The Importance of Having your Own Space

“Art isn’t everything, it’s just about everything.”  Gertrude Stein

I am really excited about our studio open house being held next weekend. I am in a “cottage” that is subdivided into three studio spaces. As a collective group we decided to open our studios to the public for an open house. I am looking forward to showing off my compact studio and having my watercolors  for sale.

I am going into my second year of having a studio space and it has been the best decision I have ever made. I have found that having my own studio is important to my creative balance.

Having my own studio makes a big difference in the way I think and feel. I need time and space for coming up with original ideas, or solutions to problems. Having my studio allows for deeper relaxation and greater concentration, there are few interruptions or distractions. I found that I was interruptible when I was working in my kitchen, but not when I am in the studio. No doorbell, TV, or phone and that makes a big difference.

As a artist it is hard to switch gears. Having a separate space for painting reinforces the idea of switching from my home life to my painting life. I have found that the studio puts some distance between the two. It takes time to find the focus needed when I first sit down to create and maybe even more time to mentally put it away when I am ready to be done for the day.

The studio also has some practical “pluses.” It gives me an instant sense of responsibility of being a painter, it makes it official that I am committed to painting. My painting space includes my resources, my materials, my other paintings and personal objects that fuel my sense that it is time to create. Lastly, it helps to keep the art clutter in one place and I do not have to set up each time I work and I can just leave what I am doing and then come back and continue where I stopped.

I feel that it is important to have a dedicated space to cultivate one’s creativity and fuel imagination. I am inspired in my studio. It is a gift to find that perfect place to create in and I am looking forward to opening my studio and sharing this side of my life.

Now, time to get ready for the opening!