Transitions: New RV Studio Tour

I am writing this post a day late. I took yesterday “off” for my mom’s birthday. It was her first birthday where she wasn’t here with us. It was a tough day, for sure, but we kept busy with homestead projects. I’m not certain I’m dealing with her loss in the healthiest way, but I’m making do and coping. 

 

Mixed in with the homestead projects this week have been preparations for the arrival of my husband’s parents and also an exciting new studio move. Those who have been following my art journey on Facebook and Instagram will know that my first “studio” space was a desk area in our kitchen. As I got to working more regularly, the materials and associated mess expanded, so last year my husband suggested I take over the guest bedroom. That area also became somewhat “small” for the materials and work, but I had plenty of table space for office work and framing paintings. I was rather content there, BUT every time we had family visit and stay, the space had to be converted back into a guest bedroom. 

A desk in my kitchen was a great start

I was so thankful to take over
the guest bedroom for a while

Recently my husband had a crazy, wonderful idea that we could get a travel trailer, RV type space to be a studio. At his urging I looked around online and actually found a 1996 Dutchmen 5^th wheel RV. The folks who owned it before me began a renovation of the space, but it wasn’t quite completed. It cost less than a newer model which should allow me to complete renovations and maybe even add solar panels and a composting toilet. My lovely husband hit two birds with one stone, because I have been looking at tiny houses for years now, so this new studio space satisfies my yearning for a tiny house of my own. 

 

My wonderful father and our dear friends Bill and Josh helped to change the hitch to work with the ball hitch in my dad’s pick-up truck, and the new studio arrived here at our place last Friday. It will need some work, but I’ve been able to move in most of my art materials. There are great storage cupboards, cubbies, and closets, and the middle area is tall enough for my easel. I honestly would never have dreamed of having a separate studio space any time soon, so I’m so excited to get to work and am still a bit in shock that it has worked out. I look forward to sharing the renovations and studio updates with you!

Here comes the studio on Papi's truck

The mid point is tall enough for my easel

  

The kitchen and booth areas

My canvases fit nicely in the closet

I can even fit books in the cabinets

What is your "studio" space like? Do you use your kitchen table, a desk in the living room, a guest bedroom? How do you navigate space and time for art making? I'd love to hear how others are handling their art creation spaces!

I feel guilty when...

This post goes out to other creative mothers. 
Whether you paint or craft, quilt, sew, or sculpt – this post is for you.  

Within the past few years, I’ve decided to truly dedicate time to making my artwork. At the moment it’s taking the form of acrylic paintings. The paints I’m using, with the exception of three recently purchased tubes of Golden Acrylics, are student paints I received as gifts a LONG time ago. When I really got back into making art, my daughter was a newborn. I would literally sit at a little desk area in our kitchen nursing her and draw or paint in the evening after our two boys were in bed. So, I’m a beginner with some serious time and material constraints. 

This morning while washing dishes, simmering a homestead smoked ham to roast later, waiting for a load of baby clothes to finish in the washer to transfer to the dryer, and preparing lunch for my three kids, I felt guilty. I felt guilty that I wasn’t in the studio. I felt guilty that I hadn’t written my Morning Pages. I felt guilty that I wasn’t out preparing the garden beds or purchasing our starter plants from the nursery. I felt guilty that the clean laundry wasn’t yet folded and put away. I felt guilty that I wasn’t playing with or reading to my kids. I felt guilty that areas of my house are cluttered and need cleaning. I was doing THREE things at once, and I still felt guilty. 

 

Honestly, I believe this is a little ridiculous. 

 

Yes, there are days when I sit on my butt and watch old shows online for an hour or two. Some days we order in food, and my daughter and I *may* be eating box mac n’ cheese as I’m typing this, but for the most part, I prepare homecooked meals, grow/raise a lot of our own food, and I make time for my creative endeavors which may even be developing into a small business. The house isn’t filthy, if a bit untidy. The children are fed and bathed, educated and entertained. Most of the time they have on clean clothes. 

 

If you’re like me, weighed down by the expectations, societal or personal, take a minute. Just, take a minute and breathe in deeply. Close your eyes and realize how much you’ve done, all the little tasks that add up, all the big tasks that get taken for granted. Think about the things that absolutely have to get done – did you do them? Did you get them done with some help from friends or family? I bet you did. I bet everyone’s okay, healthy, probably even happy. And if something did not get done, realize that maybe that’s okay. Realize that maybe not everything has to be done today. Realize that some things are okay to leave undone in order to make room for your passions. Give yourself a break, and for Heaven’s sake, stop feeling guilty.