Best-Laid Plans… and Messy Studio Tables!

 

messy studio table - artsyletters

I’ll explain this messy table in just a minute.  But first, a quick catch-up:

My plans last month were:  Travel to help oldest (daughter) get set up her brand new third-grade classroom, return home, travel with hubby to get youngest (son) settled in to his second year of college, return home, and work like a crazy person in my downtown studio, creating at a record pace to fill my Etsy shop and my local display at Fordham Market for the busy fall season.

Reality was:  The very night of the college move-in, what I thought was an annoying pulled muscle in the back of my shoulder (that I’d ignored for weeks) suddenly morphed into something excruciating.  Pain not only engulfed my shoulder, but my entire arm and hand as well. So began my adventure with entrapped nerves – the ones that exit  the vertebrae in the neck and pass through the Scalene muscles (the three muscles in the side of the neck).

I am beyond thankful to have found a neuromuscular massage therapist with a masters in physical therapy.  (Think part relief/part torture.)  She is slowly putting me to rights, but it’s a long healing process.  Still don’t have complete feeling in my last two fingers or full strength in my right hand; still packing myself in ice several times a day to chill in the recliner we ended up buying.  (This condition does not lend itself to much actual sleep!) Note to my artist and writer friends:  years of hunching over drawing tables and keyboards contributes to the possibility of this!  So, take frequent breaks.  Watch that posture.  Breathe.

Anyway, my therapist recently “allowed” me to work an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon, if I rest with ice in between.

She even made my buy two timers – one for the studio, one for the computer. two timers

 

 

 

I’ve been SO happy to be able to make some art, and make a mess, even if it’s for short periods!  Just so happens I was trying out a technique I’d recently seen in a video by the talented and generous Seth Apter.  He had demonstrated a way to use textured wallpaper samples and gesso when working on mixed media surfaces.  This necessitated, of course, that I find a really cool book of Italian wallpaper samples on eBay and purchase it.  Yes, I did.

I’d been trying out this technique the last couple of days in my brief studio visits.  Then late today I stumbled on a Twitter link to a fun round-up Seth is doing on his blog, The Altered Page.  He’s invited artists to submit links to their own blog posts featuring their messy studio tables!  Kind of a come-as-you-are-party, rather than the polished and perfect studio pictures we all drool over in magazines.

I figured since my current project – making backgrounds for some small mixed media pieces (pix of those soon – promise!  My idea is actually turning out…), I had to knock at the blog party door even if I’m a little late today.  So there’s my messy studio table up there, and here are a couple more pictures:

working on mixed media substrates, with the help of some Italian wallpaper...!

working on mixed media substrates, with the help of some Italian wallpaper…!

Love me some gesso....

Love me some gesso….

I have plans for these....

I have plans for these….

and I can’t wait to spend LOTS of time in here, making more messes!

messy table studio vertical 2

If you love sneak peeks into working studios, be sure to check out all the great links artists have submitted to The Altered Page.  That will keep me busy in my recliner for quite a while.  And if you’d like to see more of my own studio, I posted a little “tour” a few weeks ago, here.  Thanks for coming by!

Open for Business in Beautiful Beaufort!

 

Happy Summer Solstice! 

Thanks for stopping by.  Well, moving and settling in took a bit longer than I thought it would – and a whole lot of trips back and forth to Georgia, and mounds of boxes.  But I’m officially in business in beautiful Beaufort, SC! 

I haven’t posted in a while during the transition, so this post is longer than usual.  BUT – it’s pretty much all pictures.  So come on along! Here’s a little pictorial tour of my artsy endeavors on the coast.

First, there’s the scenery walking from our cottage to downtown.

homes on bay

bay on bay street

Antebellum homes on the left; the bay on the right.

 modern jewelers and verdier house

Here’s the building where my studio is!  It dates from 1889. I rent one of the office spaces above Modern Jewelers.  Count the windows along the side – mine are numbers 4 and 5. 

See the lovely pink building beside us?  It’s the John Mark Verdier House Museum, “the only planter’s home in Beaufort open to the public,” built in 1804. We went on the guided tour and also enjoyed the free Civil War exhibit downstairs. 

 glass door 811 bay street

And here’s my business name on the glass door – you can make it out in my reflection!

I usually go around to the back, however, because I’m in love with this old, old tabby wall.  Kind of a secret garden passageway, don’t you think?

tabby wall

Tabby close-up

And up the stairs.  back stairs and fig tree

(Beware the over-reaching fig tree….)

Suite number 3 door

Here we are! Welcome to my studio. 

mini studio selfie

studio sweep

It’s still a work-in-progress, and don’t get out any white gloves.  But it’s coming together, and I love it.

 2 angled desks and chair

I have a desk to draw on/assemble on and my little drawing table, too – both from early years of marriage.  Jeff gave me that drawing table decades ago! The wonderful green spinning bookshelf was a find in a north Georgia antique shop.  The p-e-r-f-e-c-t and perfectly comfortable wooden desk chair was a find here in Beaufort!  

table and photo corner

The big table with glass top came with the space.  It will be my printmaking station.(See the little fountain on the right side?  In case I need to run my fingers under some water real quick-like…!) 

The corner space in front of the window provides terrific natural light for Etsy shop photos.  photo corner daylightYes, I’ve taken several – I just haven’t gotten around to posting the new items!  I’m getting there, I’m getting there….

glass front cabinet and books

I have a great little closet, but my favorite feature of this high-ceiling-ed, wood-floored space is this cabinet with glass doors.  Swoon.  My boxes for shipping are stored below, and these shelves hold mats and backing, acetate sleeves, and jewelry boxes.

Moving on, this might not be as attractive, but a baker’s rack holds everything I need to get Etsy orders shipped out quickly (Oh – and my first wholesale cards order this week – to an indie bookstore in Massachusetts)!  All at my fingertips. 

bakers rack shipping center

panels and inventory

In the front corner, my illustration and art books and inventory of  printed cards, bookmarks, etc., hang out behind my display panels.

Turning back to the center – an area just for gift-wrapping!

gift wrap table

 

And here are some of my favorite things.  This metal flat file was given a makeover by the husband of my antique dealer friend Keren back in Georgia, at the first-weekend-of-the-month Flowery Branch antique market.  flat fileThis thing weighs a ton.  And it holds mat boards, large papers, and a zillion typewriter keys (in letterpress trays, some of which I think I also got from Keren!)

Also bought at that market was this great green metal cabinet, which I’ve filled with old metal treasures, including more great stuff from Dena’s booth at the same market.  (Dena has the coolest old hardware items.)

metal cabinet for metal

I picked up these two putty-colored metal cabinets putty metal cabinetson different treasure-hunting trips, with my good creative buddies Paula Puckett  and Kim Siegelson.

Now, one reason I’ve set up my panels and display tables in this great space is that I don’t plan on lugging them around for sleep-deprived weekends to shows, at least this fall.  I’m trying something else:  I am delighted to have been accepted to lease a wee bit of real estate inside the historic Fordham Market here in town. 

fordham market

I just set up yesterday.  I’ve been there as a customer before, and now I look forward to selling artsyletters wares there as a vendor! 

fordham display

artsyletters at fordham closeup

So let me know if you are passing through the lowcountry, and I’ll show you around and buy you a frozen yogurt.  You’ll have to do a little shopping before you get back on the road, n’est-ce-pas?  I might have some ideas….

Thanks for coming along on this new journey!

Happy Summer.

Art Break Wednesday – Mooooo-ving! My Studio, that is…

Yay Images

Yay Images

 

Hope your 2014 is off to a good start!

Just a heads’ up that my online pasture here might look a little bare this month, but that’s only because I’m moving to greener pastures very soon.  I’m boxing up art supplies and books and furniture and vintage bling and such (how in the world did I accumulate so much stuff?!) and heading from the North Georgia mountains to the South Carolina coast.

When I get all settled, I’ll post pictures of my new digs.  I’m renting a great old space in a historic building in the middle of town and can’t wait to soak up the inspiration (and the sunshine outside) and create, create, create.  More soon!

May your pastures this year be lush, and Happy Trails! :0)