Studio

is word that should conjure a place of quite solitude and inspiration, and probably does if you are a hobby-artist or someone who has fantasies about the romantic aspect of art. But to a professional, the word "Studio" means the same as "Home Office", only with a feeling of pride and accomplishment since you are able to dedicate a spot in your home to your life-blood's passion.

I mentioned Hobby-Artists and People Who Fantasize About Romantic Art. There is nothing wrong with belonging to either catagory, and I'll try to define them in the next post, just to keep this one about my studio. But remember, I'm a visual thinker and general blather on without ever making coherent points. So, don't take offense if you think I'm insulting, cause I'm not.
I strive to be a professional. I strive to not wait for inspiration, but to just knock out the illustration, the pendants, the sculptures, the squiggles. I strive to work on a deadline-based world, which some people wouldn't consider "creative" and a "characteristic trait of an artist." Well, that's why I'm not part of the above groups.

I see my studio as a morphing office where I currently store all my reference, supplies and equipment. I generally use my laptop on the sofa next to Hobbit, to minimize the neglect that hours and hours of brainstorming, researching and creating will lead to, but everything else is in that tiny 12'x12' place. Well, everything plus both our book collections.
Needless to say, this is the best studio I can smash together til we get a bigger house :)


Here is the little work-corner, with the current project of Heartwork Pendants in the creation stage. I generally make as many pendants as I have clay for (currently this is nearly 2 boxes worth) and bake after stabbing, molding and sculpting each into a satisfactory shape.

Right now they all look like malformed pieces of flesh, that's the awesomely organic super sculpy shade of pink, but soon I'll pack up all the random bits and lay out the painting supplies and bleed life into them.


I have my inventory sitting out within eyeshot so I can make sure to make replacements of old designs or stretch the heartworks to new territories.


The last step is to affix all the pieces that could possibly come loose then to paint them with a gloss coat. I'm still experimenting with glosses that do what I want, but right now I have a pretty strong favorite that leaves an amazing shine to it all.

So, there's the mess and all that makes up my official play-area, my studio. Since I work in so many mediums I have to keep it pretty flexible to work in. And the small amount of space I have keeps things looking pretty random. I'll prolly post the next stage of creation with the heartworks, but I have sketching to get onto!