Holidays are for Art

For making art, that is! I was off almost all of last week and had quite a productive time, which is great considering how much work I have yet to do for my upcoming solo show in February! I thought I would take this opportunity to show you where all my creative activity happens... in the underground studio! (aka The Dungeon aka The Torture Chamber, aka a little room my 1927 bungalow's basement!) While this is not my optimum set-up, admittedly, it is the first time I have had a space in my house where I can totally make a mess and not worry about appearances or kitty safety. I hope eventually to expand and finish this room in my basement I call my studio, but for now I make it work.

And no, I don't get scared at night or anything! It's pretty much all good vibes down there. Sorry for the less-than-great photos -- it's rather dark down there. Yes, I need better lighting. NB: You can click on the photos for bigger versions. :)

Here is the door to my studio. It's painted a celadon green with an orange square at the latch -- came that way when we bought the house. Someone had an artistic bent, I think.



Here is where all the magic happens, so to speak: my workbench. I like to make my collages and small paintings here, and I am able to just take all my scraps and throw them all over the place, waiting to be discovered.



Little tschochkes and cigar bands galore:



More stuffs:



You can see that I am rather cramped into a tight space, but I do make the most of it. Plus, I really enjoy being surrounded closely by things that visually stimulate and excite me -- keeps the creative juices flowing. It's a great space for making small work, so the one thing I don't like about working down here is that it's going to be hard to work on my larger canvases. I am still trying to figure out how I am going to manage that. But I'll work something out.

Finally, I will leave you with a few shots of my most recent larger painting (though this one is relatively small at 40" x 18").







I'm also excited about a little cat-as-person painting I made for my friend Teri, but I can't share it here until she gets it up in Montreal. It turned out really well and can't wait to see what she thinks of it! In the meantime, here is the painting I did of my cat, Nico, a few months ago, in a similar style:



Well, that's it for today! I hope you have enjoyed my little tour! Tomorrow I'll be back to sharing another awesome artist with you.