NEW STUDIO STYLE...

Hi sweet friends!  I have missed you this past week!  I have been hard at work on some new things in the studio, not too many artful things but on the studio itself.  I am beyond excited to see the final pieces of furniture being finished up, the last of the supplies being stowed away, and a few more stylish touches being put into place.  This is a very long awaited dream come true.  I have come a long way from the TV tray crafting days.

Some of you may be wondering when the real studio work is going to begin, not the putting together of the room but the production of art and words, both of which have been few and far between lately.  I am getting to that by laying in a good foundation of a work environment that is set up to not only meet my needs but that inspires me to be creative.

While the studio will always be somewhat of a work in progress as I grow into my medium the basic layout of the room will not and that is why I am so excited to get these last two piece of furniture done.  All the big stuff will be out of the way and the rest will be play! I originally bought this little child's size chest of drawers to use at the farm but realized it perfectly fit the space between the door and the closet in the studio.  I already had the little altered table sitting there and since they were both agreeable, they got married...

I am going out to buy them a wedding gift today, some nice jewelry to seal their union, shiny new knobs!  I also purchased this big old desk...

 
 And I removed this bench from the entry of my home...

 And they are thinking about getting married too!
 

But not without a little refurbishing and altering.  I already have the base piece painted and I am waiting on a little something I ordered to finish it before moving on the altered iron top piece and I am not sure about that yet, I need to see it in the room before I make my final decision and chop into the bench.
I have also refaced the inset of my cabinet fronts using old book pages in Dutch, German, French, old text books, and vintage catalog pages overlaid with some of my most special stash, the good stuff!, images cut from Harper's Bazaar that are well over 100 years old...

I did a little paint stamping and shading and they are ready to seal...
 

I was a little nervous about doing this.  I have been thinking about it for a long time but I was not sure I would like it once it was done.  I decided to reach beyond my comfort zone and go for it.  I am so glad I did I love it!  What in the world was I waiting for?

 In between coats of paint and pots of glue I noticed that the leftover bowl was beginning to overflow again...

 

 So I got out some scrap fabrics and started to do some off site embroidery and applique...

These will be incorporated into a larger project later on.  Which brings me right back around to the point of my post and where the real studio work will begin.  Everything has to start somewhere, a dream as a tiny seed of a thought has to be nurtured to life one small step at a time.  Growth takes time.  I am growing into my dream one small work in progress at a time all the while keeping my eyes open for opportunity to present itself to lead me to the next step. 

I have this favorite old book (Re-Creations by Grace Livingston Hill) that was written and published back in the late 1900's or early 1920's that has a small segment that always inspires me.  A snippet of conversation transpires between a sister and her brother.  The brother tells her that he has not had anything "regular" (steady work) since getting out of school, just the odd job here or there but nothing he really considered worthwhile.  He had just been tinkering (working on automobiles).  His sister tells him that she thinks it is a good thing for him to stick at while he is looking for something better, that the work he is doing now will prepare him for something else in that line later on.  She asks him, "What is there big and really worth while that you'd like to get into if you could?"  

His face lights up as he explains that the working knowledge of machinery could lead to a better chance in other areas of business but of course he could not just jump right in at the top of his desired field, he had to begin somewhere.  His sister encourages him to continue on where he is but to be alert and ready for when a good opportunity offers itself he would be suitably ready to apply (or reach) for it. 

I find myself very much in this young imaginary man's shoes, just tinkering, finding my niche in the mixed media world, knowing where I want to go and paying my dues by starting off at the bottom to get there, gaining knowledge along the way that is preparing me for something else later on.  I am not letting grass grow under my feet while I idly sit by and wait for opportunity to knock but working my way there steadily.  I anticipate a realization of those dreams and I hope that you too are sowing seeds for your dreams to bloom!

Just a little reminder of my mini Art Challenge to spur on and inspire your dreams, for details you can visit this post if you want to play along...

Inspiration thought:

"What is there big and really worth while that you'd like to get into if you could?"