My Art Studio is Still Evolving but I'm Savoring Its Imperfection

Last year I blogged about planning my dream studio. I was hoping to move my work space from one room in our house to another. For various reasons this never happened.

Sometimes our plans never materialize. Sometimes our ideas don’t work.

One of the reasons I decided not to tackle the enormous task of moving my studio here in this house was that a bigger dream was to move my studio into a completely new space. Since before we moved from Ohio to Wisconsin (9 years ago), Matthias and I have been wanting to purchase a house on a piece of land outside of town. That house, that land, would be home to my dream studio space.

I wish I were writing to tell you I’m moving into my dream space.

I’m not.

I’m still dreaming.

In September I got an email from the Senior Managing Editor of In Her Studio magazine. A short piece I’d written was going to be published in the Winter 2023 issue.

When I re-read what I’d written, my words were just what I needed to hear:

“So many of us put our dreams on hold because our circumstances aren’t ‘perfect’, but if I had waited until life was perfect before learning to paint, I would still be waiting to pick up a brush.”

Although I’ve been slowly making changes to my current space, my studio is still not perfect.

And even though it’s not quite time for my dream of a house in the country and a studio with views of gardens and countryside, I’m not letting it keep me from living my other dreams. Dreams of art-making and art-teaching and writing and connecting with you.

The saying “Bloom where you’re planted” used to irritate me. To me it implied we remain stuck where we are, even if it isn’t the right place.

I didn’t like that thought.

The truth is that sometimes when our circumstances aren’t ideal, the only way to make them better is to change ourselves.

My studio is beautiful and functional and inspiring. I love coming up here to work each day. I’m grateful to have so much space and to be able to spill into other areas of our home (if you took my newest Sketchbook class, you may have noticed I filmed various locations. More on that in another post).

My dreams keep me moving forward and perhaps not having “perfect” circumstances is good motivation to keep going.

What dreams are you dreaming? What’s keeping you moving forward? What’s holding you back?

Even if your creative journey is still just in the dreaming phases, please don’t wait until your circumstances are “perfect” to begin making those dreams a reality

Pick up your brush, whether it’s an actual paintbrush or a metaphorical one, and let yourself bloom.