Some of the Booty

I had a great time at the Art of the Carolina's trade show and got some really fantastic deals on art supplies. But, oddly enough, this storage unit is probably my favorite purchase.

I've been wanting some kind of storage with drawers to hold all those tubes of paint, the tons of both pastel and colored pencils and all those other supplies that you want close at hand but off your work surface.

This unit is perfect - it has casters which I removed so it would fit under my monster work table and holds more art supplies than I have at the moment! lol The drawers aren't large enough to hold paper and other supports but I have another storage unit for that.

So, I have it tucked up under the "Monster" and everything is right at hand just as I wanted it to be!

We have been unusually busy this past weekend and not at home so I haven't gotten to use any of the art stuff I bought. Oh, wait, I did buy a new watercolor brush and played with it a bit this morning but just haven't had the time to get serious with the pan pastels that I got in last week or the UART paper or Ampersand panels that I bought at the show. I wish I'd had triple the amount of money that I spent as there were so many bargains there - cheaper than ordering online without the shipping costs! Of course they added our state tax but it all still ended up being very reasonable compared to what I usually have to pay.

My husband agreed that I got some real bargains but also commented that the prices just pointed out that there must be a huge mark-up on art supplies. Well, I figure that we rarely go out to dinner, we don't go to movies or out to bars or concerts, etc. so it's really a pretty cheap form of entertainment when all is said and done!

Don't worry if you don't see me for a while - I'll be in the studio playing with my new toys!

Is Bigger REALLY Better?

My husband is one in a million and he's my biggest supporter when it comes to my art. I've been trying to get my studio put together in our new house and he's been tripping all over himself trying to help. The only thing is that his ideas of what I need don't in the least match mine!

So, when I said that I'd like to have a work station sort of like a kitchen island, he couldn't wait to build it for me. I told him what I'd like to have and he built it for me but way bigger than I needed or wanted! I had been very specific about the size but I ended up with something that takes up most of the space in my studio!

Today was moving in day of the island I'd requested. He'd built it in the barn only to discover (what I knew all along) that we couldn't get it into the studio without doing some dis-assembly! He's a pretty good carpenter so had not only used screws but also glue for putting it together so it was a major ordeal to remove the legs and get the thing down the hall and make the sharp turn into the studio. Fortunately, he didn't attach the top but that's in the works next!

It's really a gorgeous work center with plenty of room! lol He split the top so that I would have room to put my supplies on the right (I'm right-handed) plus, added a sort of storage area under the top . Both of the split sections of the top can be lifted to access this storage area. The left side of the top is like a drafting/drawing table that can be inclined.

Under the table are some slide out baskets for holding supplies. Since the whole unit slides out making access to the individual baskets a little tricky, I may just use one basket & maybe put a stand-alone drawer unit under it.

It's not quite ready to use yet as final finishing has been left up to me. My husband dislikes painting or staining where that's what I like best. I'm seriously thinking of painting the unit & maybe adding some vines or flowers up the legs or something! The top will have that self-healing mat or some other protection on it. It will be a while before it's completely finished as the painting will take a while and the drafting table mechanism has to be ordered and received. We had hoped to be able to get it locally but guess there isn't much call for those things around here! I imagine the mat will also have to be ordered.

So, I'm trying to visualize a studio arranged around this monstrous work center - so much stuff and a lot less room than I'd counted on to put it!