Sheila M. Evans

So this has been an incredibly busy week. For the five of you who actually read this, I apologize for my recent lack of posts. Between the holidays, my upcoming shows, and my sudden realization that my in-home studio wasn’t cutting it, I’ve been a bit overwhelmed.

My plan since early December had been to start painting my three-panel luna moth oil this coming week. I recognized that studio hours would be spotty at best until after the new year and had been thinking about finding a new work space, as I mentioned. But as I started prepping the canvases, it became clear that the three panels literally would not fit in my current space. Not without wrapping around a corner, anyway, which posed a big logistical problem. So I got it into my head that I would find a studio that I could work in by Monday (tomorrow).

Last weekend I started, with the help of family and friends, looking around town for some possibilities, and on Monday I started calling. The first few spaces sounded promising, in funky old buildings with great locations. But there were downsides. The first space I actually got to see was in a building I’ve always loved for its great windows and light, but the spaces available inside were windowless, depressing offices… not at all what I had pictured. The next few places seemed promising but ended up being loud, tiny, or otherwise not as advertised.

I started rearranging my home studio to accommodate my new painting as best I could, thinking this would end up a months-long process. Then on Thursday my Dad called me early in the morning to tell me about a brand-new posting he’d found on Craigslist… a space advertised not as an office but as an art studio, twice the size of anything I had seen yet, and in my budget. Furthermore, it was right in the neighborhood I wanted, in a cool old (1906) building. The only downside I could see was that it was a basement space… again I would probably not have a window, but at this point, I had resigned myself to that likelihood. Windows make spaces expensive!

So I left messages and emails with the building owner, and on getting no response, drove down to try to see the space anyway. There was a realtor listed on a sign outside, and luckily for me, he turned out to be one of about three working this week. I got in to see the space and fell in love. It is huge, funky and tucked out of the way in the building… a building which houses other artists and creative types, so I will be right at home. Thanks to the quick work of the realtor, landlord, and some incredibly nice insurance agents, I had a lease signed and keys in hand by Friday at lunch.

There’s only one small hurdle left: the previous tenant is still in the space for two weeks. But until then I get to use a wonderful empty space upstairs to start my painting—on Monday, right on schedule. I am so excited! Oh and by the way, there is a window in my space after all. An 8″ x 8″ glass brick stuck into what was once a fantastic arched opening that has been walled in. But hey, it faces north!

Above: the “window” in my studio… lots of north light!  Below: a support pillar. They don’t make them like this anymore.