Building my art studio….

Five countries and 12 moves later my first priority after settling the family into our new home is my work space. Taking over an already functioning guest house didn’t allow me the luxury of making a work space for myself inside the home so Phil had something custom built for me. That too had to conform to the available space in the garden, and had to fit in with the house, as well as the dense tropical garden and surrounding woodland. With all the tall trees and shade I needed to find a spot to put the studio that would give me plenty of natural light, but at the same time be cool in the hot humid summer months.

I found the ideal spot tucked away in the back corner of the garden next to the swimming pool. The tall bamboo palms give a wonderful dappled shade and keep the studio beautifully cool, but at the same time allowing in plenty of natural light from the large side windows, and double French doors. The French doors look out onto the pool and the lush green garden inspiring me to relax and just enjoy my space and my painting.

The space is small, but I have customised the inside to suit my particular needs. Previously I always had my paints in large containers inside a cupboard. I left 2 walls windowless, 1 wall for hanging artwork, and the other for all my tubes of paint. I specifically didn’t put paneling up to hide the supports as I wanted to use the supports to string cabling through to attach my hundreds of tubes of paint. I knew what I wanted, I just wasn’t sure how to execute it and my brother came up with the concept. In the end Phil, my brother and Phillip all put it together.

The cabling we ended up using was fishing trace fastened with sleeves attached to specialised hooks that would adjust the tension once all the tubes of paint had been hung. The concept worked brilliantly and I now have one wall filled with my paints. The studio finally feels like an artist’s escape and a place to feel inspired and to enjoy working out of. And my orchids love the space too! 🙂