Reclaiming the Domain

Ever since I came back from Paris, and began to play at painting, I have always had the "Vanishing Studio."

There is never any place in the house for me to have a room of my own, where somebody is not going to get in and mess with stuff. Maybe I am being an idiot, but sometimes, I just wish that I had my own seperate space for my own stuff where I would not have to worry about people coming in and taking it. For once I would like to put a pair of scissors

or a sharpie in one place and have it be there the next time I went to look for it.

So, because of familial needs, my "studio/workspace" has had many miraculous appearances throught out the house.

It was in my bedroom (at the house in the woods)for one winter in 1998.

After which time I moved it to the pantry in the kitchen of the house in the woods.

After that I had no workspace again until the summer 2001 when I set up a locking cubicle in the garage. During the winter there was no studio, so as to make way for the car in the garage, but the same cubicle miraculously resurrected itself in the same location the next summer in 2002. It eventually moved into the laundry room, on top of the washer and dryer for the winter of 2002, (this location was highly un-inspiring and I got practically nothing done.)

and then disappeared completely until Spring 2004, when I absconded with the living room.

I succeeded in this by mentally drawing a distinction in the minds of the family.



"This room is clean," I said.

"This room has my stuff where I work," I said.

"You people have all the other rooms of the house, but this space is sacred and holy," I said.

And then I gave them the 3 Commandments:



-Thou shalt not take or place anything within the sanctum that was not already in residence, neither shall you remove any object therein.



-Thou shalt not partake of thy meal times within the sanctum, for in the day that ye do so, ye shall surely reap an eternal reward.



-Thou shalt not defile the sanctum with thine undergarments, whether they be for the feet of thee or thy private realms beneath, for they are steeped in vileness and are an abomination unto me.



So, it seems that, barring the recent holiday needs, they have managed to keep this area holy.

Of course the rest of the house looks like The Abyss vomited up it's contents, but hey, that is their problem now.



Having said all of the above...

I have finally managed to reclaim my workspace after all of the Christmas pine needles and gift stowage.



And I had a major find down at a local thrift shop here in town. Check out the nutty coffee table.

It was part of another item, and the main piece had broken. They had this left over piece outside and they couldn't figure out what to use it for. LOL.

Blake was looking at some t-shirts that were outside under the covered porch and he comes into the store and goes,

"Hey mom, come and look at this weird thing."

I'm like, "oooooo! I see a coffee table there!"

But that is kinda my M.O.

Taking things and using them in ways that they were never designed to be used.

What is that?

Like, Garbage art or something?



I have done it with other garage sale finds/cast-offs too.

In my studio there is a big ol'wall hanging (which I am not finished with because it irritates me. There is too much white in it still), which was crafted solely out of garage sale finds and seconds. The only thing I think I paid retail for, was the hardware I used to hang it. Anyway, I say that it irritates me, and this is often my reason for hanging (my own) art on the walls. I can't often tell if it's finished, until I have to deal with it everyday. A piece will annoy me for months sometimes before I realise what needs to hapen to it next, or what should never been attempted to begin with - in which case I usually reprime the canvas and paint something completely different.

I have stack of these re-do's in the corner. A lady came over yesterday and wanted to buy one!

LOL! Just goes to show, ya never can tell with some people! Anyway. I will probably give it to her, unless I become really desperate for a painting surface real soon.