Hey, hi there… it’s been a while since I saw you.
Days fly by, filled with all kinds of household jobs, a workshop and making art.
Let me fill you in…
First: here’s my desk and yes, it is VERY CLEAN!
The reason for this urge to clean…?
Leonard Cohen!
It was my birthday last week and my friend Lena painted a portrait of Leonard Cohen as a birthday gift. I put the painting in the living room at first, but after a few days my beloved found it a bit uncomfortable to have Mr. Cohen looking at him all the time. The painting had to go to my atelier but there was no space because I had all kinds of posters, postcards and art taped to the wooden wall/closet doors. So I decided to take everything off and start over…
… but OHMY… in most cases I had used double-sided adhesive foamtape to hang art on the wall and it did not come off easy… I spend all Sunday afternoon to rub off that @$&*!^&% tape. My fingers hurt, I broke some nails but I managed to get it all off.
And I put up Mr. Cohen!
The ‘wooden wall’ is actually closets – the smaller ones in the corners have their doors in the living room, the bigger ones in the middle (see next photo) are the doors to my atelier closets.
I selected the things I wanted to put back on the wall and used ‘magic tape’ this time, so it will come off easy when I decide to change it again. I also left space to hang future art. (And yes, I also have a magnetic white board to hang stuff on – mostly notes and some photos.)
While cleaning the closet doors I noticed all the dust and paint stains on my desk surface – you know how it is when you clean: you start seeing more dirt everywhere! Another afternoon was spend on cleaning the desks and window sill. Pfew! The atelier is ready for some creative action again.
Talking about creative action… my friend and ‘partner in crime’ Jenny de Bode came over on Friday and we tought a workshop last Saturday… it was an wonderful and inspiring day! Here’s an impression.
Edit: Jenny just launched her new website
Oops, this blogpost is getting long… but I am not planning to leave you without showing you some art… here’s the page I was working on a couple of weeks ago. This spread wasn’t an easy one to finish (thanks for your tips about what to do with the white space) and I’m still not sure if I like it… but I call it finished.
And now, I’m off to enjoy making my clean desk dirty again 😉
Thanks for stopping by!
Wow, that is an amazing painting of Leonard Cohen and it does look great in your art room. How wonderful that you’ve been to Swansea and Laugharne! I live almost halfway between the two in a small harbour town called Burry Port. I take it you’re a big Dylan Thomas fan then if you visited his museum and the boathouse, he was right character, that’s for sure! If ever you’re back this way, you’ll have to call in!
Hugs LLJ 5 xxxx
Your space is so inspiring, marit! Much more streamlined than my own.
Love your art and art play as always!
Love to you!
That painting is amazing! I love seeing more of your work space in addition to the desk itself. Glad you are finally ready to get back to being creative after the cleaning and tidying. I love those mini concertina books from the work shop. Happy WOYWW Sarah #20
Hi Marit, I certainly understand the cleaning problem. I also think at certain times of the year as the light changes the dust seems to show up and once you start….well that’s it you just have to keep going until it’s done! Great workshop pics and loving the journal pages too. Happy crafty woyww, Angela x7x
Hi Marit, Loving your beautiful artwork.
Thanks for stopping by my blog.
Happy WOYWW
Sue #6
just love your room, and that fab page too. Enjoy Leonard! Helen #2
Hope your desk dirtying goes well!!! Love the way you put that and that’s a superb painting of Leonard Cohen.
Have a good week
Christine #10
A lovely room and art space, Marit. Lots to look at. Hope you are enjoying making it all messy and dirty again!
Take care. God bless.
Margaret #1
I chuckled that your partner couldn’t stand Leonard Cohen looking at him LOL! Me and my husband have this on-going “feud” about things that I like and he doesn’t and vice versa. There’s this ugly sculpture he made in high school that he insists on displaying and I always move it next to his bed and then he moves it next to mine etc. You never know where it’s gonna turn up and scare you LOL! Great makeover of your studio – now its nice and clean waiting for you to make more art! Your workshop must have been awesome and that page looks very finished to me! I bet it’s very meaningful – it sure is powerful visually! Thanks for visiting yesterday! Have fun making art in your new and improved studio! zsuzsa #11
LOVE the look of your studio ! The portrait of Mr. Cohen is gorgeous! LOL sorry but I had to laugh about the tape incident, but trust me you are not alone in that. After it happened to me a few times, I invested in a good “sticker remover” pen, it’s oil based and from Edding. Works like a charm! Hope you’ll find this tip useful 🙂 Happy rest of the week! xo Cheetarah WOYWW #13
Thanx, thanx, Thank you for the tip Cheetarah, that is indeed usefull! I will go look if they sell it in our store here in the Netherlands.
You have such talented friends I spent time visiting Mandy van Goeijie after your last post and now visited the very talented Lena. What a great gift. later I will visit Jenny.
late visiting today, all day spent on medical visits and all yesterday with friend an laser printer to make image transfers.
have a wonderful week
monica #18 deep in the heat of Texas
What a great BDay present! Your friend is very talented! Lovely tour of the studio, it is amazing how when you start cleaning something, it ends up in a huge thorough cleaning. Maybe that’s why I don’t do it very often! LOL! Sorry I’m so late this week! Thanks for sharing, Lindart #26
Love the painting – it’s fabulous and so worth all the cleaning you had to do to find a place for it. And the bonus is that you have s lovely clean desk to work on now. The workshop looks fun and the artwork is beautiful. Elizabeth x #28