Saturday, June 28, 2008

More thoughts on studios

I've had many a studio in my day. I Started as a kid building secret forts in the woods or in summer people's houses in winter. In art school my friends and I lived illegally in the school's vast Cellarlands. The cellar used to be a bombshelter. If we got hungry enough we would eat the crackers from the tins labeled "1963", the year I was born. The "survival crackers" looked like graham crackers and tasted like cardboard. We once built a giant loaf the size of a VW Bug out of these crackers, but that's another story. Together we lived in this cellar for two years. Amid rats and furnaces and leaky pipes we built thrones and life-size games boards. We encrusted everything from floor to ceiling in glitter, including ourselves.
Together, we re-invented life into our own mythology. We made sure to steer clear of creepy place like "Janitorland" and dangerous "Matron Jane Land". After two years of fun and games we got thrown out. Oops. Lucky for me I was well into my fifth year. I could have graduated the year before but was having way too much fun.

From here, I moved into derelict free studios. The remains of an old cranberry mill on Martha's Vineyard was a favorite for quite a few years.
Next came the floating studios." Dragonfly's Banquet", my sailing raft home was pretty good when the weather was calm. It was unbearable when it was rough. I'm actually getting seasick just thinking about trying to paint during those stormy times on the ocean!
A favorite floating studio was the one we built on top of the Neutrino family's raft. The view of Provincetown was fantastic!



Here is a painting from a studio I had right here in my house. It's about three feet from my bed and the oil paint fumes made it intolerable.


At the more recent "El-Change-O!" studio, scenes like this were a relatively common sight.



Back to the present and this windy studio. I've had better, and I've had worse!

3 comments:

Judy from Texas in Arizona said...

I really really like the painting of the cat on the stove. That's terrific! You've had lots of experiences with studios. I like the floating one! But then I could be a beach bum or cruise bum. I love the ocean.

Paintress Gretchen said...

I love the ocean more than I can say. I'm Pisces and I grew up on an Island! I tried living on it, but after a couple of years I realized it's much easier on dry land! I was starting to get jealous of people who could just nonchalantly walk out their door, like it's just as easy as that!
Something I take for granted now!

love23 said...

Love love love the good old days, I am glad that I actually got to hang out on Dragon Fly's Banquet! I'm glad I took a train across country and played SCRABBLE all the way and back and journalled. I have always loved that painting very much! xoKATE