A studio tour.

My husband , my youngest daughter (8 yrs) and I moved into my Mom’s house after my Dad passed away. My Mom had the upstairs. We had the downstairs. The only place for my studio was an unfinished back room.

I could work with the unfinished part but the lack of windows got to me after 5 years. I began calling it the dungeon. It got to the point that I had to force myself to work…the oppressiveness of working with no window for 6-8 hours just got to me.

But then we bought this house from my Mom (who moved to a senior place and closer to my older sister). My oldest daughter (25 yrs) and husband are very gainfully employed in the computer and telecommunications fields. They share the mortgage with us. Now they have two kids and live downstairs…while we have the upstairs. The “dungeon” was “deconstructed” along with the small room next to it and they both both became a suite for my daughter and son in law.

I got to move to a lovely room with a view. Now I love working again! Here’s the view I can see from my work table. There is a pond out there under the snow. At this time of the year I can see the kids ice skating.

And here is a picture of my winter garden. In the warm months I have a lovely flower garden but it is cold and snowy a substantial portion of the year here. So I put a colorful display out on the deck right outside my studio window. I have a patio door that leads out to my second floor deck.

I have seen so many artists sharing what their studio’s look like so I thought I would join them and post pictures of my space. My studio is filled with my may materials (much hidden in the large walk in closet), some of my older pieces 0f art, things that inspire me and things I love.

I will start with one wall:

On the wall you will see some pictures made by my daughters when they were young. One painted by my youngest when she was around 2 yrs is entitled “Mama and Baby Fishie” Can you find it? There is the cool photo entitled “Spider in the Woods” taken by my cousin Debra Chard. It was a gift to me because I love spiders.

There are some hats hanging on the hooks. One has a beaded hat band made by me. There is a neat paper bag hat made by my youngest daughter. Then there are some lovely feather hats made by my friend Debra Hathaway at www.DragonWings.net. She is, by the way, a wonderful doll artisan. She and her husband Eric make lovely dolls and puppets that they have been selling on the Renaissance Festival circuit for many years.

On the book shelf is the magic candy dish from my husband’s childhood. Kids all thought it was magic because they could never get the candy in the dish without Mom hearing *grin*.

There is a cut crystal glass mug that I won for coming in third place, in my class, in the Minnesota Finlandia. The Minn Finn use to be a 100 K cross country ski race run over two days. Now it is only a 50 K race.

There is the birch bark basket made by a friend.

So many other things. If you have any questions feel free to ask!

Next wall:

In the corner you will see the plastic containers that hold some of the materials I need for my art dolls. The roll top desk holds my supplies for my precious metal clay work.

On the roll top there is the vintage Barbie box that holds the Betsy Mc Call doll that my Grandmother bought for me when I was 5.  Also there are the many hand made clothes she made for me. I vividly remember receiving cards from her on holidays with a dress made just for the holiday.  I have treasured this doll all my life. It was one of the few things I have from that Grandma. I will have to post some pictures some time in the future.

You also will see my youngest daughter’s and my collection of Disney Pins. When we all go to Disneyland we like collecting and trading pins. My youngest daughter loves to collect Fairies and Pirates. I love to collect Alice in Wonderland.

Next wall:

On the wall you will see a beautiful gypsy mirror made with stain glass, beads and pressed flowers under glass. It was made by my dear friend Jane Thompson of Underglass, who passed away last year. I have always loved this mirror. She was a wonderful artist who said her purpose as an artist was to fill the world with beauty.

I have my vintage sewing machine.

All the wood boxes contain art materials. They sit on the cabinet I use for my “mail center”. I have a horrible time getting things sent out if I don’t have all the supplies all together in one spot. This is one true luxury in my book!

On the tall chest there is a cage with a monster in it. Her name is Mavis. She was adopted from some fellow artisan’s at the Arizona Renaissance Festival, Pat and Suzanne at Bungled Jungle.

Also there is a Faerie House attached to my lamp. It is made by my friends Belle and Frank Barr. They are the neatest people …personally and professionally. Some day I will post pictures of their house…complete with a fully functional Hobbit Hole in the back yard! Their lovely work can be found at www.FaerieHouse.com

Also up on the cabinet you will see my youngest daughter’s new kitten, Daisy. She loves playing with the beads and felt scraps that fall to the floor . And she is an art lover too.

Now, Daisy is sitting on the drawer unit right inside the door to my studio. It houses my spider collection.

There are the spider earrings I made with size 22 hexes. I have the two spider gourd rattles I made with bead weaving, brain tan leather and paint. There is the spider goblet, a gift from a friend filled with my spider and bug pin collection. The little green painted wooden box was made by my youngest daughter. A lovely little puzzle box…a gift from my Mom. A couple of bead woven snakes of my design. A beaded spider and a spider bracelet received as gifts.

And oh, can’t forget my daughter’s little Japanese Good luck Neko bead. You got to pass her on your way into my studio…got to get that good luck!

Last wall: This is the wall over my computer. These are pictures painted by the many generations of artists in my Mom’s family.  My favorite picture is the one painted by my Mom of the Boundary Waters Canoe area. I love being reminded that I am descended from a long line of artists! Also a picture painted by my husband. I like the road sign “be prepared to stop”…it has a lot of spiritual meaning to it for me.

To the left of my computer is my work table.

I have the pleasure of working on a great big work table made by my Dad, for me. I treasure even more now that he has passed away. He was a man who got many things done in his life and the table reminds me that I can achieve my dreams too.

On my table is a little altar with some sacred items I have.

There is the ivory Buddha my parents bought on a trip to Hong Kong in the 1950’s. I had in my room as a child (even though I was raised Christian). It makes me smile now because I married a man who was ordained a Soto Zen Buddhist monk.

The little picture is one my husband, Fudo Michael Koppang painted. He probably will be embarrassed that I have put it up here but I love the little picture. Also on the little altar is a beautiful Avaloketisvara , the Boddhisatva of Compassion. I had never seen one holding a baby when I found this one. Also there are some neat stones that I found on a beach in South Carolina. One of the stones makes a natural little bowl for the Buddha. One of the other stones looks like a mother holding a baby. I found her when I found myself pregnant unexpectedly at 40.

The cloth under it all was a gift from some Japanese monk friends. And the little box that he sits on used to contain powdered Japanese incense.

And that is my studio! Thanks for joining me on the studio tour.

May I offer you a cup of tea ?