Work in Progress, Plus a Workspace Make Over

How was your 4th of July holiday? Hope it went well.

I took a mini vacation to San Diego recently and came back super inspired, and had a great 4th of July weekend. I don't want to bore you so I'll share some recent work in progress first.

Here are some images  I have been working on: Cowboy, Knight, aliens, and lots of dragons!

What a weird combination right?

My client kept asking for Dragons and I am glad he loved them

Here is the jumbo dragon. I can't wait to ink this one tomorrow and share my progress.

The last two weeks I have been working on a personal, creative but non-art project: a bedroom/workspace makeover!!! Since I am going to spend the rest of this year working on a new body of work I figured it was time for a positive change in my working environment. I took advantage the long weekend to repaint my room which is also my office/drawing studio. (I'll explain the painting part soon). It was long overdue for a new paint job, (don't tell anyone I told you) but the previous paint job was an ugly pepto-bismol pink that made the artificial lighting in there an ugly orange - I hated it! At the time, in my then-19/20-year old mind, I thought it was a good color choice because it matched my favorite magenta/pink pallete and all my punk rock inspired art.

Here are some visuals so you get a better idea:

Portrait of a Doll. 2008. Acrylic

Strength Thru Pain. 2007 (Lyrics by Monster Squad). Acrylic on Wood

This 24 x 48" Acrylic painting is going to be reincarnated into something else

Unfortunately, when I picked pink I didn't realize how bad the lighting would be for painting! Needless to say, it was very hard to actually paint in there because I could never get a sense of the true colors. Here is what I mean by really bad lighting:

This is what white paper looks like that space -  orange!

I would end up painting on the kitchen table instead because there was better natural lighting and I could stretch out.

In the last year I have spent a lot of my time working in my room on digital work, but now I want to use it more as a painting studio, not just a home office. I though long and hard about some good colors for an ideal workspace and with the inspiration from my San Diego trip, I decided I wanted a beach themed room. So light blue and white it is! The ceiling and wall next to the window I painted white, and the three remaining walls are a light blue.

The funnest part was picking out the decor and organizing the art stuff.

The "Studio" corner with supplies and books. That folding table next to the shelf is the best investment ever! I use it for everything: desk, work, vending/events and occasionally as a regular table for food. It's easy to fold & easy to store.

Here is the designated "Paintings Corner" where I stack all my finished paintings. I love the colors together and can't wait to add more to this collection.

I found the perfect spot for this wood sign that I got on vaction, because when your near paintings it's Always Happy Hour.

I also found a good spot where I will be able to use this box easel I bought myself as a gift late last year...

Glad that this awesome tiki mask now fits perfectly in the room. This was a gift from my boyfriend. He bought it for me when we were in San Diego last month. I've always wanted one and love it so much!

 

 

 

Don't you just love it? My mom does too!

I told myself that I would only buy 2 last things before ending this project: a life saver ring to hang on the wall and some star fish to add to the fishing net accents on the doors. I went to Hobby Lobby and was not impressed with the life saver rings they had then I saw this ship steering wheel and it was love at first sight! (Plus it was also on sale and fit my budget!) I also found the starfish and with the help of some hot glue accomplished my last touches. I now have my dream studio/bedroom!

This wood steering wheel measures 17" in diameter, great size

I improved this old door by adding fishing net with sea shells & star fish

Now I'll leave you with this cool link of 40 Inspiring Workspaces of the Famously Creative. Thanks for reading and see you later this week with some dragons!