This is something that is done on Wet Canvas and I thought it was interesting and could be fun too.

Show us your workspace. Is it the dining room table? Your favorite comfy chair? In the basement? Spare bedroom?

Take a picture and show us. Messy or not..........

I'll start it off.............

This is my spare bedroom (we only have 2) where I do my computing. I have my own studio outside the house but I spend most of my time in here. When I paint or do scrapbooking, I go in the studio where my supplies are.

[attachmentid=2721] This is the table (computer desk) that I work at. Books and Paper underneath table.

[attachmentid=2720] This is behind me where I sit so I can turn around and use the light table. Also where I
store my pencils etc.

oh my gosh I dont have near what you have .. I have a small desk and a glass jar of colored pencils .. and drawing board i set on my lap .. lol ....my area is very neat but nothing like all the fancy stuff you have .

I work in my desk in my bedroom. I wish I had a bigger bedroom considering how much time I spend in there besides sleeping in there. I still love drawing in there because I can listen to my stereo which is like 3 feet away from me.

I love to work while everything is neat but the thing is since I also use my desk for homework and stuff, I set stuff down there thinking I will put it away by the time I start drawing but then when it comes to that time I get frustrated with myself "What is this doing here? I can't work like this!"

This is my work place, not so much also, but I am happy.

I don't have much space (or materials for that matter) either but I do like to be organized as much as I can. I work at my computer desk which sits in one corner of our living room.

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I basically have everything within arms reach... my computer which is a very valuable tool for me - with my scanner/printer to the left (behind the Mickey Mouse drawing). My art books are on the shelf above (unless the are on my bedside table for bedtime reading ). Also to the left are my Prismacolors and my Joanie colours. . The wicker basket on the side table holds all my sketch paper and pads and the box beneath it used to hold wine bottles but now houses my smaller boxes of colours, likemy percious Koh-i-noor graphites and other odds and ends. Most of my done work lives in the pink folder to the right, unless it is being displayed on the little easel in my husband's study. There are some pieces he doesn't want me to take away even if the newer ones hide them from view.

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Joanie - I see the portrait lady trying to ease her way out of the corner!

I also do all my work at the PC desk.My keyboard has seen it's share of food dropings also. Thought I might get a browny point or two with Brenda's book in the pic.

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I have different places to work depending on what I am working on. My favorite spot is my sofa in front of the TV with a drawing board on my lap. I also work at my computer desk and I have a large drawing board set up in one room. When you open the door from the carport you are in this room. I believe it is called a "mud room." It is nice because there is a sink in this room but there is very little natural light as the windows open onto the carport and I have to use lamps. So I only work there when I need the large drawing board. If the light were better I would make this room a complete studio. My dream is to one day convert a bedroom into a studio. Perhaps when my son is grown and on his own.

Cool Ted! That one is currently on my bedside table - I received it yesterday in the mail. Maybe I should have remembered to go get it before taking the pic this morning eh!

Rose...........you would notice that she is sitting there.. ................she's working her way closer to the drawing table it think... just lurking

OMG!!!!
You lot are so tidy, i can't cope with my space being that tidy. lol

RJS

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heres mine...

Rose I love the picture you have on top of your desk .. it looks like a old black and white ...I love old black and white photos .
I will try to get a picture of mine soon .
its very small

First station is my computer and Wacom Tablet, using various art programs to aid in my conquest of the world through the use of art. Very neat. No viruses... I think.

No pictures, but I have a little side table next to my computer area where I somtimes doodle. Very messy, except for this little square that happens to be just the right size for my sketchbook.

My other drawing area is very neat and organized; my lap. I almost always have my book, and since there's usually no table nearby when the 300-pound hammer of inspiration comes around, it's nice to have a hardcover sketchbook to lean on my leg-n-calves.

That's a picture of my husband aged 6 - dressed up as a pageboy for his uncle's wedding!

It is black and white... taken before I was even born!

Erm... Wrong thread?

Hey RJS - good to hear from you again.....................Mine isn't nice and tidy. You didn't see the mess that is surrounding my drawing table or my computer area. Looks a mess.

Your's looks very tidy for a painter. When I paint, I make a mess everywhere including on myself!

No, I don't think so... I was replying to Kim who asked about the black and white pic on my desk. Sorry for not quoting her.

Actually Painter,
i erm, kinda tidied up before i took the photo. Behind me there is another easel that i use for all my pastel work, i have now taken over half of the garage. My computer is in the extension, i like to call it the west wing, this is where all the digital work is done.


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RJS

Rose ..a pageboy ? sorry i am dumb lol
Rjs i love the way your desk is in front of such a nice big window .. cozy
here is mine ...I have a big window behind me but a small space for drawing

Hey RJS, I want that monitor!! It looks sweet and I ain't ever seen one like that in the states??? LOL thats my next project a monitor that is bigger than 13 inches..Can barely see crap.

you will love it mine is 19 "

Well everybody,I have been working on 4 projects in my studio so it is a mess,but I know where everything is.It is usually tidy as sometimes I have a creative block and I delay starting by tidying up and that's how I get rid of my block...I will now go and photograph it and let you all see how messy I can be..[attachmentid=2764][attachmentid=2765]

wow everyones work space looks so great-- i might make one now. right now i sit on my couch in the living room and use the coffee table. the coffee table has all my stuff on it. i like it to be portable-- i just dont know if i can be confined to one space. i like to move all about the house and outside. but i am really jealous of everones work spaces.
RJS- i seen that watercolor painting. i didnt know you did watercolor-- i have tried and tried them but i dont think i am good at all with them. but i just love watercolor. do you have some tips maybe?
Lori

Lori,
Watercolour is where my heart lies and i have to draw as part of that, but given the choice i would take watercolour any day!
As for advice!!
I am still a beginner myself, but as any artist will tell you doesn't matter whether it is oil, watercolour or drawing, you have to practice. For every painting i do that i am proud of another five are assigned to the bin that is how it works.
If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.
Most of the pictures in my gallery are in watercolour should you wish to check them out, Keep up the great work.

RJS

Hi everybody, here is my workspace

Kim my monitor is 17"

Rafael

Well, all these spaces look wonderfully creative and inviting!

The timing of this open house is not great! All I have is empty rooms.

Both my studio and office have been stripped down to bare bones and are being rebuilt. (Actually the contractor will be here any minute.) I'll have to show them to you again when they are closer to being done.

The small room is my Drawspace office, and as you can tell, I'm painting a fun mural on the walls. The larger room used to be two small bedrooms, and is about to become my studio for painting, drawing, and sewing.

Brenda your so lucky!!! You have two rooms all to yourself. I have to share the diningroom with the family for my space to do any art work!!! Having 4 kids takes up way too much space!!! I have the tiniest bedroom in the house. My girls have the largest (3 girls). One of these days though......

Giggle!

And..I can only imagine your grocery bill! Oh but these really are the best years!

I remember having a crowded home and a studio in a corner of the bedroom. Not so long ago, this house was home to my adult son; my adult daughter and her husband, son, and Dalmatian; an exchange student from Korea; and my husband, a second dog and me!

Yeah for having an empty nest! Now, there's just the two of us humans, two rats, and one dog!

Brenda

Rats ... I use to have rats when I was growing up .. I loved them .. they never bit or anything .. I trained them .. they are very smart . it feels strange looking at peoples work space ...like your looking a personal side of them .. I will always see RJS sitting by his big open windows or Rafael at his neat clean desk lol

my youngest has a rat too. no he has never bit at all. even when we have food smell on our fingers. two years ago we bought both our sons a rat each and they shared a cage and the pet person said they were males and guess what--they werent and few months later we had 13 babies!!! we held the babies and they were so cute. we gave some aways and had to take the rest back to the pet store and my son kept one of the babies and he just turned two. he has been a great pet. my oldest is kind of freaked out by him and when he was on my youngests computer the rat crawled up on him and grabbed his ear and tried to take off with it. he screamed like a girl. and big 6' 4 250lb 20 year old screaming like a girl. it was so funny.
Lori

I love them for pets .. they are so much nicer than a hamster ..they will let you cuddle them .. at least mine did .. I have a few .. my last one was named Rathew after a friend mathew ...he got so big and look just like a sewer rat .. people were so freaked out about him .. and he was just a gentle thing .

Ahhh, yes! Rats are wonderful pets. Ours are two girls named Einstein and Rainman.

They are smart, funny, very interactive, and don't sleep much during the day as many other rodents do. My two love being handled and I have never seen any signs of aggression. When John and are sitting watching TV in the evenings, we often are each holding a rat - they especially love sitting on our shoulders and hiding in pockets or up sleeves.

However, we have to keep an eye on our dog, who would probably gobble them up very quickly if she could (Soft coated Wheaton Terriers were bred as rat killers).

Brenda – dog lover AND rat protector!

As long as they are pet rats I can handle them, and they tend to be cuter than some of the wilder rats out there. As for my pets I have a good for nothing lazy cat and dog. Love them both to peices even though half of the time I would rather stranggle them or just take them to the pound.. I swear pets can be as bad as kids at times. I have never had a pet rat though, I have friends who have and I loved how they were smart and fun to play with. The closest I would have to say to a rat I have is a wild vole that has taken residentcy in the house somewhere. I often catch it late at night when unsuspected and we have caught it a few times and released it father away from our house but it ends up right back. She/he likes to steal all of the cereal the baby drops on the floor I miss cleaning up or the dog and cats dried food. I once watched my cat just stare at it as it went to its bowl to steal food. The cat did nothing and was an outside cat and only came home to eat..it was funny and cute. Now I just let the thing come and go and it doesn't bother me and I do not have the heart to kill it. For those of you that don't know, A vole is a cousin of a mole but alot cuter. They have this soft looking black/gray dark fur. I think moles look ugly but a vole looks like it is a cross between a cute little mouse and a mole.

Here is my work spaces. First if you know me, you know I moved a half dozen things out of the way. The two areas are right next to each other (so we can keep an eye on kids with the computer). I don't see myself having a space of my own for years to come. (wouldn't have it any other way ) I also sketch sitting in my bed, and in the chair watching movies. As you see I have lots of light. When I moved here I sacrificed lots of things so I could have many windows. Bob loves to be in pictures so I included the second shot of the dinning room table. He actually gets up and moves in front of the camera anytime it comes out.
Paulette
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We're still working on it, hence the painters tape, saw and shopvac and doors propped up by the window. We finished up the floor last week and are still putting down baseboard and need to paint it. I want to paint the window wall a color to balance the red. The stuff on the table will go into the black cabinet after it gets finished with paint. Another shelf or two will be added to the red wall. There are two track lights to be put up. The window seat will be painted black and get a cushion one of these years, maybe. And I'll probably put up white tabtop curtains. I'm hoping to put a computer up there, maybe next year. I haven't had much of a chance to use it yet or get all the stuff in there, so it isn't messy...yet. The table on the red wall will be my daughters workspace.

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Amy - what a great workspace! Since you haven't finished it yet but you already have a red wall.........one word of caution......................be careful on what colors you choose for the walls, curtains, etc. The light will bounce off of those colors and can make a difference if you are painting or using color in your drawings! You should stay with white or some very neutral color to keep this from happening. (I read that in a book before I made decisions in my studio). It makes sense. I was going to make my studio very colorful but now its just a very light beige woodgrain pegboard paneling.

Painter48, you have brought up a very important consideration when designing a studio. Neutral colors are perfect for any type of studio.

In my office, the mural on the walls is mostly green, with pink toward the top, and the ceiling is painted pink; complimentary colors that when reflected in combination, neutralize to become gray. This is especially noticeable on the ceiling which looks gray rather than pink. I do most grayscale (graphite) Drawspace lessons in this room, on a small drawing table on wheels. Hence, the colors of the room were important, but certainly not as critical as if I was trying to work with color in this space.

The larger room (my studio) is a deep dusty green which is the compliment of the cherry wood (red) floor. These two colors were chosen carefully by placing different swatches of green above the wood to see how the red changes the green (and vice versa). Red is a very powerful color; hence I needed to use a dark muted green to allow the reflections to neutralize, and remove any trace of a dominant color.

Also, I have a tendency to create very dark paintings and colored drawings in a room with a white ceiling (probably only a quirk with me). I find that when white reflects on a drawing or painting surface, it tends to lighten values (photographers may have a better explanation for this?). Hence, I had the ceiling in this room painted a mid-range gray, so I only need to focus on the art itself, rather than constantly fighting with a false representation of colors and values. As an aside, I’ve known many frustrated artists who wonder why the colors in their works look completely different in another room; any strong color in close proximity to an artist’s workspace will affect the way he/she sees the color in their art.

By the way, I find it quite helpful to occasionally take a colored work outside on a dull cloudy day, and examine the colors.

Brenda

My rat was potty trained or I think it was cause it never went where he was not suppose to after he got a bit older ...and he went in my hoodie all the time .. he was like on my shoulder almost everyday .
I like your workspace Paulette .. but I really like the dog in the picture how cute .

I understand what you're saying about color in a studio. The red wall was never intended to be a workspace. It was to be the computer/cutting mat/reading and planning area. But we ran out of money and ended up using a table we had in the basement as a work table because we couldn't buy new drawing tables or a computer this year. After putting the other shelves up, I plan on putting a white pegboard panel up under it to hang t-sqaures and stuff like that. It'll help that workspace by placing a white background in front of the table. By the time the shelves are full with books, etc very little red will show. In the summer with all the green and such a big window it reflects into the room. I'm hoping the red will help counter it. I love color and hate white walls. I had to have some color somewhere. The curtains will be white. It will be really hard not to color that window wall. It's what I'd do in any other room. Maybe a grey tone. I plan on keeping my table in front of the window and that may help cut down on the 'hot spot' affect of too much white. On sunny days the room is very bright.

i had no idea that the color of the walls and ceiling would or could reflect your artwork. but it really does make sense. i will have to keep that in mind when i finally get a real work space. right now i just go where i want to and make sure i have good light.
kim i think rats can be trained to or automatically do because my son's rat when he is running around in his room goes back to his cage to do his business. he has never had an accident in his room. they are good pets. i think i have pictures i can put up somewhere of his-- its dark gray.
Lori

its the dark gray that look like sewer rats lol I love that color ..please do would love to see them .

I think I shall have to stop coming into this thread!! I pried myself on being quite fearless but I honestly have a phobia about rats.. can't even bear to see them in a movie!

rose i am sorry i will pm them to kim so you wont be scared!! i have that phobia of spiders. some people (like my son) loves them.
Lori

We had rats growing up. My brother and I each had one. Now I know they should be kept in pairs or more.

We had quite a few a few years back. We built a custom cage for them out of 1/4 inch grid wire with multi levels. It's so fun to watch them jump and play. They're very smart like dogs, well most dogs. The COSI in Columbus used to have trained rats that would play basketball with a marble. That's what started it off when we were kids.

Now spiders....spiders and I will not share a room.

Tis ... no spiders here either ... I HATE them .. they are just freaky and when people say hey dont just kill it .. I dont get it .. and i tell them dont look and scream for my husband ...he knows the deal .. kill it .. and if one is near me dont tell me .. just get up and kill it or otherwise I will be screaming like crazy lol

sorry nog geen werkplek. Ik begin pas!
Ik heb zelfs nog geen etui!
Ik werk gewoon aan de keukentafel, en dat is met (voorlopig) alleen een schetsboek best te doen.

Gr Yolande

I am embarassed, but now inspired by your workspaces. I have three in my house and here are two of them. I'm on my way to Target to buy some organizers. Also I just wanted to share my latest project for those who have grandchildren. It is an old suitcase that I decorated for my grandaughter to keep her memories in. I send her lots of fun stuff I make so she can probably already fill it up. She is eleven now.

Judyvan

WOW Judy, great workspace and lovely gift for your granddaughter!! I am sure she will love all the loving care and thought into it now and when she is older. I wish my grandma did cutsie stuff like that. Ohhh well at least someone out there has a special gramma.

welcome volande glad to see you here .. cant understand what you are saying ... but welcome anyways
Judy .... Ok hun I am nosie and was looking at the drawing on your walls hun and i want to know about the girl above the shelf with the hat on .. its awsome .. and I dont recall seeing it in the gallery ..there are few i have not seen .....your holding out .
also the suitcase idea is awsome .. i am going to do that with my kids ..I aready have two boxes filled up with stuff and i was wanting to make them something to put keepsakes in like a box .. but your idea is way better .. and we are going to make some of those .. thanks for the idea

You are very observant, Kim. I have many drawings I have not posted- probably don't think ther are good enough, but maybe now I will do a few. Thanks for that comment and have fun with the suitcases.

Judyvan