My new North Carolina Art Studio

I'm happy to say that my new art studio is done. We were able to spend all day yesterday working on getting it set up because of hurricane Florence. We are on the fringes of it and did not get any bad weather yesterday but because they were telling everyone to stay home we did.  That gave us a whole day to work on the studio. We are getting some rain today so will stay home again and I will start a new painting.  It is over 3 months since I held a paintbrush in my hand. 

Here are photos of my studio.

The studio is located on the second level in the open loft area.  This is the largest work space I have ever had.  The size of the room is 17' X 17' which is even bigger than the basement studio I had in MI.  Roger installed peg board on one wall.  I set up my painting area by that wall.  My prep table and framing table are in the middle of the room.  I have two places that I put my grid walls to hang new paintings.  You can see one set of grids in the above photo with a few of the paintings I brought with me.  The photo below shows the other set of grids with a few more paintings but a big empty area waiting for my new work.

The room is big enough for me to have a sewing corner.

This is a table with the small art I did before we left Michigan.  I was thinking ahead to the Holiday Show when I decided to concentrate on working on small paintings.  I had no idea at that time that I would  be leaving MI and moving to NC in July!

I don't think I mentioned in my last post that I joined the Burlington Artist League.  They have a gallery in the Holly Hills Mall.  I plan to show my work there and will be entering their Annual Regional Fine Arts Competition.  I will be attending a meeting next Thursday.  I am happy to be able to meet other artists and to get information on opportunities to show art.

The next photo is a close up of my painting area.  In the past I have had Roger build me long narrow shelves for my paint bottles.  They always looked nice but I usually removed the bottles and set them on my painting table when I was working on a project.  I decide to try something different this time.  I set all the bottles on a desk grouped according to color.  I can look at the color spot on the top of the bottle to pick out what I want.  If this doesn't work I will then have new shelves built.  I have always liked having a U shaped painting area.  I work on a low table propping my canvas on my knee.  I have everything I need handy and can swivel my chair around to get what ever I need.  I think I am going to like working here.  I got a new colorful lamp that I can adjust to give me lots of light.

The one negative to this shop is that I have no sink in the room itself but there is a bathroom close by that will be my source of water. 

Here is my "Brag Board" and my Art Studio letters which I proudly display.

And.... here am I ready to start painting in my new studio. 

I have been thinking of what subject matter to paint and realized that everything old is new again!  No one here has seen my colorful animals or for that matter anything I have painted before so I will dig out the old patterns and do new versions of things I have done in the past before I move on to new subjects.  I'll post photos of my "NEW-OLD" as soon as I get paintings completed.

Home remodel update and hurricane information.

We have been in NC for two months.  If you have watching the news you know we are in the path of Hurricane Florence.  We are close to 200 miles from the coast and have no mandatory evacuation orders so we are going to ride it out.

18 years ago our daughter Kim started college in Myrtle Beach, SC.  Less than a month after she got there Hurricane Hugo hit that area.  We are beginning to wonder if we are hurricane magnets!  Joking aside, we have done everything they recommend to be prepared for long power outages. The hurricane should hit land later Thursday or Friday.  We should feel the effects shortly after that. I'll keep everyone updated as long as we have power.

We have finished all the wall painting in the main downstairs area of our townhouse.  Everything is unpacked and we have a new stove and refrigerator and microwave.  There are still more projects that we want to do like new counter tops and installing tile on the kitchen floor but we will do those sometime in the future.  We want to get our work shops set up first.  Here are some photos of the freshly painted great room area and our office.

This is the view standing by the front door looking into the entry hall.

This is the great room which includes the living room, dining room and kitchen.  The two arched doorways lead to the office.

This is the office.  The title of the painting is "Stormy Sky" which seems appropriate for a hurricane heading our way.

This is the dining area with the kitchen to the right.

Here is another view of the kitchen and the stairway leading upstairs to the loft and guest room.  You also can see the front hall and the angled wall which leads to the hall with the garage door, powder room and laundry room. 

As you look at each room you will see paintings that have moved with us from Tucson to MI and now here to NC.  In fact I have one that I did when we lived in Ohio over 50 years ago. Here is a photo of that painting which has hung in a prominent place in each one of our homes.

Here are our new appliances and the new back splash.  Roger did all the work. 

Roger is installing a pegboard wall in my loft studio.  It should be finished this afternoon.  I will start working on setting up my painting area as soon as he is done.  It should not take me long to do.  I will be able to start to work on art soon.  I have an incentive because I discovered the Burlington Artist League Gallery in the Holly Hill Mall.  I have joined the league and hope to start showing art in the gallery soon. 

My next post should be photos of my new studio and new art that I have created!