gave voice to what I always knew inside. I read the quote to my mother, and she agreed with the writer...and with me. She was always an artist--with pen and ink; with fabric; with oils, acrylics, and canvas; with bits of wood and other ephemera--and she encouraged self-expression with her children and her grandchildren. What a wonderful woman, and how lucky we were to have her in our lives for so many years.

I have posted pictures of my studio, and I call it a studio because I am an artist, and I do all sorts of artistic things in this room. I work on my personal scrapbooks, I make cards, I write, I edit photographs and order prints, I work on my canvas collages, I work on my art journal, and I simply enjoy the room and its contents.

The room is the smallest of the bedrooms in our new house. When we first looked at the house, I knew that it would be my room and I would fill it with my treasures. I have two bookcases that were built for me by my darling father. I have my grandfather's desk, and I use that for my computer and basket of scissors and pens. I have my great-grandmother's pierced tin pie safe, and it is full of wonderful supplies--paper, stamps, and brushes. I have rolling drawer units full of more treasures, and the closet has boxes of pens, my beloved tote bags, blank canvases, idea books, envelopes for cards, and my Pages by Design templates. There are two baskets FULL of alphabet stickers, and I am ashamed and embarrassed by their great quantity. I may take a vow to get rid of about half of them during the summer break; I have a plan, I think...

The room is painted a deep red, and while I like the color, I think I'd like this room better if it were a different color. The room next door was to be my mother's sitting room, and it is currently painted a bright green (it was a little boy's room previously). Mother wanted to leave it bright green, but I have other plans. I found a wonderful jungle print rug for the floor, and I am going to paint it one of the lighter colors from the rug, and I think I'll use the same color in my studio. It will probably be a grayish-green, and I'll keep the trim white.

My room has a beautiful view of our backyard. We haven't lived in this house during the spring and summer, so I don't know what the view will be when the trees are green, and the grass is not brown. DH grew such wonderful flowers at the other house, but with his health still on the mend, I don't know if we'll have any spots of color in the yard. Maybe I can get my stepson to plant us some things that will bloom and also be able to survive my benign neglect.

My window needs some sort of curtain, but I don't want to obstruct my view. The window is not tight; the cold air comes in right now, and I'm sure that means that warm air will come in during the summer months. If we can get the breeze stopped, then I can get away with just a valance for color.

If I look to the right when I am sitting at my work table, I can see our "woods". Actually, it's just a strip of our lot that we chose not to enclose when we fenced the rest of the yard before moving into the house. I think the strip is about twenty to thirty feet wide, and runs the length of the lot. DH has cleared out a path right next to the fence for me to use when I walk to my sister's house (she lives on the street behind us, two houses up) or for our friends to use when they walk over here. It's a nice path, but I've also talked to my stepson (the landscaper) about putting some sort of rock on the path (he suggested river rock). I'd also like it if the dog across the street stops leaving droppings on the path...his owner must not have heard about the leash law that was passed by our city about twenty or more years ago.