Sunday, October 16, 2011

Juan's favourite room: his artist studio


Juan, a local artist with international recognition, describes his favourite room for us.

My life is developing in different aspects, I feel good in every corner of my house, but I spend many hours in my studio. I bought my current house because I wanted to link the basement to the house. So, for the first time, I could have my home and studio in the same space!
The house has two floors from the main front view but has three floors from the rear façade, the surrounding hillside is sloped. The basement is very large and I connected it to to the house with steps that had not existed before. The original owners had to go around the block to get to the basement.
I removed the large doors to the old garages and built a glass wall to let in enough natural light. There are two spaces of 70 meters each that I connected. Beyond the stairs is the garage and storage area, and on the other side is my studio space.
How to furnish an artist's studio?
I have several artist's easels, which allows me to work on several pictures at the same time. I have a long rustic wooden table for painting procedures, I made it as a giant artist's palette, in the study there are many brushes and pigments everywhere, and there are many points of light according to the work to be done, the studio floor also serves for painting. Imagine how dirty it can be sometimes! But sometimes I'm watching and photographing it also because it looks like a painting.
I also have stools, drawing boards that I did myself also, running water taps and stuff that are good for nothing but join me in my adventures of creation. Oh!, I have a radio, really I need it!, I tune into classical music programs, I find that inspires me. Sometimes I work at the same pace as a conductor.
The back street is an old rustic road and leads through a wooded area known as Las Magnolias so I can indulge my artistic emanations. I rarely see anyone there, perhaps a neighbour walking the dogs. Ah! I forgot, riders often go with their beautiful horses taking advantage of the rustic surroundings.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Beloved teacher, thanks for your kindness and understanding.
Juan