I believe any artist can agree that a good size working studio would help a lot in our line of work. One of the things that bugged me before I became an artist was that I didn’t have the space for a nice comfortable art studio at home, and I couldn’t afford to rent a big studio space either.
Then I thought, maybe someday when I can get a big enough studio or move into a bigger house with more space, I should only then start thinking about pursuing arts.
Why Wait?
Honestly, I have tried painting in my bedroom before. It got pretty messy, and many times the paint did get on the bedsheets too.
Also, I mainly work with oil paints!
So that did influence my thinking for years and I just couldn’t picture myself painting in that condition.
But when I finally decided to pursue my dream to be an artist, I didn’t want to wait anymore. So I didn’t have much choice but to work with what I had, which included working in a small space.
Start With What We Have
I was excited to start painting again. I then moved my easel out into the living room and placed it next to my keyboard. The TV was just a few feet away, and I probably only had about 4×4 feet of space to work with.
It was noisy at times when my mom watched her favourite TV shows, and also quite often the keyboard would end up with some paint smudge here and there.
Since I am a ‘Harmonious’ person according to my characteristic profile, I did struggle a lot because my environment didn’t feel right.
To feel comfortable working, I would need to have the right space, set up and have my tools all properly stored in place, and definitely not have any distracting TV noises.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have all that at that time.
So it really wasn’t easy. Trust me!
Maybe It's Not Be So Bad
But no matter how difficult it was, I did manage to paint.
And perhaps also these obstacles ‘forced’ me to put more focus and concentration into my work and not let other distracting factors affect me.
This can also be proven to be useful because it’s not always that we get to paint in a conducive environment. For example, when we paint in the outdoors, there could be lots of other distractions and noises around the area too.
Making That Extra Space
Of course, I knew I had to find a better solution eventually.
And so, when I had a little more time, I cleared out the guest room by dismantling the bed and moving out all the furniture inside it.
It took days to shift the furniture around and find the space to store them.
But I finally managed to clear the guest room and turn it into my art studio.
I would still love to have a bigger studio and probably with a nicer view too. But nevertheless, I am happy that I now have a much bigger space to work with.
Decorate The Art Studio for Maximum Comfort & Creativity
Regardless if I still had to work in a 4×4 feet space, or that I have a bigger space to use, I do believe that setting the mood for our work area can do us some good.
So we should try to make our studio as comfortable as possible.
For example, we can arrange the easel direction or our sitting position to where we get the best lighting. Perhaps we can get a small trolley place our art tools closer, and even hang some artwork or motivational quotes on the wall.
There are many things that we can do to make our studio feel more comfortable, and we just need to get creative with it!