Welcome 2021! I hope this finds you well. 🙂
I wanted my first post of the year to set the stage for good things to come, and also illustrate a little of what I’ve been up to these days. I returned to painting, December; I was missing the way that painting allows you to flood a space, however tiny, with fields of colour and create little dwelling places for the eye, especially during these colour-starved winter months.
I was looking at Matisse’s The Red Studio, and enjoying the way his paintings create spaces and interiors. With all of the time spent at home, this past year has made me think about indoor space — and how changing the way I use a familiar room can help to create a shift, however subtle, that brings a sense of much-needed newness with it. So, I drafted a “studio” scene of my own: in it, it is 4:30 pm, the light is yielding to dusk, moonlight, and Chicago flurries. I’ve queued up a playlist, plugged in the speakers, and it’s the painting hour. My dining room is doubling as the studio at the moment — a unusual space to scatter brushes and paint tubes and things, but something about picture-making and cooking in the same room feels like a truthful reflection on the things that sustain. Also, proximity to tea helps.
A relative who saw this picture early on said: “It is a happy picture painted with love.” I hope to continue 2021 in that spirit.
Completing this picture also led me to generate an artist prompt for the days when the muse needs a hand. Maybe it will come in handy in the future?
Artist Prompt:
Create a picture of happiness. Put yourself inside.
Until next time.
handmade habit 
That IS a happy picture! I love how the warm cosy colours of inside contrast with the cold snowy outdoors. Here’s wishing you many hours of joyful painting this winter, Shirley 😊
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Thanks, Helen. I’m glad you liked the colours! 🙂
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What a wonderful painting! You are so talented with so many arts/crafts under your belt! I love how you described painting in relation to “flooding space” – makes me want to paint (but better stick with fiber arts for now). Happy New Year 🙂
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Oh – I really like your new website format – very professional!
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Thanks, Tierney. New year, new site! A very Happy New Year to you, too. 🥳
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It made me think about my hobby space – which has been taken over by my husband as an actual workspace since the pandemic. I miss my room with it’s bright walls, bunting, noticeboard with lovely things and inspiration hanging from it! Unfortunately I let it go as his work brings in the pennies and I can play elsewhere in the house – just nowhere quite the same as ‘my’ space and only ‘my’ space now I share with the rest of the family.
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Thanks for reading, Tina. Sorry to read that your hobby space was taken over! I hope your new space (though not the same) is just as joyful and creative! 🙂
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My hobby space isn’t so self contained now – I seem to have stuff all over the house – and a husband who is eternally patient (mostly) with the lack of clear surfaces. As long as I can clear space on the dining table he seems ok !
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Same! Not many clear spaces/craft free spaces over here, but I’m trying to rein in the supplies a bit (a bit) so that the rest of the space is clear. I understand!
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love the a bit (a bit) !!
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A belated happy new year and may the paintings from your ‘studio’ keep coming.
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Same to you – a belated happy new year. To many more beautiful fabrications.
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