shifting everything around...

Two weeks ago my studio was looking like this... positively overflowing with work, books, materials and such.

ON March 21st I held a One-day-only Moving-Out-Sale that was such a joyful event. I actually found it very enervating to order the studio before finally dismantling everything. Various people came by, cups of tea was shared, someone brought lunch, some Art-pieces found wonderful new homes and this farewell gesture successfully wound up my experience of being in this excellent studio.

A few days before the Art Sale!

The day of the sale there was a very organised look about the place... all ready to pack.. or find a new owner. The great thing about moving is getting to decide what to keep, what to let go of.

It was a major thing moving from this Paddington Studio... I'd really settled in, which can seem disconcerting when it comes to getting everything out later. But it is the only way to work... throwing oneself into it in the first place!

Going through my collection of seeds and seed-pods last weekend I realised so many of them had disintegrated... some into dust, others not quite so dramatically. Here on the verandah above I put aside the baskets of pods that needed checking.

Much as I value this collection I had to be rash and put aside just the best things to keep. And that is what is great about moving. One casts a discerning eye over all and does something crucial in an art studio... says good bye to things that really do need to go. I could have been tougher... but... enough for now!

The studio on the last morning... floors washed

... only a few pieces of furniture left.

emptiness.. just how it was when I arrived last year!

wet floor!

the back verandah... the garden so lush after a summer of rain!!

One thing I packed off to a good friend this week was a heavy box of Oil Paints... collected slowly over 15 years but really only used during the years 2000 to 2002 when studying painting for a time under new teachers had led to a return to Oils that I'd so loved as a young student. 

When moving to a new home with an internal studio in 2002 I'd discovered after a time there painting in Oils inside the house was not a good idea for me... and I'd given over to acrylics instead. It feels good to make those kind of clear decisions. The whole process of packing, first slowly separating everything into categories then musing over each thing as I handled it,, decided where it should go... all this was a strong reminder of where I have been and whats been the focus over time.

Finding room at home for studio things has been interesting...

Most studio goods have gone to storage. With my home going on the market after Easter we are gradually packing away all the excess things and trying to work out what to give away or let go of at home too... so the paints I really like to use have been brought home incase there is time to settle into that soon... but for now it's busy just getting everything done in readiness for the changes coming.

Interesting to be back in this space... despite being small a lot of work has happened here these past 5 years. And on the desk-top computer... 5 years ago I was a complete novice... 4 years ago I started blogging and now ... quite familiar with the online world!

Decisions... lots to make in the next while!

At least it feels comfortable here at home. I don't mind having a little breather to think about the Artwork before I can get back to it down the track.  And there is the book project waiting to be started very soon.        

It seemed poignant to take these before and after photos... eras coming to an end. Its good to have the memories. Before to long the next chapter will emerge and the paint will be unpacked again!
                                                                                      

Last minute STUDIO SALE before the truck comes!

Last minute STUDIO SALE (Paddington, QLD) before the truck comes friday. Yes... parting with some pieces at prices to make you smile! Did I mention I am moving this weekend now the studio residency is over. Call me 07 32624296 or email if you need more clues. Postage? YES! Just ask! 

WHEN? All day Thursday till quite late... ask about other times... WHAT? Sale includes Experiments, Works on Paper, OLDER works and the odd surprise! PH: 07 3262 4296 or Email via CONTACT page at website: http://sophiemunns.weebly.com/contact.html

I'm taking a few photos today as I start to sort and pack. 

I was rolling up these fabric works when I thought to take a picture.

It would be fun to design some more fabric...

Seeing these rolled reminds me of hours spent accompanying my mother to buy fabric for all the clothes she sewed for her family of six when we were young! Remember when that was the most common source of clothing for many families? 

I still have the luxury of a mother who will run up something for me when asked. At this point I see that as an incredible luxury that I no longer take for granted as I did as an all too assuming child.

In my 20's  made all my own many of my clothes ... influenced greatly by prominent Japanese designers of the 80's. In a way I am still influenced by that aesthetic .. the exposed stitching and torn edges were so appealing then and still now!

Back to work... the studio is waiting !

cheerio,

S

dismantling studios...

I have a Pinterest Board:  studios, writer's dens, workspaces  
subtitled: Large still-lifes in a sense, spaces set up to hold an energy field of thoughts and ideas... to contain all kinds of necessary materials... and to keep the muses in attendance. No wonder these spaces take on the kind of atmosphere that you can virtually feel...

Studio images from the pinterest site:

From the extravagant daydream of endless space and light...

http://rachelpalmer.tumblr.com/post/7409986229

To the idea of purpose built spaces for storage and order...

both images found here: http://complexitys.com/art/from-our-flickr-network/#.UUHfKaVEwUU

To the more likely arrangement of space... still generous size I must say....

studio/lotta jansdotter: 

This week I was pouring over images of tiny homes and noted some studio like images which I put up on the Homage to the Seed facebook page where many people have"liked" these images also. 

Seems we all dream of the one special room to retire to to work, to think, to produce ideas... all these things. All week I have been pulling apart the small home studio space that I have occupied since moving to Brisbane in May 2008. Soon I can celebrate 5 years having been spent working in this small space... well ....assuming we are still living here. In this really small space I've conducted workshops at times, painted for shows, spent hours on my desk top computer and given birth to the homage to the seed project, a book, many online sites and artworks, journals and all that.

 

Since being over at the bigger studio its been more of a holding pace than anything. I've taken my lap top to the other studio to work and gone to cafes when needing online time... just to avoid spending hours on end in the old studio on the computer. It seemed to eat up all the space in the end for painting. For the last year Ive successfully worked on breaking that routine.

The whole reason for packing up and painting the walls is in order to rethinking how to set it up for the period the house will be on the market to sell. 

As if that wasn't disorienting enough I am also packing up the large studio space I have occupied during a 9 month residency at Percolator Gallery in Paddington.

When I first moved in to the Paddington studio in 2012 

Despite having completed an excellent period of work in that space, and being able to see the results of that era in the recent art exhibition at this gallery it is still a shock to dismantle this workspace.

The disorientation comes not so much from the physical reality of pulling everything down and packing it all up to store away... but in the emptying... or dispersing of the energy field that is all-important for a certain kind of thinking and working.

Dispersing is probably the most apt description. I'm a bit lost... a bit all-at-sea. Its not that there is no excitement about the thought of moving to the next place... but as it's totally unknown it is difficult to get too excited at this point.

Tonight I find myself taking stock. I saw my stop-gap option today... the third floor of a Storage Facility. When looking at the size of this tiny room Ive booked and think about making payments on a room for things to stand still in... it did suddenly seem sad to be about to put everything out of sight for a while. I had this feeling that the paintings should not be shut away... perhaps its OK that the paints and materials will be ... but the paintings need to live somewhere.

Really.... I do have my plan to get on with the book ... and that did mean putting the paints away for a time... so as much as I feel inclined to protest about all this change tonight... the are several much bigger things at play that are important and it certainly will be bringing  about some good changes.

The experience of seeing stuff everywhere in both these studio spaces is whats doing my head in. Things will progress... one has to remind oneself at times!

Interestingly I've had a change to think about new things in the last week or so ... during movement new things emerge. Some new things feel possible. I find myself peering into he unknown future wondering where I'll be in the second half of this year and on from there.

One of my temporary new office's: The Rogue Rennard ... a lovely cafe in Paddington.

And when it comes to working on cloth... there are 

plenty of tables around for the occasional burst of 

painting and such!

Well... who knows what's around the corner!