I have a live/work studio that took forever to unpack, organize, and make perfectly functional.  Now that it’s nearly done, all it took was the first rainy day (keeps me inside, yo!) and I sat down and had a painting session.  It was with watercolors and gouache and ink and stuff, not oils (still need to buy a new piece of glass for my palette as I ditched all my old ones).  I was actually about out the door yesterday to go to Home Depot, to get the glass and some other items, and I took one look at the rain, and was like, “eh, I’ll stay in”.  Yea, that’s how it went down.  It was actually really nice.  The rain pitter pattering outside, the cars racing by sounding like they’re going to crash into my front window, Iron & Wine playing, hot cup of tea, Lily sitting maybe 6 feet away, wondering why the heck this took so long, my hand acting like I never skipped a beat, paper flowing, paint swishing around, white gouache about gone, cutting open, peeling apart the aluminum casing, trying to pry out the last of it.  I didn’t want to stop honestly, but by 10 p.m. I had to start my news job.  It was nice…felt really, really normal.  Felt like me.

Every free day around here seems like one project after another.  One day, everything will be set up, and then it will be time to move again…..ha!  Hopefully not.  At least I have my little helper….

I have to get REALLY creative with storage, so this ordinary table (holds my palette) I decided to add shelving and casters, so I flipped it upside down, screwed the sheathing board to create a base (I had the board laying around, had to cut to fit with a jigsaw and thought I’d lose my foot the whole time) then screwed the casters (IKEA), flipped it over and added a shelf half way up.  The middle shelf part I am not going to screw down, that way each plank is removable, which seems to open up more possibilities.  That negative space under a table is like prime real estate around here, so every little square inch of space needs to be well-thought.

I got all these nifty little scraps of wood from my brother’s cabinet making shop, like cherry and other hardwoods, so I thought I’d glue some pieces together to make a cool shelf.  Why do I like shelves so much?  What is it with me and shelves?

Oh and you can see my new table!  Well it is really a hollow door from Lowe’s.  This idea I owe to my dad.  He used doors as workbenches and well it was a stinking great idea!  Pricing out table tops at Ikea and such, per square inch, a door is the way to go.  Home Depot only had the composite white door, and I really wanted wood/luan, and low and behold Lowe’s had it.  After a couple sprays with water sealant spray, it’s ready for crafty time.  Nice!

I like to document my paintings as I go to see the progress and evolution but also to look back and see if an earlier incarnation of the work was better and then revise its present state to reflect that earlier specialness.  But alas, it’s just kinda neat to see it.  So this painting is going to be in my Thesis show, and I don’t think it’s finished yet, so it’s only a little bit of a spoiler.  I have many parts to work on, and if I totally screw something up and overpaint, I have these earlier points of reference. It’s really nice to finally write a blog post!

Well I am knee-deep in painting and writing and all things that have to do with graduating in less than four months with my MFA!  The actual show will be in April and I am busy painting as the due date is fast approaching.  But here is some of my in-progress work.  My goal of sorts is to work and work and work and then edit what makes it into the show later.  I will wait and see who plays good together.  I work better that way.

Oh, and I’m really excited for this Sunday, which is the First Sunday event in downtown Riverside where I’ll be at the Sweeney Art Gallery leading the Totes Yo! workshop where we will be stamping and screening cool little stamps and designs onto canvas tote bags.  I’m bringing some blank t-shirts just because I can’t resist.  If you’re in the area though, it’s free for all ages!  Doesn’t get any better than that.  One tote bag per person.