Home-Creating a beautiful space that supports our dreams

In the Studio with Jeni Rone

August 15, 2013 by Heather Filed Under: Art, Art & Design, Home, In the Studio, Inspiration & Education, Organize, Photography, Systems & Techniques Leave a Comment

Today’s studio sneak peek is in the studio with Jeni Rone of Sea Star Arts. Jeni is a “sparkling” Charleston photographer that I bumped into first over at Spacecraft Studio’s. We continue to bump into each other again and again round town:) I’ve been following her on Instagram ever since and love her photo’s that so beautifully capture the sparkle of living in Charleston!

HKPS::Have you always known you were an artist?

JR::I was born and raised by two artists so I always had opportunities to create. I guess I realized I was an artist when I used my art to make others happy!

HKPS::What mediums do you work with?

JR::I enjoy all forms of medium, from watercolor to mod podge! However, my current medium that I live off of is digital & film photography.

HKPS::Where do you make Art and how big is your studio?

JR::Lucky for me I can make art anywhere! And Charleston is an amazing place to capture with a camera. I hold photography classes, take lifestyle & product portraits and record weddings outside surrounded by spanish moss, live oaks and the ocean. A large part of photography also includes the processing/editing of images and that’s when I come inside. My small condo near Sullivan’s Island is where the images come to life on my computers.

Sometimes I am inside at my desk or out on the porch. Depends on the humidity of the day! HKPS::Do you consider yourself to be an organized person?

JR::Is there such a thing as messy-organized-Crazed storage? (HKPS-YES-ABSOLUTELY!!) I have piles everywhere… and I cannot get enough baskets! Baskets under my desk for files and paperwork, baskets on the shelves to hold paints and markers! Baskets in the closet to hold pj’s (preferred clothing when editing!) and socks. There are even baskets in the kitchen to hold my grits! I mix in photographs, books and artwork with my baskets to create organized art!

HKPS::How or where did you learn your organizing habits and systems?

JR::I think I learned organization out of necessity? Living in a small place, it allows for quick storage and easy retrieval to keep your precious items in baskets. If it isn’t readily available or within reach I won’t remember to use it or that I even have it! Baskets are a convenience that looks pretty, too. On top of my bookcase I have my favorite new baskets from the Threshold Collection at Target. In the office I have the awesome IKEA shelves and baskets catching my paints, brushes and papers.

HKPS::What types of cycles have you noticed in your working process?

JR::I am the ultimate procrastinator! I will hold out on finishing up the tasks I enjoy the least until its right at the deadline. It’s tough but I have learned to organize my day so that when I am most productive (late morning and early evening) I set out to accomplish those tasks I don’t enjoy, or need top focus for! Early morning I need inspiration reading emails (I’m a blog-aholic) with a walk on the beach with my dog. Then I consult my various lists on sticky notes and go. There is nothing like crossing something off the list…

HKPS::What types of schedules, systems, tools or tips do you use to help ::maintain organization in your studio? (calendars, planners, technology-phone apps etc)

I really enjoy folders! Much like baskets, folders on my computer keep my appointments, class schedules, inspiration ideas and other emails in place for quick reference. There are so many options these days with apps, programs and such that it can be overwhelming. I guess that’s where I am still old school and use Outlook Email with LOTS of folders!

HKPS:: What kinds of materials/tools do you find challenging to keep organized or locate when you need to use them?

JR::When creating special packages for my clients, it’s always a challenge to make sure you have all the supplies available and within reach when the inspiration hits you! I love paper and surprise gifts so I craft little boxes with notes, presents and photographs! The challenge is keeping enough goodies in stock but not over done that you cannot walk into the office! (I’ve done that!)

HKPS::How often do you purge or declutter your supply stash due to space or other constraints?

This is where hired help can be a blessing… purge? De-clutter? That is so hard to do when it’s sentimental, “could use it some day” or just pretty stuff like ribbons and stacks of stationary for snail mail. It’s hard for me to let go but recently I’ve moved several times so I purged a ton! A pro can come in and really make things go smoothly when organizing your memories and supplies.

HKPS::Please describe how creative cycles of organization or dis-organization affect your creative process?

JR::Remember that procrastination thing? Yeah, it’s tough when there is a pile of papers, or a bunch of sand on the floor. I will clean that up before finishing the work I really need to get finished. This is probably why I love baskets so much! Easy!

HKPS::Do you give much thought to your artistic body of work in terms of historic value and the overall artistic legacy you will leave behind? How do you store/archive your work or records? If not why?

JR::I enjoy recording history every single day! I think this is why the camera is my passion…the ability to capture emotion that is frozen for generations to see is amazing. Remember that photo of your first child? Or the picture of your favorite Grandparent that isn’t around anymore? Or how about your very first trip to the ocean with the entire family? I get to record so many special memories for people. I keep the digital files in folders on my computer, backed up to a cloud and on my website. But there is still nothing better than holding the photograph, printed on fabulous paper, in your hand…or framed hanging on the wall so when you see it you smile every time you pass by. The photo I have on canvas is from sunset on Kiawah Island and hangs in my bathroom so I have peaceful thoughts every morning when I brush my teeth! (oh, and that super cute Station 19 towel is from my Fiancé – he proposed to me there!)

Thank you so much Jeni for inviting us into your studio, providing us with these sparkling photo’s and explaining the way that organizing affects you as a working artist. Please check out her website for more information on her services and portfolio of work! I’ll be back with another artist ‘Inside the Studio‘ feature next month! If you missed any of my previous Inside the Studio posts please go back and take a look!

* Inside the Studio was my brainchild in 2011. There are a lot of popular studio features on the web and in magazines but I’m specifically interested in showing how organizational process influences the artists studio work. These photo’s are not styled and are typical of how the artists working studio looks. I request that each artist leave their space as it would be on a daily basis (just like I ask my clients). This series is meant to highlight how artist REALLY work rather than showing STYLED shots (popular in home and organizing magazines and blogs). I’m sure just like me, you are fascinated by the “behind the scenes” sneak peek into these artists working lives!

A combined Studio-Office Space

August 5, 2013 by Heather Filed Under: Art & Design, Home, Organize, Organizing Projects, Systems & Techniques

This was a really fun quick combined Studio-Office Space organizing and space planning project. This client recently moved here from Asheville and needed some help settling into her new space. Her studio is large and is both an office for her business and a dance studio for small classes. The colors, floor, space and light are beautiful, overlooking a lake. She wanted to take advantage of the views and leave the floors open for dancing. She didn’t have a lot of furniture so what she has needs to really count and be very efficient.

IMG_6916a

Our first task was to look at the space and decide on the furniture placement. Once we settled that and she lived with the furniture for a week or two we met again to fine tune arrangements and work on purging and sorting. She added a few more functional pieces of furniture during that time which we worked into the space and were able to see what was still needed and what additional pieces might be useful down the road. We went “shopping” around her house to find other pieces that could be used and removed a couple things that didn’t work in the space. We also found empty bins to use to store the items she wanted to keep.

There were about 8-10 bankers boxes and bags of office supplies and personal memorabilia that we sorted through. It was somewhat emotional to go through childhood memorabilia and I wanted to make sure she knew I was there to support her in her decisions and not judge her in any way. I try to make this process as fun as possible and I enjoy learning about my clients lives, upbringing, personal history and I’m bound to hear a funny story or two! We went through each item, deciding what to keep, toss, store and sell (garage sale). When we finished there were only 3 bins left and there was still extra room for other items as she continues to unpack in her new home. Now, all her cherished memories are items now safely contained and stored away in a place she can easily access. Best of all she didn’t spend a dime on new things, we were able to use things she already had!

IMG_7100a

Finally we swept the floors and did a little movement (Dance) to activate the new space and off we went to select a few plants that would help energize and clean the air. We selected a Red Congo Philodendron and a spider plant (for another area) and she already has a Chinese Evergreen in the space and will add a Pothos to her bookshelf. All of these are excellent at cleaning the air which is important in older homes that have been newly renovated.

This final step is a new service I’m beginning to offer. Plant selection, placement, and treatment is something that is often done by large companies for hospitals and office buildings but I’m bringing it to the Charleston residential and small business market.

Save

In the Studio with Elizabeth McKeever

July 25, 2013 by Heather Filed Under: Art, Home, In the Studio, Organize, Systems & Techniques

One of Elizabeth’s abstract paintings hangs in her home-studio

Today’s studio sneek peek is inside Charleston painter Elizabeth McKeever’s spaces. Elizabeth and I met about a year ago when I first moved to Charleston and reached out to form a local SCAD alumni group. She works with both abstracts paintings and more representational ‘objects’ such as landscapes and plein aire portraits at weddings! She works out of her home and a studio garage space as well as work “in the field”. I love this statement from her website; “I always return to paintings of objects from my life because my most profound realizations are often derived through everyday experience.” Well, that’s esactly what we are exploring in this series of interviews and I’m so excited to share a little bit of your process of working as an artist and how organizing both challenges you and helps to propel your creativity!

HKPS::Have you always known you were an artist?

EM:: I didn’t consider pursuing it as a serious career until after I was in college.

HKPS::What mediums do you work with?

EM::All, but primarily with oil paints for my fine art work, and latex based for commercial work.

HKPS::Where do you make Art and how big is your studio?

EM::I work in primarily two locations. My home office/studio is where I do most of my painting – but storage for supplies and larger projects also takes up half my garage.

HKPS::Do you consider yourself to be an organized person?

EM::Organization is critical to me, but challenging. I know that some of the problem is not factoring in time to restore ‘order.’ I find it draining when it gets messy. That’s part of the reason I have housekeepers who come twice a week.

HKPS::How or where did you learn your organizing habits and systems?

EM::I took a seminar from the Franklin Planner company as a high school student. Since then I’ve always made goal planning a part of my life. I have learned a lot from Julie Morgenstern and Stephen Covey.

HKPS::What creative cycles of organization/dis-organization affect your process? What are your observations about the process?

EM::My oil painting process is the neatest – probably because I work primarily in one location with it, and when I do paint at events or away from home, I have a very minimal set of items that are easy to transport and return.

I cannot focus unless things are put away but I have to continually remind myself that it is a working space – it’s not going to look perfect. Sometimes my six year old son will be in the studio with me and will add to the chaos (see the paperclips in the photo below hanging from my pencils? – his work!).

HKPS::Do you ever have problems locating specific materials you want to use?

EM::Tape measures, archived images and anything involving paperwork!

HKPS::Do you purge or declutter your supply stash on a regular basis (due to space or other constraints)?

EM::Earlier in my career I would save all kinds of ‘stuff’ because I knew I could use it to create something. Now I prefer to have more space and less ‘stuff.’ Plus I have the luxury of being able to buy something when and if I happen to need it. I purge every few weeks, but will do a major overhaul at least once a year. The studio is a fluid space. Storing large paintings also used to be a nightmare because I would have to shuffle items around on the walls of my house! I’ve managed to resolve that a bit by allocating space within where some large items might go. (like above my sofa)

HKPS::Do you have any systems, tools or tips for staying organized you would like to share?

EM::I use an online database system called Basecamp so that I can share project information with my gallery and my other clients and we can comment on the same project. For commercial work with Stealth I’ve organized all my paints by color. I also use Google Calendar.

EM::Yes, I do give it a lot of thought but I also find it is also important for my own development. Being able to see old work and organize it categorically has helped me learn more about underlying themes and refine my artist statements.

Thank you so much Elizabeth for inviting us into your studio, providing us with the photo’s and explaining the way that organizing affects you as a working artist. Please check out her website for more information on her services and portfolio of work! I’ll be back with another artist ‘Inside the Studio‘ feature next month! If you missed any of my previous Inside the Studio posts please go back and take a look!

In the Studio with Erin G

June 27, 2013 by Heather Filed Under: Art, Home, In the Studio, Inspiration & Education, Organize, Systems & Techniques

Today’s sneak peek is in the studio with Erin G from Studio Piccolo. We met while working together as a textile designers at Mohawk Industries back in 2001. We’ve worked together in a creative industry, we’ve participated in collaborative art projects together and we’ve remained friends through several moves. Erin is truly an artist in my opinion (see her definition below), I’ve always admired her creative energy, passion and skills as a textile designer, seamstress and artist. She has a wonderful sense of funky style where she mixes found objects, textiles, drawing/painting and anything else that inspires her. She seems to always have something in the works. She is equally talented at creating functional art such as garments, accessories, cards and non functional art. She works like a mad woman at several textile design jobs but still manages to find time to make things in her spare time. She has produced an amazing volume of work in this spare time and last year I finally helped her get her Etsy shop set up…please check out her beautiful paper craft and textile mixed media work there or on her Facebook page!

Erin modeling an amazing Jacket she designed and created. Photo via TSVETY Fashion

At what age did you realize you were an artist? I don’t think I have ever realized that I was “an artist”. An artist is someone who does art most of the time. I work most of the time and do art when I get the chance. But, I knew from age 5-6 that I liked making things, drawing and painting, sewing and all things crafty. I try to incorporate a lot of it into everyday life, but “art” has never been what I am able to do with most of my time. I aspire and plan to be an artist when I don’t have to work so much!

What medium(s) do you work with? I have and will work with almost anything, but my favourite media are fabrics, papers, paints, dyes and found objects.

From top: Erin’s Sewing, Painting and Mixed Media stations.

Where do you make your art & how big is your space? In my home – pretty much all over it. I have a loft space upstairs that is the primary contained space for creativity such as painting, printmaking, collage and heavy duty sewing (industrial machine). But also part of my office is used for light duty sewing, computer art and supply storage. I also regularly use my kitchen table for everyday collage projects and my garage for dying and anything that requires hammering, stapling or noxious fumes.

Erin’s Art Loft studio space has great light and several “zones” for making her art.

Do you consider yourself to be an organized or not and why? I am not even remotely organized. When I begin a large project, I basically dig out the majority of what I think I’ll need, clear a space and spread it out so that it is handy. I can usually find the large items and basic supplies to complete a project, but often cannot find smaller items (such as collected ephemera and found objects) to finish the detail work. I know where mostly everything is, but I have a lot of small junk that just gets put into various tins, boxes, bags, and drawers that are hard to locate if they were put away over 6 months ago.

How/Where did you learn your organizing habits and systems? I picked up most of my organizing habits from family and friends. And with things that do not change on a regular basis, such as kitchen cabinets linen closets, desk drawers, I know where everything is because the items never change and always get put back in the same place. With items such as collected ephemera and interesting found objects that are added to daily, they don’t necessarily have “a place” so they end up just anywhere I happen to be at the time I file them.

What types of cycles have you notices in your working process? Are there certain phases of projects that are neater or more dis-organized? When starting a major project, I usually clean up a work area, put away all unnecessary stuff and organize the bulk of what I will be using in the project. Then I work, work, work, while the mess piles up.

What materials/tools do you find challenging to keep organized or locate when you need to use them? Small items 6″x6″ and smaller. They are of such different natures (beads, thread, metal items, plastic items, paper items, fabric swatches etc.) that I have not found any reasonable organizing system that does not take up a lot of space. Hence they get stashed in boxes and bags that need to be dumped out to find any particular thing.

Above: Several areas where Erin stores craft and artmaking supplies, a office closet with drawers and open shelves in her studio.

How often do you purge or declutter your supply stash due to space or other constraints? Not very often. I keep a lot of things because they inspire me to think about creating. Unfortunately I have a lot more things than I have time to create with those things!

Please describe how creative cycles of organization or dis-organization affect your creative process? The organization or lack of organization doesn’t really effect my creativity – the thought process and the inspiration. Too much disorganization makes it difficult to get through a project if it requires an extended period of time with many interruptions, because I tend not to clean up during or at the end of projects. I will usually leave the mess in place until the beginning of the next project or, if I am not yet inspired or I have some free time, I may take a leisurely cleaning adventure through my piles in order to start plotting the next thing or in anticipation of the fact that there eventually will be a next thing. Too much organization and cleanliness makes me feel a little guilty about making a mess again so I try not to be too awfully clean and organized. (e.g., As I said above, I keep an “art mess” on my kitchen table at all times in the event I just have to create something – anything! If I have to remove that mess when I have company come to visit and I see how nice and clean and proper the place looks without it, it makes me feel like I should relegate that mess to another space and keep the common areas clean for potential visitors. But, if I do that, I know I will not go to one of those other spaces to do a “quickie” because those other spaces are out of the way – there is no tv, there is no view, there is no sink, the light isn’t as good at night time etc. I like having my mess right there where I can cook and do laundry and other things in between working on an idea.)

Erins Dining room table with projects in various phases of completion.

Erin’s kitchen table, cleared for company I presume!

Thanks Erin, this was such a great interview! Despite her super busy schedule she managed to provided all the photo’s and talked me through the explanations behind each. She tried to put this interview off until she had a chance to share the “Post cleanup” pictures with me but I insisted that was not necessary! I love how honest and open Erin is about her creative process and her systems or lack there of for organization. She perfectly illustrates that sometimes creativity is fulled by chaos and there are some artists who really need to be surrounded by their stuff for making. I sincerely hope this interview will help some artists be a bit less judgemental of their own processes. By all means if it get to the point where the clutter is taking over the creativity…well then, it might just be time to do a little cleanup and purge. Can I ask y’all to help Erin know that she IS an ARTIST?! Thank you so much Erin for inviting us into your studio, providing us with the photo’s and explaining the way that organizing affects you as a working artist and designer. Please check out Erin’s Facebook Page for more information on her process and her Etsy site to make some lovely purchases of her pieces! I’ll be back with another artist ‘Inside the Studio‘ feature next month! If you missed my last Inside the Studio please take a look!

Quick and Easy Living room Re-design

April 22, 2013 by Heather Filed Under: Art & Design, Home, Organize, Organizing Projects

Last week I had a fun and quick re-design job for an open living room dining room area. My client had recently inherited quite a few new pieces of furniture from a relative and had purchased a new sectional sofa. She was left with a mix of furniture in her open space that wasn’t functional and didn’t flow. I quickly assessed her needs as follows:

more living room seating for guests
a more functional and useable dining room area-for entertaining and daily use
integrate new furnishings with existing eclectic style
more seating for outdoor patio
too cluttered/crowded feeling

BeforeKW BeforeKW-1

Before the dining table was under the windows and when being used it obstructed the flow of the room. The chair next to the china hutch rarely got used and two additional chairs in the living room were pushed up against the wall across from the sofa and therefore felt quite separate from the living room space.

We relocated those chairs to the screened porch to make more room and give the outdoor space additional seating. The two large pieces of furniture on both ends of the rooms created a heavy feeling and on one end partially blocked light from a window. First, we moved the TV cabinet over to fill the large wall across from the sectional. This allowed more light in through the previously blocked window and made room for two additional seating areas on both sides of the tv cabinet using a couple of chairs and occasional tables already in the space. We also moved the sofa a bit to create space for the china cabinet on the wall behind it. By moving both the chair and the china cabinet we opened up the entire back wall (closest to the kitchen) for a clearly defined dining space that has ample room for entertaining.

The newly arranged living space has more seating but also feels intimate and cozy.

After-1 After

The room now feels more open and less cluttered and there are still two distinct spaces for living and dining.

Whenever I do a space re-design I advise clients to live with it for at least a week before deciding if there are things they really don’t like. As creatures of habit we get use to our things in a certain arrangement and it might feel awkward at first having things moved around within the space. Luckily in this case the client worked with me to move things and she seemed really happy with the results immediately. The following day she responded to an email I sent with this response; “I love it so much! The room feels bigger and I like my “things” more now too in the new arrangement.” This was a two hour project and the only expense for the client was my consulting/space planning fee. We did not buy one single thing!