Finding Creative Space

One of the things I have a lot of trouble with is finding space to do everything I want to do.

My spare bedroom is dedicated to lampwork, silversmithing and jewelry making. It’s a small room with two large desks, one for lampworking, one for silversmithing, and a smaller desk where I do my beading and wire work, among other things. That pretty much takes up all the space in that room.

In the closet of that room I built shelves where I have everything else stored. A partial list of what I have crammed in there are my painting supplies, watercolor, oils, acrylics, gauche, prismacolors, paint brushes, drawing pads, easels… you get the idea.

I also have drawing pencils, pen & ink rapidograph pens, leather craft tools, altered art supplies, scrapbooking supplies, sculpey clay supplies including the little oven for drying the clay, pine needle basket supplies, and more.

I won’t even tell you what I have in my own bedroom closet, the garage, and the 40 foot Sea Train we bought for storage.

Needless to say, if I ever wanted to paint, or sculpt, I had to first dig through all of that to drag out what I needed and set it up somewhere. The kitchen table was out of the question because I have 3 very nosy cats. And they are thieves to boot!

Most recently, I’ve been itching to do more painting, but the thought of dragging everything out and then having to put it all away again was more than I wanted to go through.

So I decided to clear out a corner in my office (the other spare bedroom) and dedicate it to painting and sculpey stuff. This way I can paint or sculpt whenever I feel like it, because everything is right there, and I can keep the door shut to keep the cats out.

So here is my little art corner.

Yesterday, I actually used my little corner for the first time and doodled some little ACEO’s. (Art Cards, Editions & Originals)

If you don’t know what an ACEO is, it is a miniature artwork that measures 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 inches. The same size as a baseball trading card, and they fit in the plastic sleeves that are made for the baseball trading cards.

I love ACEO’s and collect them when I can, and I also love making them. Here are the two I made yesterday. Just a couple of quickies, but I had fun doing them.

Here are a couple of ACEO’s I’ve painted in the past.

I would like to sit down and be able to paint at least one ACEO a day. Wouldn’t that be nice? That’s going to be a new goal of mine.

Debra Jennings is a glass bead maker and silversmith, who blogs from her studio in Squaw Valley, CA. about everything from critters, to gardening, to art. Learn more about her by reading her personal blog and see more of her work on her web site.