my studio

Hi, I am Cynthia Mooney, and here is my studio which I have named "Hidden Nest Studio" because it is tucked away at the far corner

of my garden, back behind our garage. I am lucky to have a room of my own. As Virginia Wolfe said "every woman needs a room of her own, even it is outside the house" or something to that effect. I agree, and was much happier when I got to build my own studio. My son and I designed it, using mostly recycled or reclaimed materials and he built it, designing as we went along. The door handle came from a trip to Bali, after I saw these graceful hands on the doors there.

The windows face onto a small park, so there is always a lot of activity going on outside my studio. Sometimes there is a full blown birthday party, or perhaps just a gaggle of children playing make believe.

I love lanterns, so the ceiling is hung with lanterns from various parts of the world.I also have a huge butterfly kite on the ceiling.

I work with ribbons and fabric and fibers in a variety of ways, especially when binding my watercolor journals. That is one thing that I do not work on in the nest, however. I love that this is a space where I can do messy art and no one minds.

I love the cozy charm of my studio, but because of its' limited space  (8ft x15 ft) I have to keep things pretty contained, which is not my strong suit. I spend a lot of time organizing and reorganizing, which is often a pleasure in itself. I love being there in the summer experimenting with something new and listening to the activity in the park.

My dream studio would probably be twice as wide, with a bit more storage and room for painting on larger canvases. I am pretty happy in the nest, though, and just have to get out there more often!