The Woman Who Worked on Her Bed
The art of making-do
I spent many years waiting for the time and space, both mental and physical, to create. To quote Anaïs Nin, “The day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” It was time to bloom where I was planted.
When I started making art, I was known as the woman who worked on her bed. Desperate to find a space to call my own, I tried working in various areas of my home and settled on my queen-size bed and a corner of my bedroom. Starting in 1999, my bed was my worktable, and my bedroom my “studio.” I had perfected the art of making do.
After my mother died in 2007, we convinced my legally blind father to move in with us. We sold our house and moved to one that would accommodate his needs and ours. My studio was in my bedroom again. When we could no longer meet his needs, he moved into assisted living.
Not long after he moved out, my youngest daughter graduated high school. We began looking for another home outside of the DC area and in 2012, we chanced on the opportunity to rent a history and inspiration-infused house in Frederick, Maryland. It was a 350+-year-old mid-18th century stone colonial situated on a working 1,000-acre thoroughbred horse farm that belonged to my daughter-in-law’s grandfather.
The space for my studio was huge and located under the original belfry. The bell is still in place. It was the ideal studio. The one I dreamed of. (As you can see, the bigger the space, the more you create, and the bigger the mess.) We enjoyed the horses and pretending it was our farm for three years until it was time to put down roots again. We began looking for a house to buy and call our own.
We searched for seven months, and I was getting frustrated. While taking a writing class Martha’s Vineyard, I found what I thought was my ideal storybook house while scrolling on Zillow. I called my husband, and he arranged for us to see it the next day. We went straight from the airport to the house.
It was wonderful, except for two things - 1) it needed a lot of work, and 2) I remembered how cold a 1930s stone house could be after living in the one on the farm. But my husband had a back-up plan. There was another house just up the hill that was for sale. It was only 13 years old and move-in ready! It didn’t need anything and was the perfect place for the two of us.
We moved into this charming, secluded three-bedroom house on the mountain on September 11, 2015. It was perfect - one room for us, one for my husband’s office, and one for my studio. I was heavily into mixed media, bookmaking, journaling, coaching other artists, and writing craft books, and that bedroom was all the room I needed … or so I thought.
When I began working on my Civil War quilt series three years ago, I took over the dining room, but that wasn’t enough. I realized I needed more space—a cutting table and ironing station, a permanent space for my new sewing machine, and, most importantly, good lighting. It was time to get serious about my art needs. I had been making-do long enough. I was a professional and deserved a professional studio. I moved my studio down to the basement, a place I said I’d never work in because there were no windows. Necessity overcame that objection.
If I had just one focus and one art medium, I might have been able to confine my work to a contained space, but I do not, which brings me to my current situation—a studio in flux. I’m revamping and taking over 75% of the basement in order to create the new work that I’ve been envisioning for the last few months.
Due to years of my make-do mentality, my studio space and needs have grown piecemeal and helter-skelter over the nine years we’ve been in this house. There was never a plan. I was so busy creating, teaching, and writing how-to books that I just plopped everything anywhere. I knew where everything was, but it was a mess. Not only has the time come for more space and a better setup for working on the new directions and ideas I’ve been exploring, but I also need to bring order to the mess. (Of course, I decided to do this at the same time I was scheduled for carpal tunnel surgery, so the process has been slow going, but it’s going!)
An ordered space provides benefits like reduced stress and anxiety, improved focus and productivity, enhanced sense of control, better decision-making, increased creativity, and a more positive overall mood. Clutter and disorganization can be mentally taxing and hinder efficient functioning in daily life.
(Google AI)
Organizing my creative space is the art I am practicing right now. I am also taking a couple of online classes that are out of my comfort zone. In order to create new work, I need to get uncomfortable and explore different methods and materials and new ways of thinking, envisioning, and creating. The process of creating order requires a period of disorder. The goal has never been to have the perfect studio, just the space for a working studio that worked for me. Over the years, I’ve grown as an artist and outgrown many studios. This next one may or may not be the last one, but it’s the right fit for now.
Quotes of the Week
In all chaos there is a cosmos, in all disorder a secret order.
Carl Jung
Chaos does not mean total disorder. Chaos means a multiplicity of possibilities.
Jok Church
People are always looking for the single magic bullet that will completely change everything. There is no single magic bullet. Progress is about bridging the gap between what we observe and what we can imagine — one careful step at a time.
Temple Grandin
I lived in a caravan (trailer) for a few years and also used my bed as a workspace too, but now for the 1st time in my life (I'm 75), I have my own workshop - I hesitate to call it a studio as that makes me think of clear walls with displays of things on them, somewhere more tidy, whereas my workshop has floor to ceiling shelving around most of it, and my big table. It's fantastic!
Still to get my things sorted as they had to be brought there quickly. I do have far too much "stuff" - though don't want to get rid of any of it! - and am so happy with my space! No more clearing off the table because it's needed for something else, everything in one place, can't wait to get it all sorted out, I already love being in it.
I love this story! Mine is messy too and is always in flux. We live part of the year in AZ and that one is much more organized, but still encompasses all parts of the tiny house. We’re buying a bigger house there so the studio will continue to be “adjustable”. You find so much good stuff when you reorganize!