The Paint Room

I've been meaning to share pictures for months, but I've been waiting for the perfect moment - the clean spaces, the organized tables and desks and the tidy shelves.  I don't think that's ever going to happen.  So here's a peak into my room and what it looks like on most days.

View from the door:

Do you know who Dr Bob is?  He's a wonderful folk artist from New Orleans (one of my favorite places) and he makes all sorts of stuff, but I think his most well-known works are his "Be Nice or Leave" signs.  I simply heart these things but Dr. Bob has become quite popular, and well, I just couldn't afford a sign at the time that I wanted one.  So, I borrowed the idea and made my own.  I actually made this 3-4 years ago, but it didn't sit well with me in my previous space for some reason, but when I moved my paint room upstairs, I thought it was perfect - so there it is - the mantra for the room.  On the wall just to the right of the bookshelf are a few things including the first ATC's that I received in a swap, some Georgia O'Keefe postcards from a trip to New Mexico from about 7 years ago and a watch/locket that belonged to my grandmother.

Emily's space (this I do try to keep a bit cleaner, but she's had a LOT of fun with stickers lately):

The bulletin board over her desk holds all of her artwork and includes things that she's made at home and at school.  She has her flamingo lamp, which she loves to turn on so she can "be like Mommy."  We keep stacks of coloring books in her desk cubby.  Depending on the day, or week, she'll have stickers, crayons or pipe cleaners (aka caterpillar legs) laying around her desk, but her staples are glue and scissors.  The kid loves glue, as evidenced by the 2 bottles of it on her desk.  She's pretty responsible with it, so I just let her at it and try not to interfere with her creative process.  She also loves her little scissors and is starting to be able to cut things out, rather than just cut little slits in paper. 

The picture to the left of the window is something Felicia did when she was little.  She made me a folder of her artwork for a birthday present, and I had not seen it in years.  I found it unpacking from our move back from New York and I fell in love with the book all over again.  This one is called "crab apple" and I loved it so much that I wanted to hang it, so I did.

The bottles in the window are just a few remaining members of the original bottleheads.  I churned out probably 300-400 bottles about 10-12 years ago that were heads, bodies and a few non-human forms.  I did a few craft shows and had an online store for a bit but I eventually closed the shop and stop making them.  My santas were probably the most popular.  I still have one downstairs that Emily recently discovered.

And here's a shot from standing in the corner by Em's desk:

The other side of the room stays fairly organized.  I found the library card catalog in upstate New York about 2 years ago.  I was so excited because I have wanted one for years!  The price was awesome, but the only downside to the whole experience was that we found it while driving a fairly small rental car.  But, we snatched it up, and rode all the way home with it stuffed in every possible part of the car. It's home to all sorts of bits and pieces including finger paints, stamp pads, pipe cleaners, glue, strings and sewing materials, markers, scissors, etc.  Each drawer has hand stamped labels naming the contents, but I have a re-vamp of that on my to do list.  Em is big enough now where she has her own drawers, and overall, she knows which ones are hers, but there are some new things that need to be put away, so I'm thinking of just a simple color system where the purple labels will be Em and mine will be blue or whatever color I land on.

The three pictures hanging up between the card catalog and ikea storage are the first three things I did in college that brought me back to painting.  I will never forget that night.  It was me, a radio and some left over cardboard in my tiny (10x10) dorm room and I sat on the floor and held a paint brush for the first time in years and discovered just how much I loved, missed, enjoyed it.  I love those paintings not so much for what they look like, but what they symbolize to me.  If I am buried when I die, I want these to be tacked inside my coffin to keep me company.  To the left of the ikea cabinet is more of my work.  I don't have any close-ups, but perhaps that is something else I can put on the to do list.

This is typically what the table looks like, especially the area where I sit.  If you look closely, you'll see my morning coffee amidst all of the fray.  The bench and the second table are the areas that need to be cleaned up, but regardless of the mess - this is my space and I love it.  <3