Virtual Studio Tour - Jennifer Campbell

My art studio is in the garage behind the mural I painted on my garage door.  Actually I think my studio covers many areas of my home.  The garden with its firebowl and waterpot is one of my inspiration areas and is near the studio where I create my found object jewelry and assemblage art.

Studio behind the doors (before 2011 garden project)

Inspiration space - my garden 2012

Another inspiration area is my living room where I keep my art books, journals and a collection of spiritual treasures.  My inspiring view is of a canal in Venice, Italy. This mural is 9’ high x 12’ long,a  trompe l’oeil mural I painted when I owned a decorative painting company.

Inspiration space - my living room

What sort of art work do you do?  What are you currently working on?

In my garage studio I create found object jewelry and assemblage art, mostly in the Steampunk genre.

Currently I’m creating a “time machine” assemblage using many of my favorite treasures.  My found object jewelry can be seen on my website www.jennifercampbelldesign.com

Earrings created from pocket watch parts

Watch part pendant

Pendant created using watch parts

Steampunk assemblage

Vintage camera assemblage

Necklace created using art deco buckle

How does your studio need to function?  Give a brief description of your working space.

My studio needs to be a space where I can be messy (drilling, sawing, sanding, gluing) and can spread out when I’m working on a body of work for a show or a for a client. I do park my car in the garage, but when I’m really in creativity mode I can pull the car out of the garage and set up extra tables.

Work in progress - time machine

My favorite - the industrial workbench

What do you love about your studio?

I love being surrounded by the treasures I’ve collected – various tins on shelves on one wall, boxes and wood items on another.  My favorite thing is my industrial workbench that doubles as a bar for garden parties.  I can leave the “mess” while working on a project, yet my home stays clean and organized.  I love that I’m “working outside” with the garage door open in the summer and fall.  Yet on cooler days I can run errands, pull the car in (turn off the engine) and the studio becomes immediately a warm and cozy workspace.

Vintage tins



Wall of wood

What would you like to change about your studio?

I had wanted to hang a curtain on a cable (to divide the furnace/water heater area).  Having to post my studio on this blog gave me just the jumpstart I needed to complete that project.  I love it! And I would love to have a couple of big windows.



What would your dream studio look like?

Windows – lots of windows! A cozy room with both cabinets and shelving for storage.  Wall space to hang works in project and completed.  A small fridge to store smoothies and drinks.  A comfy sofa and a side table with a lamp on it and book storage nearby – perfect for a cup of tea an afternoon nap after a day of creating.

Do you have any organizational tips?

Ohhhh, do I!  I don’t think I mentioned that I’m a professional organizer.  www.TheArtofOrganizing.net 

Many of my clients are artists and we’ve worked together to create fabulous workspaces for them.  Really think about how you use your space.  Have the items you use the most readily available.  As your art changes, move the tools needed for those projects nearby.  Keep small items in labeled drawers.  Have inspirational art and treasures on shelves or walls where they can be seen.  As you grow and change as an artist, your workspace should too.

Bins of found objects and clock gears



Thank you for joining me in the virtual tour of my studio!

Jennifer Campbell

www.jennifercampbelldesign.com

Lavender Is in Bloom!!

This weekend most of the lavender farms in Yamhill, Washington, Multnomah, and Clackamas counties will be open to the public as part of the state's Lavender Festival. 

I'll be selling my journals at the Yamhill Lavender Festival just off Hwy 47 at Behula Park in Yamhill, Oregon. Stop by while you're out and about.

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!

Sketching in the Garden

 Several of us met yesterday at The Grotto in NE Portland for a little sketching. Tory and Suzanne went up the elevator to take some photos.  I sat in the sun and did this little sketch of a shaded path into the woods. We're planning to meet on a regular basis and explore other interesting locations around our city.

Boat Bliss

The Portland Art Collective held their annual Boat Party aboard RAPTURE on Monday evening. There was lots of art-making, eating, visiting, and laughing.

To see more photos of the evening, check out Dayna's blog post by clicking HERE.

Playing with Poultry by Lenall Siebenaler

I've been working on a mixed media series using roosters and chickens.  All three of these were started when I offered to clean out a messy watercolor palette at a recent PAC play day at Collage.  The artist said she couldn't paint as her palette was too messy.  I cleaned it taking very little paint while doing so and here is the result.  Strange beginning?  Yes.  There are so many people who now have chickens in their backyard.  It's quite remarkable. 

Cluck, Cluck

Cock-a-Doodle

Cocky

Virtual Studio Tour - Laurie Weiss

Soon after I moved into my house, 17 years ago, I converted one of the bays of my oversized garage to a studio.  The previous owner restored old cars and had the original garage hauled down into the woods where it now serves as storage. 

1.        What sort of artwork do you do?  What are you currently working on?

I am a book artist.  I make journals, both custom and some standard, including travel journals, wedding albums, guest books, baby books, etc.  I also repair cookbooks and bibles, and bind family histories. 

This week I’m working on part of a collaborative edition of Dark River of Stars, a limited edition collection of Valentine’s Day poems by Oregon’s poet laureate, Paulann Petersen.  The edition is for 50, but I don’t make them all at once; just batches of 7-10 as they sell.  You can see more at www.blackdogbookarts.com/darkriverstars.html.

2.       How does your studio need to function?  Give a brief description of your working space.

I had one of the garage bays cut off from the rest and put in a wall of cabinets (higher than normal for a tall person standing).  I converted the old fluorescent lights into track lighting so I could put pendant lights over my work spaces. 

I keep one of my craft tables open in the middle of the room as an extra work space.  It helps me designate work areas: the back end of the built-in cabinets for gluing and sewing, the desk for piece work, and the craft table for cutting/tearing down parent sheets of paper to smaller sizes or for paste paper and stenciling.

3.       What do you love about your studio?

Because I need to keep text paper clean for books, I tend to keep my studio pretty clean and organized, with stuff for only one or two projects out at a time.  I love all the storage in my studio, for paper, leather, embellishments, etc., so I can keep the surfaces relatively clear.

  My newest purchase is an antique letterpress cabinet that has both drawers with cubbies for embellishments and flat files for my smaller (<20”x30”) papers.

Also, the light from the large sliding glass door and the skylight is great, even on gray days.

The space has electric heat, but I find I mostly use the wood stove in the winter.  It’s great for getting the humidity out (helps the glue dry) and keeping the room cozy.

Finally, I love the view out into my front woods.  The setting is very relaxing.  (That’s Oz and Buddy minding the driveway.)

4.       What would you like to change about your studio?

Not much.  I’ve modified it over the years, including the drying rack over the sink and the rack by the door for my book cloths.  I think I need to add a mini-fridge for snacks, since I’m often in there for hours once I get started on a project. 

5.       What would your dream studio look like?

This is pretty much it.  I sometimes wish it were about 4’ wider – I’d like to put in a standing Kuttrimmer to cut binders boards, but there’s just no space. 

6.       Do you have any organizational tips?

My dad always said “A place for everything and everything in its place.”  I try to follow that since it means I know exactly where what I’m looking for is.  I rarely get frustrated trying to find a particular item or tool (bookbinding uses a lot of tools).  Of course, for that to work, you have to have your storage organized and enough of it for everything.  When I’m working on a project, I haul out everything I need onto the craft table, but it goes back when I’m done so it’s right where it should be next time I need it.

You also need to keep the tools you use the most right at hand.  I keep a jar on my desk with most of what I use right there, and built a small shelf into the wall for those items I use most at that work station. 

Finally, adding the drying rack over the sink really helped to keep my work surfaces clean (and dry!).

My main suggestion is to look at how you use your space.  Walk through it and see what doesn't work first and make sure it's laid out best for the work you do. 

Stitched Waterlilies by Lenall Siebenaler

The Menucha weekend went very well.  I spent the time working on 70 postcard sized painted, collaged and stitched pieces.  Here are 5 waterlily pieces.  I did more poplars and bird and nest pieces also.  Using the sewing machine in my pieces is working for me!  I will probably make a lot of these pieces into 5 x 7 cards and call them "Suitable for Framing."

Which Wedding Card?

I decided to make several prototypes of Wedding cards for my niece's wedding which is in 2 weeks.  I used collage and then added the machine caligraphy on top to integrate them.  I did several and now need to decide which I like better.  What do you think?