Small Art Studio Tips
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A little backstory…
A couple of weeks ago, I was feeling burned out. From a hefty schedule at work, to cramming in my art practice in the mornings, to very full weekends with very little downtime, I felt completely empty. I needed something to give.
As I’m sure you are well aware, some things just can’t be moved around. Sometimes, life is just what it is and you have to find creative ways of dealing with the current stressors until they can be altered or shifted.
Since I couldn’t change my work or weekend schedule, I needed to find a way of making my art practice a joy instead of adding to the burden.
I look forward to mornings in my studio. A few brief hours each week when I can focus my entire attention on something creative. But even my art practice was feeling cramped.
At the beginning of the year, I had set some ambitious art career goals. Within the first month of working to meet these new goals, my studio was shrinking; I was tripping over paintings drying on the floor, trying to find room in a work area that was packed to the gills with supplies, and there was zero room to grow. I had done everything that I could do in that space.
My goals for the new year had, in one month, superseded my little studio’s capacity and a change was in order.
Growing out of my studio was a difficulty I hadn’t foreseen when I decided to step up production and grow. What had been my favorite room in the house—a cozy, creative space I had designed with love—was quickly suffocating me with supplies and a vision that I could no longer cram anything more into. What to do?
Our current home is small. Every home we have lived in prior to our move to Redlands, CA was bigger in every way. We downsized a lot to fit. But we love the city we live in and have always had plans to upgrade, but the last few years that goal was thwarted by a few majors circumstances out of our control. We’re happy. We’ve made the best of it, but a larger studio space seemed impossible.
Because I couldn’t fathom how to fix the issue, I decided just to sit on it until I knew what I needed to do.
I pray and meditate every day and rely on my intuition in my art, as well as in my life, to guide me to the right decisions. To figure out this dilemma, I integrated these new needs into my prayer and meditation routine to see if I could feel my way forward.
Over the course of a week, I had this consistent impression that I should swap our guest room and my studio, and that this move would be the answer I was looking for and would lift some of the burden, while simultaneously helping me reach this years art goals.
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Although the answer was clear, it seemed like a lot of work without much of a pay off, because our guest room and my studio aren’t all that different in square footage.
Despite my hesitation, the impression persisted. However, instead of jumping in and moving everything willy nilly, I decided to do what my Mom had taught me to do when I was young and wanted to move things around in my bedroom, measure everything out, create a grid on paper, and move the furniture around there first to see if it will work, before making a decision. So, that’s what I did.
Rearranging furniture
For several days, I moved little pieces of flat furniture squares and rectangles on a piece of graph paper in the shape of the guest room I had carefully measured. I’m not sure how many times I rearranged those pieces of paper furniture around that graph paper room. A lot!
In the evenings, I would sit on the couch with my husband and while we watches our favorite shows, I’d move around my little shapes.
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While I rearranged the furniture, I researched options for a new desk, new easels, and other supplies that might help mitigate the smallness of the space.
Finally, after days of working it over on paper and in my mind, and with some prayer and meditation, I felt that moving my studio and making a few changes to the furniture would be the best option.
Since our house is small, I couldn’t just move everything into the living room or some other space in the house. I would have to strategically plan how to move each piece of furniture, vacuuming and cleaning each space as I went.
First, I swapped out the closets. That took less time than anticipated, so that was encouraging.
Next, I used furniture sliders to move dressers, bookcases, and desks. With each move, I played a sort of Klotski game with the furniture. Every time I moved a new piece of furniture into my new studio space, I would analyze how it looked and if I was placing it in the right position. The graph paper room idea had worked, and everything fell into place.
My husband was so supportive and helped with the piano and the double bed move and adjusting one of the bookshelves we had built years earlier, but everything else I moved with the flow of space. It was a strange, but delightful experience.
Slowly, over about a week, the swap took shape. Occasionally, I would have some inspiration about what to do next and what I would need to store both my drying and ready for sale art, so it was no longer on the floor or standing upright and warping.
Adding and subtracting
In the beginning of the move, I thought I would have to spend quite a bit of money to organize my new studio space effectively. But, surprisingly, instead of buying a bunch of new pieces, my research and rearranging made it clear that I only needed a few key items to change my studio from disorganized to efficient.
I reduced down one of my bookcases to half its size, using the added shelves for laying my completed art flat, and put my large easel into storage, and in the end, I only purchased a few much needed items (links to the items at the end of this post):
a new art desk—48” x 24” (Amazon, $97), I keep this on sliders so it glides around the room for better light and camera angles
an art drying rack I could hang on the wall—approx. 12” x 16” (Amazon, $40), this has been a lifesaver!
a painter’s drop cloth—6’ x 9’ (Harbor Freight, $10), to lay under the new wall easel space to protect the carpet
At some point, I will need to spend a little to construct a simple wall easel, but that should be $25 or less for the lumber and hooks. I also have plans to buy a couple of wall picture shelves for framed art I intend to sell ($35, IKEA)
In total, I have a beautiful, new studio space for around $200, and surprisingly, because of the research and choices I made, I have a lot more room than I thought I would.
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Wrap up
It’s easy to feel like there are zero options when you’re struggling to find novel ones for problems that have been around for a while. It’s even easier to stay stuck and just keep tripping over your art and life’s challenges instead of being proactive when your options aren’t ideal.
When your studio needs a refresh so that you can meet your important art goals, even when you’re overwhelmed or bogged down, it is so important to keep your head above the water by:
listening to and following your intuition
taking a leap of faith, after you’ve studied it out in your mind and heart and feel what is right for you
making plans and doing the research so that you get what you want in the end
get rid of what is no longer serving you and find simple solutions that fill the voids better than what you previously had or were doing
I love my new studio space!
It’s not a new house or a new studio downtown. Instead, it is simply that next step I needed to expand with my goals a little more.
I’m hopeful that there will come a day when I will outgrow this space because I’ve met my professional art goals and I’ll need to make another change.
Shifting space means you’re doing something right.
Apart from having a fresh, more organized and efficient space, I feel better. The process and the results have lifted my spirits and breathed new life into my art practice.
In everything, follow your intuition.
Links:
Images:
[Image 1] New studio space, photograph by Thalia Black
[Image 2] Old guest room
[Image 3] Graph paper studio with paper furniture
[Image 4] Graph paper wall easel
[Image 5] Shortened bookshelf with added shelves for artwork to lay flat
[Image 6] New desk with art supplies, camera mounts, and art journals
When your studio needs a refresh so that you can meet your important art goals, do this.