Well, it's been cleaned so if you still think it's cluttered you should have been here yesterday.
I managed to get back into a partially carved block of cherry I left unfinished last month that will be next in my "shapes and postures" series of figurative prints.
I do most of the work at my desk and all the ancillary horizontal surfaces. Two little tables, a couple of stools and a bench all gradually accumulate notebooks,sketchbooks,newsprint,rolls of paper, coffee mugs and cups, etc.
I keep a small tupperware container to the right where the sharpening stones are kept handy and As I sit with the door to my immediate right, the leather belt I nailed to the door jamb is in perfect position for me to lean over and strop vertically my tools as I carve.
I have some small built in shelves where I store the brushes and Ink. I keep the valuable barens and knives mostly in the house and use my tackle box to carry them back and forth when I work outside. I gradually hang up the working proofs from the rafters or the walls as I work so I can keep track of what I'm doing and I always keep a strip of test colors on the wall to carefully record how I got such a muddy brown from such lovely clean pigments.
On the desk you'll notice my neanderthal club that serves as my wooden hammer for helping with my clearing chisels and my upright work platform that I use when I outline with the Toh knife.
Sweet studio space, too bad the bugs think so too. Thanks for the club idea, I tried to buy a proper wooden hammer but balked at the price. Yes, belt for stropping, good addition. :~)
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed seeing these photos of your studio shed. You're very lucky to have such a place. Its a perfect place to be creative :) I also have a blue tool bin very similar to yours. Sometimes I use it to elevate my board when carving detail work. Keep up the great work.
ReplyDeleteBette Wappner
Nice spot for making woodblock prints! Funny, first thing I noticed was how organized it seems. I esp. like your pigments all lined up.
ReplyDeleteI'm envious and wish I had my house-keeping done. Alas, it is going to wait until the herd of oxen are out the door. Nothing more shall halt my progress on that project. Then, house cleaning will be a must-must. Your space is great and the location is not so bad, either... and love that club. ;-)
ReplyDeleteYour studio is wonderfully organized. I love that neaderthal club!
ReplyDeleteI love seeing other artists' work spaces. Yours is so tidy, compact, and functional! It's given me some ideas for the back deck that I'd like to enclose for my woodblock studio here in Maine. I went to school at UCSC lo so many years ago, so your location makes me nostalgic!
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the nice comments.
ReplyDeleteIt is really quite interesting how small a space can be functional and inviting if it is set right and has the right details. Fixing the roof, adding the trim to the shabby windows and just painting the whole thing made all the difference. I have a used fluorescent lighting fixture jammed between the rafters and although not to code an extension cord from the adjacent garage passes through the wall (via PVC pipe) to provide current for the light and the radio/CD player.
Water is just a 5 gallon bucket with a spigot that I dump outside.