An ideal art studio?

So all of this moving stuff has gotten me working on new studio plans, and I have certain things that I know I want for my next space. Namely these are: lots of storage, lots of light, good ventilation, and enough room to step back and forth while I'm painting. In the book Organizing From The Inside Out by Julie Morgenstern, the author suggests setting up whatever area you're organizing in "stations" by the kinds of activities you do. The Setup

• A painting station, comprised of:
  • Easel, palette, monitor, large mirror (set up across from the easel to check my work).
  • Additional items: Optional secondary easel for a larger wet painting or WIP, bins or shelves for my paints and supplies, a drying station - preferably a "drying wall" for larger works in progress, and/or some shelving to prop up wet panels after plein air painting.
  • A flat work, framing & shipping station (There are several different activities here, but for all of them I use a table with lots of drawersfrom IKEA and shelving to store supplies, organized by activity.)
    • Picture framing, matting, and mounting artwork
    • Surface, panel and canvas preparations
    • Packaging/shipping
    • Work surface for watercolors, sketching, printmaking, etc.
    • Cleanup- Utility sink, shelves, paper towels, etc.
    • Office (computer stuff, desk, files)
    • Previously mentioned in the above notations, but bears empahsizing: Storage (of all kinds- shelves & bins for canvases, frames, books, etc.) and as much wall space as possible.

Optional but desired:

• A sitting/viewing area- for reading and assessing my work
• High ceilings (in a smaller space it can provide a more "open" feeling")

I don't ask for much, do I? ;-)

Into the light

Of all of the concerns, good natural lighting is among the biggest wants for me, because for one, working with inadequate light is hard on the eyes, and in my current work space it has been less than adequate. But you have to be careful because if there's too much of it shining directly on your canvas;  it causes glare problems with oils.

Artists always talk about north light as being the best for the most consistent, even and balanced natural light in the studio.  But a north-facing studio isn't always possible (my northern light is indirect at best because it's blocked by the building across the alley from us.) And any natural lighting will still need to be supplemented by artificial light, for overcast days and evenings when I may need to work, and for this I've found a few options.

Full spectrum lighting mimicks daylight, and it's what I currently use in my studio work area. I have this long flourescent bulb by Ott-Lite installed in a regular shop light that hangs just above and slightly behind me in my painting area. It does a pretty good job on my work space, but I still feel the need to supplement with additional lamps.

The reason full-spectrum is recommended is that it is more "neutral" than the yellow cast that is often put off by incandescent bulbs. Artist Nita Leland has a good article explaining this further, so if you're an artist you may wish to check it out.

In addition to the above-mentioned option, we're looking into some kind of solar tube lighting. Friends of ours have these installed in their home, and it's amazing how much light it can put out. I light this option better than a skylight for my painting area, as a skylight can cause a more spotlight effect and the solar tube is less directional and more all-over and diffused.

One other option I hope to incorporate is clerestory windows. If I can get ones that open, they can serve number of purposes;  indirect natural light, additional ventilation, and the preservation of precious wall space in the painting area.

What's your ideal studio?

If you're still awake and reading all of this, I'd love to hear your thoughts. Anything I've missed? What's your ideal studio? And while you're mulling that over, check out talented artist Casey Child's blog - in particular his chronicles of the fabulous new (huge) garage/studio in progress- northern lit and all. His early posts on the topic have some great inspiration pictures too. I bookmarked his site some time ago, and in fact, his research is so exhaustive that I might not have bothered with a post of my own. But I'm nearly finished, so I might as well hit the publish button now!

Goodbye downtown Richmond- a gallery closing and other distractions

An artist's blog is a lot more challenging without being able to upload images, but I'll give it my best shot until my studio computer gets de-virused (fingers crossed). As it is, I haven't been painting much this past week as I've been all consumed with house guests, plus other changes and distractions (the good, the bad and the ugly).

The Good

Since I've become (mostly) an optimist in my old age, I'll start with the good stuff. I've written before about plans to return to southern France to teach a workshop next year. The details are getting solidified now and I've put the info up on my website to get this ball rolling. This is very exciting for me as it is such a magical place and I can't wait to share this experience with fellow artist-travelers. I've also got some other local workshops firmed up on my site too. 

The Bad

Well, aside from the computer virus, there really isn't any "bad" stuff;  but who looks forward to packing and moving?  Yes, the otherbig news is that as of October 31st I will be closing the downtown gallery space andmoving to a private/by appointment studio (still in Richmond).  And while at first glance it seems like a "bad" thing, it will actually be a very good thing for me personally (once the dust settles.)

Some would say that two years is not nearly long enough to judge a gallery's (or any new business') success or failure. I'd heartily agree. But it IS long enough for me to know if it's supporting what's most important to me. My passions in the art arena continue to be painting (in the studio and more and more en plen air),  as well as traveling,  and writing, teaching and learning, learning, learning. None of which really require a retail shop, and some of which actually conflict with having one. 

Really, this gallery venture has served me well, as it has helped me to realize that what I wanted is pretty much what I'd already had all along (Doh! ) It's also enabled me to get out there and meet with some great people and new collectors, but hopefully this will continue even without my own gallery.

The Ugly

So nothing ugly's gone down..... yet. But I am trying to prepare myself just a teensy bit for that possibility until the dust settles. What we're wanting/hoping for is to build a home studio on our property. For all intents and purposes (and for resale purposes) this will be a garage, but I hope to fix it up to create a little cottage garden studio. Any way, this is my hope, and I will share my experiences here once we get futher along. (Boy, that last paragraph sure is full of hope!)

The wild card is that there is no telling how long this will take. We've gone through many floor plans and design plans already and we're close, but we're not there yet. If we have serious delays or if it doesn't fly for whatever reason, then we'll have to move on to plans B & C, which I won't entertain here on the blog at this point. Let's just say there are boxes involved. Lots and lots of boxes.

Early morning at Byrd Park

With so much going on this week, I have to get out pretty early in the morning to have time to do any painting at all, let alone blog about it. But it was really beautiful this morning at the park. I left the house at around 7:15 a.m. to do a little plein air painting, and the light was still low, soft and luminous.  Here is the result of my morning's effort--another one of these back-lit little islands on the water:

"Dawning" Oil on Multimedia ArtBoard, 8x10" (SOLD) ©Jennifer Young

A few announcements

Being heavily immersed in summer activities I'm afraid I've kind of fallen off the blog wagon lately. But things have been happening behind the scenes, and I'd thought I'd share a few interesting tidbits of what's coming down the pike.

• France in 2009! I've just gotten the word that my dates for a 10 day plein air painting workshop at Le Vieux Couvent have been confirmed! If you've been reading my blog, you've already heard my raves about this beautiful, enchanting part of Southern France.

I'm excited to have the opportunity to take a group there myself, for 10 days of painting, touring, eating, and just soaking in the atmosphere. Dates are June 3-13, 2009. This year during that time period I had word from the workshop host that the poppies were in full bloom and the roses were going crazy in the garden. I'm preparing my brochure now and should have it up on my website by next week. If you have an interest in joining me for this wonderful creative adventure, please check back, or just contact me and I'll send you a brochure with all the details as soon it's done

•  Moving ahead. Well it just seemed like yesterday that I moved into my beautiful gallery space, but the time has come for me to make another move. I don't have a lot of details to share yet, but come fall I will be letting go of the downtown gallery location. I'm sure I'll be writing on that in the weeks ahead but a lot of details need to be ironed out before I really have anything solid to share.
•  Warm up to Plein Air! Since the time of my last workshop this past spring, I've received a number of inquiries asking when I'd be having another class. Due to the aforementioned upcoming move, I had to wait a bit to schedule anything solid. But here's what I'd like to do: In September I'd like to offer some one-day plein air modules in the Richmond area that I'm calling "Warm up to Plein Air."  If you are a painter who has always wanted to try plein air painting, this will be a fun opportunity to give it a shot. Experienced plein air painters can benefit as well, as this day-long module will include a demo and time for painting. We'll talk about the tools of the trade that I've found useful, plus tips to make the most of your time outdoors. I'm limiting these modules to a very small size so we can make the most of our time together. Dates and details will be posted on my website, hopefully also by next week. Meantime, feel free to contact me if you're interested.

Sketches from France- plus a brag

Just before I left for France my dear friends Jack and Mikki sent me some wonderful books on travel sketching. My favorite from the group is Artist En Routeby Betty Lynch. (A quick look at the price that this book is now going for makes me glad that I got this as a gift!) Betty is a very talented watercolorist, but I am partial to her simple pen and ink sketches, and they inspired me to keep my own little art journal for my trip.

I brought a 5x8" moleskine journal with me, which fit nicely into my carryall bag. Never one to be without as many options as possible, I chose the notebook that would accept watercolors (though most of my sketches were pen and ink.) Here's one with my notes of the Abbey I blogged about yesterday:

Most of these were just quick little jots, but the journal really helped me to lock in the memories in place, and keep track of the places we visited in sequential order. So many times on action packed trips like these, all of the memories start to blend together after a while, so I really recommend this combination of traveling, sketching and journaling. 

On the same day that we visited Abbaye Nouvelle, we also visited the village of Beynac (in the Dordogne), with its fascinating 12th century chateau perched atop dramatic limestone cliffs. Only time for a quick sketch for this part of the itinerary, which I did after our picnic lunch by the river bank. We are steeped deep into Medieval history here; this castle is where Richard the Lionheart met his death!

***And now, we interrupt this art travel log for a quick brag ;-). There is a fine new oil painter in the Young family, and she's got a blog! Check out my very talented niece, Molly Young and her Daily Painting blog.

Molly came all the way up from Texas to take my April workshop this past spring, and I got the chance to see her talent in person. I wish I could say I had something to do with it, but she's been cutting her own path for a while now and I look forward to seeing where she takes it. Her blog is brand new, but she's been painting for a couple of years, and she's a quick study to boot.

The fruit trees of early spring were all abloom while Molly was here visiting, and we took advantage of it by heading up to Monticello for a quick visit.  Here's a shot of the two of us at Monticello:

Molly's got some wonderful new paintings from that visit on her blog. Here's one of my faves.