Deep-cleaning the Studio, Part 2
I've been away from the easel for the past several months on a self-directed quilting sabbatical. Now that it's 2016, I'm back into painting mode. I have a big exhibition coming up this fall, so I needed to get my painting space back in order. Read part 1 here.
First up, cleaning the shelf units that hold up my worktables.
A dust-free place for everything.
Index cards, indexed by type AND size. It's who I am.
In transition, taking the workspace apart...
Ready for the nasty dust pics? Here they come.
ULHH.
FLUULLGH.
GUUUUUHH.
But things got all better.
Aaahh.
Ready to work at my workspace.
Let's do some painting!
You may also enjoy: Prescription for an Installation Tools I Use: My Favorite Pens
Deep-cleaning the Studio, Part 1
It's a new year! And I've got a lot to work on in 2016. Time to properly clean the studio. Mostly that means dusting. But I'd also like to reduce the general visual clutter in here. Smooth out the lines, if you will. Quiet environment, quiet mind.
That little sign says "Bad painting is better than no painting at all."
Does anything collect dust quite like books? Oh, yeah, wooden bookshelves do.
For the first time, I've organized my books by size rather than subject. Smoothing out the lines. However subjects are still organized by shelf.
Genre fiction, skewed toward science fiction & fantasy, plus books I loved as a kid. Bingo & Yahtzee are here too.
General fiction, poetry, essays & memoirs, travel, reference. Yes I put Ready Player One in general fiction and not with the sci-fi. Don't judge.
Graphic arts, a brief stop in Southwest American & Spanish Colonial art, on to Modern & Contemporary.
Quiet bookshelf, quiet active mind. Ahh.
Now on to things like ...this.
Prescription for an Installation
Prescription for an Installation
These are the tools I pack when I’m preparing to hang a show of paintings. Click image to embiggen.
1. Packing tape for keeping boxes closed
2. Painter's tape - the blue stuff - easily removable
3. Extra picture-hanging wire just in case (Many of these items are just in case.)
4. Scissors
5. Wire cutters
6. Needle-nose pliers
7. Hammer
8, 9. Screwdriver & bits
10. Ruler
11. Scraper
12. A pen that writes on (just about) any surface
13. Pencil
14. Eraser
15. Extra D-ring hangers
16. Level
17. Screw eyes, small
18. Screw eyes, medium & large
19. Finishing nails, tiny
20. Finishing nails, small & medium
21. L-pins
22. Common nails
23. Scotch tape
24. Picture hanging hardware, various
25. Blade
26, 27. Dots. They go on the backs of pieces to protect the wall and keep the art from sliding around.
28. Microfiber dust cloth
Not Pictured:
- Art, packed up nice & snug
- Business cards, postcards, other promotional materials
- White gloves
- Measuring tape
- Visual inventory: includes thumbnails, titles, sizes, prices, my contact information, and a place for the artist and gallery to sign at install and pickup. I make 2 copies - one for them, one for me.
- Labels for the wall. Sometimes the venue provides these, sometimes not. This time I made them myself.
Let's do this thing.
What's Cooking Inside While it Cooks Outside
Yep, it's what we call the Dog Days. While the world outside bakes to a nice golden brown, I'm in the studio gearing up for Fall 2015 ...and beyond.
Ah, the pleasure of that first underpainting. Sometimes I don't want to cover it up.
CHAOS is on display at Ro2 Art in Dallas through September 12! Don't miss it.
Black-Eye Susan and Shrinking Violet, acrylic on panel, 5x5 inches each (9x9 framed).
Save the Date!
Wyld Flowerz, an exhibition of new abstractions, will open at STASH in downtown Norman, OK on Friday 9 October 2015. More details to follow.
Here's a different view of that underpainting, a few layers later.
I'm pleased to share the news that my relationship with Cerulean Gallery in Amarillo, Texas will continue into 2016. More news as the situation develops.
I've been sewing quite a bit. I've begun volunteering with the Community First! Quilters, a connection made through the Austin chapter of the Modern Quilt Guild. These are my variation on the traditional flying geese quilt block - I call them flying bats. We see those here from time to time.
This will be Tough Cookie. Right now she's only half-baked.
I do get out sometimes, and go places like the Red Room Lounge.
I do make dinner sometimes, like this caprese salad with marinated zucchini.
