New Studio Reveal (Patreon)

Hi everyone,

I have made paintings in tiny corners of the house. I've worked on the dining table where I had to clean my stuff off every day so we could eat, I've worked in the garage on a table, I've worked on the kitchen bench and I've worked in a spare bedroom. To finally have somewhere to spread out and work and store all my art supplies in the one place is an amazing feeling. This is my new studio. It's been a dream of mine for 22 years so you can imagine how exciting it is to finally be using it.

We worked on it on weekends and it took us almost a year to get it finished. We poured the slab in August 2021 and I moved in the week after my birthday in June this year.

Working in the studio has surpassed my expectations. I feel like I'm getting control of the work/life ratio concept. Before, when I worked in the house, everything to do with my work was always around me and I found it difficult to switch off. Rather than sit and read a book or watch television at night there was always work that I could do and the distraction never went away.

Now, at the end of the day, I lock the studio up, go inside and I am able to relax because there is nothing in the house to do with my work. All my art supplies are in the studio. All my art books and my computer are out there too. It has really helped to have that separation and now I feel like I'm more productive because I can have a bit of down time every evening.

Our son Carl is here this week working with me. We filmed a month's worth of YouTube videos on Monday in the studio. I was able to film all the face to camera parts with him and now he's working in the house editing all the videos for YouTube for me which allows me to get on with voicing over the footage of all of those paintings I showed you in my post earlier this week. It's quiet in the studio. I'm not being disturbed by other people in the house and I can get on with it.

We cleaned the studio for the video reveal so that it would look its best but it doesn't show you what it looks like when I'm actually working in it. So I took some photos this morning to share with you. I've got a painting of two Galahs on the go at the moment that I'm not filming. I find the voicing over part of editing to be the hardest part of what I do. It takes a long time and it's tedious so I take breaks every hour or so and I do a bit of painting. I call it my decompression painting 😅.

Just wanted to share with you. Oh......before I forget......the blinds are in now. I'm glad because it was way too bright. I couldn't film or paint because the light kept changing. It's much better now that I can control it.

Louise

💕