My workspace is divided up into zones – this isn’t as organised as it sounds, it’s just evolved that way over the years, though I may have been unwittingly influenced by kitchen design here. I’ve also spent many a happy and productive hour in various sheds and workshops and probably developed an appreciation of things being in their place as a result.
- Think space
- Make space
- Materials storage space
- Work in progress space
- Finished work storage space
- Admin and reference space
The space I would love to have but can’t fit in would be a ‘sit in a comfy chair and relax’ space – I have to go down to the 3rd floor of Art’s Complex for that, but that’s too far away from my drawing board!
Think space
My drawing board could be considered a family heirloom now, having been made by my dad as a 16th birthday present. It’s on its second mdf top and the metal frame has had a few coats of paint. The chair was a Barnardo’s bargain. You’ll see my mind-map on the wall where I’ve collected some of the images and ideas that guide my work – I’ll write more on this in a future post as I’m a big fan of mind-maps, if you’re curious have a look at Tony Buzan‘s site.
There’s usually a laptop here too and some oatcake crumbs.
Make space
This view shows my main workspace, complete with dusty hand towel.
My talented husband made this shelf and fitted it to the hopelessly soft plasterboard walls – this enables me to have three boards alongside each other, plus I have my giant plywood board for large drawings which I can slide along the floor. I use foam pipe lagging to cushion the top edge of the boards.
Materials storage space
Most of my drawing materials are stored in these metal drawers which help to keep the charcoal dust off.
They are stuffed full of things which I use all the time, things which I thought would be useful one day, but turned out not to be, and things which I couldn’t help but buy when in the art shop but didn’t really need at all – I can easily walk past a shoe shop but am powerless to resist the pull of an art store. I buy a lot online these days mainly from Great Art and Jacksons Art.
I also have my Work in progress space and Finished work storage space which you’ll find in the previous post.
A peek inside artist’s studios facebook page has all the studio pictures you could possibly wish for. It’s really interesting to see the variety of workspaces artists carve out for themselves and how different they all are, a bit like different species of birds building their own individual style of nest. I love my nest.