In today’s post, Judy gives us a tour of the painting space she carved out in her small Philadelphia apartment. It’s another great example of finding simple solutions to stay creatively connected while staying at home.
I live in a rental. It’s a small space and I have to be careful not to get paint on the floors or walls, and not to make big permanent holes in the walls. Also, I need space enough to be able to step back and review what’s been done once in a while.
I’ve taken a small corner of my office room for painting. I’ve put shipping paper up on the mirrored closet door. If paint somehow misses the shipping paper, it can be easily scraped or wiped off the mirror. Then I use blue painters’ tape to put my painting paper on top of the shipping paper. The blue tape removes very easily and damages nothing.
I got a small, inexpensive plastic folding table from Amazon; it holds the palettes and water, and it’s lightweight and easily moveable. Also, I don’t care if it gets paint on it. (If someone did care, they could cover the top.) The floor is covered with painter’s canvas. This can be gotten on Amazon or from a home improvement store. I added the flattened cardboard box so there’s a little give and my legs don’t get tired from lengthy standing.
On the table, I use a disposable paper palette, as well as small plastic cups with lids to save leftover paint if necessary.
I put a chair and the laptop in front of the painting so the facilitator can see me and the painting. I prop the laptop up on a bunch of books so it’s higher than it would be just sitting on the table. That means a) the painting and I can be seen simultaneously and b) I don’t look too much like a zombie.
The only other thing needed is bright lighting. In my place, the windows across the room from the painting supply a lot of light in the daytime. Otherwise there are standing lamps around.
That’s it! Not even slightly pretty, but it allows me to paint.
More Information
For encouragement setting up your own process painting space, see Getting Ready to Paint at Home.
Our first online weekend painting workshop is this weekend! To see our current schedule of online process painting offerings, including weekly classes and weekend workshops, visit our Online Painting page.
Meet Judy Cohen on her website, Irreverent Mind, where she recently wrote about her experience with process painting at one of our weekend workshops. Here’s a lovely quote from that piece:
We are the painting, the paint, and the hand moving the brush.
Not that consciousness needs us to know this.
Which is why life goes on.
As is.
As art.
As a painting,
Making itself.
