THE YEAR OF NEW WORK SPACES!
My house is no longer a workplace!!! I moved into two new studios – one for my art and another for work! Yes, I now have my own art space to create and mess up without worrying about my cat Zelda climbing into anything or my pups Fannie and Django “helping” me. I got sick of everything being stored in a millon places. Plus, the owners have big plans for the building – they want to build a cafe and some galleries. Very exciting. It was also perfect timing because my art has been doing pretty well this year and I really needed to expand my space.
One of the many work stations
My bike Zippy in the studio
Old gym lockers - perfect place for storage!
Trixie helped get my website and blog up and running. I got into the Arts Council Art Market at Palmer Park and have been showing there since June. I also show at Freret Market. They are both great markets with different vibes but both allow artists the opportunity to make a living and create on their terms, as well as make art (and the artist) accessible to a much larger and more diverse crowd than your usual gallery. I love showing at the markets, and always enjoy eating the food from the vendors, listening to the musicians, viewing other artists’ works, and talking with customers. It’s a lot of work, but I hope to do even more next year.
I also finally perfected something I had been working on for a few months with the help of my friends Glenn May and Eric Stamp.
This one is called "Helping Hands"
After screening some of my photography images onto organic hemp, I stretch them on birch, and then frame them using local, salvaged wood (I now carry construction gloves in my car for spontaneous dumpster diving or wood inspection). I hope to use some of these images this year to help benefit some charities. I also hope to expand the project.
Moving into a new office has allowed me to have my own mini-photography studio in the back.
New little studio in my work office.
It’s pretty much functional now as of this week (still slowly decorating – it allows me to keep my front desk fairly minimalistic while I can go cazy in the studio). Not only does the space make it so much easier to shoot portraits and still life, but all of my equipment is in one space and not piled up in my office/guest room. It’s much more efficient and at the same time helps my home feel more like a home. And speaking of home…
Last year, I was finally able to do some long overdue repairs on my house – some “sexy” ones (new granite kitchen counters, bricked the front patio and sidewalk, new dishwasher, new bed, front patio fountain and planters, backyard fountain out of old bathtub) and some “unsexy” ones (new attic ladder, chimney tucked and pointed, new patio roof, and side window repair). I have always had the renovating bug, but being able to do some major renovations has really kicked it into overdrive and I am in the middle of redoing the master bathroom and designing a new dog bed – goodbye kennel, hello crazy expensive 5-inch foam.
I have always believed that where you live and work, and what you surround yourself with, is vital to your general well-being. My well-being is doing pretty good right now. Yay!