a REAL studio

I am sure many of you read THOSE magazines – you know the ones I mean, where you get to look inside an artist’s studio, well most of us know – they tidied up a bit before the photographer came! I do the same if a curator or customer is coming to my studio – but the dirty secret is out thanks to Seth Apter at The Altered Page! Today artists of all stripes, from all over are posting pictures of what their studios look like RIGHT NOW, today as we are working!

So here goes nothing I guess!

I am very lucky – I have a whole floor of my house as a studio, which you would think means the mess would be contained – sadly this is NOT true. So the chaos actually begins outside my office door on the second floor

And continues on up the staircase to the studio

And finally having navigated all that stuff you arrive upstairs in my ACTUAL studio

This is the view from the top of the stairs – you may notice things are precariously balanced across the staircase

The first area you enter is my sewing space, which is tucked into a dormer space

and the one relatively clear space so far – my sewing chair – complete with childhood friends

In the largest open space are my tables and storage areas – lots of shelves and dressers full of paper

and here is my main work table

which look pretty tidy – but that is because most of the mess has been swept off onto the floor to make way for the last book I was binding!

see! And if I swivel around in my chair this is the view

Yep! When I am working I make a lot of mess – this is what creativity looks like for me! Don’t judge me too harshly – it is not a glamorous magazine spread – but wonderful things happen here – like this guest book I recently finished for an upcoming wedding.

just learned this french stitch – so pretty!