Begging, Bargaining, and Wishing: Art Studio Edition

EL and I were at the bookstore this past weekend... She's been channeling one her great grandmothers and has been crocheting with impossibly small hooks and spiderweb-thin thread. She was looking for books on the topic. I was perusing the other "how-to" books in the area, although most of them usually irk me because they start at step 1. No, they usually start before step 1... they start somewhere along the lines of, "Here's an idea for you because you'll never come up with your own, and then we'll tell you exactly how to do it so it will look exactly like this..." I know there's a need for those books, but they rankle me. They need a section of books that says, "Use anything for anything, even if you're not supposed to... Go nuts!" :)

Anyhow, while skimming their other offerings, I came upon this book. I was intrigued. Yes, it had too many instructions, but what I liked were the images. The images reminded me of long ago. My sister and I used to make endless troll houses by stacking shoe boxes and Kleenex boxes... we'd wallpaper them, build furniture, used found items and repurposed them. I think we usually only played with them for a few days, the real joy was in the making of them.This was preceded by the joy that came from realizing it was again, troll house time!

This also reminded me of one of my favorite grammar school assignments. When in the 5th grade, we were to read a book and then do a report... but the fun part was we also had a to do a diorama of sorts. We were each given a cigar box which we were to make look like the book, when you held the box as you would a book, you opened it to find a small report glued to the inside flap, and then a 3-D scene in the main compartment of the box. I LOVED THAT ASSIGNMENT! I wish I still had the box. I still have the book I used though...

Seeing the mixed media dollhouse book, and thinking back to the joy of troll house construction made me think once again of my dream studio... In my ideal world of creation, my studio would be a huge room with lots of table space, easel space, drawing table space,  lots of shelf/cabinet space... sinks, wonderful lighting, perfectly comfy and supportive chairs...Yeah, I know, all of you are thinking, yeah, so... all of this is totally possible! So what? Well here's where it takes a turn, in my ideal studio space, there would also be large "closets" that held smaller versions of Home Despot, Dick Blick's, Michael's, and an awesome second hand store with a multitude of "found items". They would be solely for my use, or whomever was in the space... no bothers with driving to the store, cashiers, other customers, needing to make a list... no, you could just go in and grab what you needed and pop back out.

Also included in this dream studio space? The ability to stop time. Once you stepped in... you could stay for as long as you liked and no time would pass! Once you stepped back out into the "real world", it would be 2 seconds later!!! Phone calls would wait, interruptions would wait!

Other things I'd have in my ideal studio space?? A branch. Many years ago, my mother informed me that one of my favorite childhood trees was hit by lightning and the bottom branch was going to have to be removed. I remembered that branch, I knew that branch... it was the first one you grabbed as you swung your legs up to hoist yourself around in order to climb. It was also the last branch you touched when coming down. It was sturdy and reliable. That branch was a step to another world, to freedom, to invisibility! I asked if I could have it so I could mount it in my apartment. I was bummed to find out it had grown significantly since I had last embraced it... still, I still have the desire for a large branch in my studio... or better yet, maybe a tree! One you could climb or hang a swing from! Yes, I'd like that... a tree and a swing.

I would also like music, and music that was exactly what I needed at the time, even if I didn't even know the song or the artist yet. I'd like that...

And the last thing, but certainly not the least important... I'd like to be able to take my imagination out where I can see it and talk to it. I'd like to meet it again, on its own terms, not mine. I'd like to let it out to run around. At some point, I think I turned my wild mustang of an imagination into a trick pony. Sure, it can still do impressive things, but it needs freedom. It needs to be in charge, not me. It should dictate, while I take notes, not the other way around. Yes, in this room, there'd be pure freedom with no preconceived ideas of what a creation should be or of its reception. Before entering this room, my imagination would dislodge the creative hairball that years of behavioral training had made... it, and I, would be free...

 

Comments

[zombie rotten mcdonald]

there would also be large "closets" that held smaller versions of Home Despot, Dick Blick's, Michael's, and an awesome second hand store with a multitude of "found items"

That's what the neighbor's houses are for. "Hi! No, just browsing."

[Laura]

"The ability to stop time. Once you stepped in... you could stay for as long as you liked and no time would pass! "
This is sounding an awful lot like "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe" to me.

I had a tree that I used to climb when I was a kid too. It was a gnarled up old apple tree. I stayed up there for hours. I can remember begging my Dad to make me a small treehouse. Nothing too big. Just a place I could sit and read. Hang a few curtains.. make a snack. Perhaps roll out a sleeping bag. Just the basic's-you know?

Of course, I never got it.

If you get your dream space, I'm coming over to check it out and play with you. :)

((Hugs))
Laura

[Laura]

Alright.. disregard my hysterical email about not being able to post.
Apparently the fault was my own. :P
I was just about to blame zombie for breaking your blog too!
Good thing I didn't!

((Hugs))
Laura

[ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®©]

You're all doing a project for art class...and you make a papier mache snake!
~

[Another Kiwi]

if you build the studio, we will come. There'll be a snack bar, right?

[blue girl]

Jennifer, I love this post. This is the kind of post of yours that always makes me think that you have to be the best mom of all time! That the people who love you are lucky to have you.

And the last thing, but certainly not the least important... I'd like to be able to take my imagination out where I can see it and talk to it.

I just love that!

[Brando]

There'll be a snack bar, right?

I hope it's next to the wet bar.

[Jennifer]

LOL @ ZRM. I'll never look at the neighbor's houses the same!

Laura- I love hysterical email! I used to get more, and yours was welcome! Yours contained no recriminations. :) I'm glad the comment dealio worked itself out.

You know, for all of the reading I have done as a kid and an adult, I've never read any of the Narnia stuff.

I knew most every climbable tree in my area and think if I added up all time spent in them, I probably spent 5 years in trees, thus guaranteeing me my primate badge.

thundra- I expect to see your snake by the end of the week or you won't pass!

LOL @ AK and Brando. Awesome additions... all additions and people are welcome. Maybe my dream studio is really the blogging compound!

BG- thank you, that's very sweet. I'm guessing the people I live with would be to differ. Yes, they get the part of me that writes posts like these, but they also get the other 50% which writes posts on my alter ego blog. :)

[zombie rotten mcdonald]

take my imagination out where I can see it and talk to it.

I always get strange looks when I talk to my imagination. At least I think it's my imagination. I say it is; I call it 'Neil'.

Neil is very argumentative, though, and we often get into a fight.

[blue girl]

I call it 'Neil'

Oh, no. Is there another name switch on the horizon?! Years from now are we gonna be commenting about the commenter named Zombie?!

Jennifer, maybe your alter ego blog is your imagination outside of yourself talking to you!

[Jennifer]

Jennifer, maybe your alter ego blog is your imagination outside of yourself talking to you!

Ha! Now there's a thought!

[Laura]

I used to have an "alter ego" blog.
Basically, it was an XXX rated fantasy blog. Very bad. You had to "consent" to the adult filth you were about to read and EVER-RE-THING!

I only had one perv following me instead of the thousands that I figured I would so, I gave up.
I need constant attention or else I don't play any more. :)

((Hugs))
Laura

[Jennifer]

If my alter ego has a blog, he/she hasn't let me know about it yet... Mine would probably be "Cranky-Ass Mother Who Swears Like a Sailor if the Time is Right!!1@@!"

ZRM- Neil?? Do you play drums? Also, I'm surprised you and your alter ego are still talking!

[zombie rotten mcdonald]

I need constant attention or else I don't play any more. :)

GOSH! It is fortunate that NO OTHER bloggers are like that!

:)

[Jennifer]

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing... Hell, thudner even rolled a car! Passenger, my ass!

[blue girl]

thunder's all... look at my river picture!

And then all: ~

[blue girl]

Should I have put a smiley there? Or did you guys know I was kidding? I am totally cracking myself up. lol

[blue girl]

I've thought about doing an alter ego blog. But then I figured one of you might stumble upon it and know it was me in two seconds flat. :)

[Jennifer]

Should I have put a smiley there? Or did you guys know I was kidding? I am totally cracking myself up. lol

I always assume you are kidding. You might need a serious face emoticon after yours...

I remember you talking about the alter ego blog and still think you should. I would probably be the only one who stumbled upon it, as I tend to have uncanny luck in those areas... I read a review at Amazon once and thought, "This sounds like Lance!!!" I looked at the person's info and saw that his nickname was indeed, Lance. I also stumbled upon a radio broadcast with fish! That was a very bizarre coincidence. I wasn't even searching for anything fish-related, but there it was! Of course, I have kept it all secret... I will keep your other blog a secret as well!

DO IT! Besides, it's 2012... if it goes horribly bad, the world ends in less than 12 months! Pffft! What have you got to lose?!?

[ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®©]

I call it 'Neil'.

There was Cowboy Neal at the wheel of the bus to never ever land.
~

[ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®©]

Don't forget the woodpeckers, beegee. Aren't they awesome?
~

[Another Kiwi]

Which is the real AK, Riddled or the poems???
It is an uneasy alliance between the two but whatever the occasion, the wrong one will be there!
SHUT UP NEIL

[Laura]

Wait....
..............
Hold up here a second.......

Are A.K. and Riddled the same person??
I assumed they were different!!!

Tell me!
Tell me now DAMMIT!!!

((Hugs))
Laura

P.S. I'm BEYOND devastated that no one has asked me to re-start my X-rated blog.
Eff all of yousguys!

[Another Kiwi]

Oh go on then, restart it. it's going to get a bit squicky is all, what with this group's interests and such.
Riddled is Smut Clyde, tigris et moi, Laura. Yes, I know, so much brainpower to make it and we make jokes about questionable woodcuts.

[Substance McGravitas]

Yes, I know, so much brainpower to make it and we make jokes about questionable woodcuts.

Come on. The time machine's a real accomplishment. Now brewing beer only takes a minute if you put it in the cellar some time before you got the idea to brew beer.

[Laura]

"Oh go on then, restart it."
Perhaps one day... some whore will show up on your blog. Her name will link back to some kind of absolute filth then, you will know it is I.

"it's going to get a bit squicky "
Hmmmm... squicky? Let me google that....
......

:o

Squicky
Quicky (sex) between two people that is so icky to consider that it ...
More results from urbandictionary.com

Really? Hmmmmm.. ;P

[blue girl]

Mr. thunder, I'm not sure it's appropriate to discuss your woodpeckers in Jennifer's thread. Maybe Laura should re-open her alter ego blog and we can discuss it there!

[fish]

May alter-ego blog would involve cute cat pictures with amusingly misspelled words, as if they wrote the captions themselves. I think there is money in the concept.

[Jennifer]

LOL! True... we are trying to keep it clean around here due to prying eyes... which is why I cringed when I reread this:

thudner- I expect to see your snake by the end of the week

That didn't sound right.

[blue girl]

LOL!

[ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®©]

"Oy vey" he kvetched.

(Did I say that right? I'm Catholic.)
~

[Jennifer]

Dunno thudner... I was raised as a Lutheran. Sounds good though.

[ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®©]

Speaking of kvetching, you know what the Highlander's final expedition was for?

A two hour trip to the dump to dispose of an old sink and a shelf that weighed 20 pounds, combined. ("This stuff weighs 30 pounds, max", said I.)
~

[Jennifer]

Are you blaming the sink for the rollover?

[zombie rotten mcdonald]

It wasn't for Bloggy Caesar supplies?

[Jennifer]

They were probably going to a Hooters... and tossed the sink in the back for a cover story.

[zombie rotten mcdonald]

Oh, I know that thndr has better taste than to go to a Hooters.

[zombie rotten mcdonald]

If your sink only weighs ten pounds, you don't have a proper enameled cast iron one, and will receive one (1) Architectural Sniff.

Thus, taking it to the dump was the proper course.

[blue girl]

proper enameled cast iron sink.

I had one of those in our first house! One of my favorite things I've ever had. I was sooooooo sad when we moved and had to leave it behind. That thing was AWESOME.

[blue girl]

"Oy vey" he kvetched.

We are not Jewish but Blue Kid used to tell people we were when he was little cuz he thought we were boring because we weren't "anything."

So, based on my sort of Jewish background (because there are people in the world who think I am!) I say, I *think* that's right, thunder.

[zombie rotten mcdonald]

One of my favorite things I've ever had.

I also installed a 1 h.p. garbage disposal into ours. The sink doesn't rattle AT ALL, even when you're REALLY jamming the limbs down into the disposer....

[blue girl]

even when you're REALLY jamming the limbs down into the disposer....

LOL

I just watched Fargo last week. I must say, that movie is DISTURBING now that I'm older and more afraid of everything. lol

[Jennifer]

Oh, I know that thndr has better taste than to go to a Hooters.

That's right, Thundra prefers woodpeckers.

BG- I know! I saw it a couple of weeks ago as well and was AMAZED at how much more disturbing it was than I remembered. I remembered (or dismembered) more comedy!

[blue girl]

I know! Isn't it evil and terrible, Margie?

[zombie rotten mcdonald]

That's right, Thundra prefers woodpeckers.

JENNIFER. Behave yourself.

[Jennifer]

What?? Look at his blog?? I can't say I've ever seen a photo of an owl! Hmmmm? Have you?

[ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®©]

I'd take a picture of an owl if I got a chance, Jennifer.
~

[Jennifer]

We had one that hung around here for a year or so... or rather, we were in its territory. I saw it one night at dusk, perched on top of a utility pole in our backyard. I was out with one of the dogs and caught it out of the corner of my eye. I swear, I thought it was a monkey at first!!! Then that huge head rotated around and I caught the eye glare... and then it flew away, flap, flap, flap... ginormous wings... carrying it away. I wish it had eaten a few more mice so they didn't end up in my attic. :(

[zombie rotten mcdonald]

we have bats.

I guess it's not too surprising, since I put up a bat house.