Making space for art

I love Hanna's excitement over her new art space. Everyone would love to have a state-of-the-art studio, but hardly anyone can have everything they want. Hanna's mother pointed out to her that a corner of her bedroom that had bookcase in it might make a good place for her to set up her arts and crafts studio. It worked! Now she has all her "toys" (read "tools") in one place, doesn't have to put them away, can walk in and create when she feels like it (well, maybe not when her dear husband is sleeping), and she is ecstatic. I know how she feels, having started out on the kitchen table. I had to put everything away at meal times. The next step was a corner of the master bedroom. Nice to be able to leave things out and ready to use. But eventually everything piled up and there was just a narrow path from the door to the bed, lined by matted and framed watercolors. We enclosed our porch to make a sitting room/studio for me, which was fantastic. But I still had to do my framing in the basement and eventually had to set up my computer in a bedroom so I could write my books. In 1983 I moved into my present studio, a renovated recreation room with optimal lighting, an area for painting, tables for framing and a computer and business space. Here's how it looks: my studio. While you're looking at studios, check out other artists' studios. (Not all links here are current.) It doesn't matter how fancy your studio is, just how it makes you feel to work there. It's important to have a place to call your own.