Just Mary Designs

Last fall I traveled halfway across the United States searching for some inspiration and attended the Art & Soul Retreat in Portland.  I addition to the many mixed media classes, one of the workshops I took was called "Creating Your Dream Art Studio".  During the class I was introduced to your wonderful magazine, Studios.  I thought I had died and gone to heaven!  After looking through many back issues I found a color scheme that literally jumped off the page at me.  I came home, selected paint colors, and the rolled up my sleeves.  

My 12 year old son got into a bit of mischief, so for his punishment I decided some manual labor was in order.  I had him take every single item out of my "hobby room" and take it to a spare bedroom across the hall.  Once it was empty, I painted it, and began to systematically reorganize, store or throw away all of my supplies.  I ordered all of the back orders of Studios and Where Women Create that I could find, and combed through them looking for creative storage solutions, fun ways to display supplies and the best ways to set up a studio for a real "working" artist.  

One of my favorite parts of the studio is my "standing" table.  I realized that I never shut the door to my supply closet.  So I took the door off of the hinges, and laid it across to high drawer towers from the Container Store.  I keep my paints and brushes handy and do all of my mixed media painting standing up on my makeshift work bench.

I also found that I love having my creative and colorful supplies visible, but get overwhelmed by too much clutter.  Grouping my markers, colored pencils, sprays, and pastels in small colorful containers all neatly organized on a desk shelf keeps me in a great creative frame of mind.  I have all of these supplies at a table that I can comfortably sit at while working on the detail of pieces.  

My personal motto adorns the glass top table - Do Something Creative Every Day.

Space is a premium in this small room that used to be a nursery, so finding a way to display my many art books without giving up valuable floor space was a challenge.  Then I found a vertical shelf that keeps all of my inspiration at my fingertips, taking up no more space the the size of one large book!

Lastly, I LOVE my drying rack.  I find that I enjoy working on several projects at once - and would chafe at the delay that drying paint requires.  The drying rack lets me shelve something while I work on the next thing, keeping my creative juices swirling and the collage and paint pieces coming.

Please enjoy - thank you!