MY STUDIOS

 If you've been visiting this blog for long, you have surely seen pictures of my office/writing studio/library, a.k.a. the bedroom.

Well, guess what? I now have an art studio, too!

Let me stop you right there, before you say "Hey, that's no studio. That's just your kitchen hutch!" You couldn't be more wrong. I've got a place to work (art journals don't take up a lot of space), I've got one whole wall of floor to ceiling windows, which share the same gorgeous Hill Country vistas that my writing and meditation studio (a.k.a. the dining room) do, and I've got access to running water. What more do you need? Best of all, between my standing up to work at my art table, running back and forth to the sink and to the art supply cabinet in the other room, and trying to keep upright on the balance ball I use for a desk chair, I'm actually getting exercise as I write and create, instead of just sitting on my tushie all day!

I really love how being around creative people makes you see things through new eyes. Take my friend Fiber Woman, for instance. She and her hubby are both artists, so they save all kinds of interesting stuff, which some people might see as junk. But, once you've seen her create a piece of art that contains leather strips woven with x-ray film, and hairpin lace she tatted from plastic-coated electrical wire, well, you start to look at it all in a different way. My art journaling instructor has me doing the same thing. In fact, she had me rummaging through a Dollar General store today. I didn't even know we had a Dollar Store here in Wimberley before this! I went looking for some of those old-fashioned plastic lace doily things our grannies liked to use. Turns out their floral patterns make fun paint stencils. Unfortunately, I didn't see any (let me know if you ever run across them somewhere). I did find a great stash of rubber flip flops for only a dollar a pair. You can cut them up and use them as rubber stamps, to add interesting texture and dimension to your journal pages.

Know what else I found? Check out these itty bitty flip flops. These are actually erasers that I found in with the school supplies -- all four in one package for a dollar!

Because I was looking at things through new eyes today, it occurred to me that they might just come in kinda handy if, say, I ever wanted to do something like this.

Happy Dance! Happy Dance!