"Inside the Painters Studio" 2nd installment

2. How long have you been in this studio? Did you have a plan for the layout of your studio or did it develop organically? Has the studio location influenced your work?

I have been in my current studio for going on 10 years.  In the beginning it was my weekend/ "summer break" studio while I finished graduate school. During academic year 03-04 I spent the bulk of my time in my studio in Cincinnati.  Since 04, it has been my primary and only studio for most of that time although currently I have some work space at the University of Kentucky that I share with artist/lecturer Jim Wade.

Primary and secondary painting wall in my current studio.

My studio layout has changed a bit from time to time.  I would definitely say the layout was organic as I use a room connected to my house as well as a two car garage that were both built (and not by me) for other uses.  I have never needed a specific or particularly nice space.  I started out in a two tiny room apt where if I was working on a painting larger than three feet in width it touched both the wall and the edge of my bed.  It was like painting in a closet.

I have two areas where I work.  The main painting area was, I think, a patio that someone closed in at some point to make a bedroom or the ever undefinable "extra room." Image above.  I have two walls that I work on and an easel that will hold a painting up to about 60" wide without needing to move it, but a painting that large blocks the door to the outside from being opened.  I can work relatively large on my primary painting wall but getting back to see the painting requires going outside, tilting your head to the left and leaning some.  I have good light in the room with a mostly all glass door, a window, a bank of track lighting and a clamp light with a 105W 5000K full spectrum bulb.  All and all, pretty functional.

Easel and chair.

 Entry into the larger workshop.
The second work area, is my general workshop, wood shop, stretcher, sculpture, planning and some painting - area.  This is essentially a longer than usual two car garage that you couldn't get a car into if you cleared an afternoon in a single minded attempt.  Just on the other side of the garage door is where my table saw lives.  My philosophy to studio functionality has always been modular and whenever possible, on casters.  My table saw is even on casters.  I have a 4 x 8 foot work table that I build most everything on and a drawing table where I keep my bug collection.

 Workshop table, bug collection barely visible in the back to the right.
My "wood shop" is separated by sheets of overlapping clear plastic hung by grommets that I can open when I am cutting to keep dust out the the rest of the studio.  I tend to be a bit of a pack rat so, I have to be constantly vigilant to cut down on clutter as often as possible.  I try to sort my painting racks a couple times a year.


I think the studio location has influenced my work some.  I find that a studio connected to my house has both pros and cons.  The pro is that I can go out and just get started.  I don't need to commute and I can work for small chunks of time here and there even when I don't have an entire day to commit to the studio.  The cons are obviously the regular household demands that constantly seek my time.  As a great for instance, this post is late.  It is late because the small greenhouse that we have was picked up in the wind last week and turned into a twisted pile of aluminum that was then carried into my studio for reconstruction.  I had to rebuild the greenhouse first in order to remove it from the studio in order to get some photographs taken.  A studio away from the house would likely not be the momentary holding cell for a broken greenhouse.

Stay tuned for a link to Peggy's response here as well as Joe Molinaro may be joining our little group!

Next week: Valentines Day Post
Please describe a typical day, being as specific as possible. For example: what time
do you get up? when do you come to the studio? Do you have specific clothing you
change into? Do you listen to music, radio, TV when you work? If so what, and does
it affect your work? DUE: FEB 14TH