Welcome To My Party--Come On In!!

Hi everyone--welcome!  This is my first-ever blog party!   I've been blogging for less than a year, and let me tell you--it's opened up a whole new world for me.  And when I saw the  Where Bloggers Create II  party invitation on Karen's blog My Dessert Cottage I knew that this was for me.  Next to viewing other artist's work, I love seeing  their work spaces, and I'm sure that  the same goes for everyone here at the party.

So let me give you a little history of my art room.  Alot of you who have been here before know all about it, but if you've never been here--I'll tell you.  My husband and I have lived in our home for 30 years raising all of our children here, and now they're  grown and gone (I truly do love my little birdies, but I sure am happy that my nest is now empty : ) So now we have this big old house all  to ourselves--well  I've  pretty much taken it over--ahhh, such is the life of the husband of a mixed media artist.

And my art room is one of the bedrooms that we have--it's the smallest. It was the  bedroom for most of my kids when they were babies--or the nursery (that's what I like  to call  it, because it's so tiny, only a baby could live in it) And a few months ago, it had a complete overhaul.  I painted the walls, put a laminant floor in, and decluttered it (everything else that was in there  has found a new home in other areas of my  house)  so now all that's in it are the things that I like to play with everyday.   Oh yeah, there's one more reason why our home and  this  room, in particular,  is special to me.  This is the house that I grew up in and this was my bedroom the entire time I lived here until I moved out at the ripe old age of 19 to get married.

So enough talking! Let me show you around my art room. This is the one end of my room  where I pretty much store everything. Usually the leaf of the desk is open for ongoing projects that I don't have room for on my work table.

Every flat surface in my room is filled with treasures just waiting for a home in a future  art project (I have to mention that I am a garage sale junkie,and I have a passion for anything vintage)

And in addition to a junk drawer, I also have a junk bowl just filled to the brim with goodies--

I want you to keep in mind, that this  is just a fraction of what I have--remember I've taken over the whole house. And I ALWAYS find that one little piece that will complete my piece of art.

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And what would I do without my brushes,  paints,  pencils, crayons,  and all of my "potions"

I'm always cooking up something in my "lab"

More storage space next to my work table--

And right next  to my table is my ever-expanding wall of art--some of it's mine, but most are from other artists that I've met online.  My goal is to fill these two walls from top to bottom and then to move on to the rest of the room.

And finally, here's my work table and what I'm working on right now--

Okay, who am I fooling--we all know that this last photo was staged. When I'm in the middle of  something and that creative energy starts flowing, I can't be held responsible for the uproar on my table surface, and this is a good thing!!   But for the party, I wanted to tidy it up a bit. As soon as I get back to this, the table will be back to being a mess.  And if you want to see the completed piece, come back for the after-party next week  and I'll show you.  As you can see, it may not be the biggest space or the most efficient, but it's ALL MINE, and I wouldn't trade it for anything!

This is my little haven.  I'm always happy in here, no matter what may be going one in  my life.  It never fails to inspire me, and I'm always surprised  at what it inspires me to create.

And there you have it--a little glimpse into  my art space and world.  I feel so blessed and fortunate, and I never take for granted  the fact that I'm able to do this full time on a daily basis.  So all those many, many, many, many............years ago before the words  internet,  email,  facebook, etc., etc. were even invented,  I was a content  little  5  year  old girl up in  my  bedroon painting with my paints, coloring with my crayons, and drawing with my pencils, and here I am right back where I started--painting with my paints, coloring with my crayons, and drawing with my pencils--life is good!!

Now we  better get going---there 's a lot more parties going on. We can meet up at

Karen's place  and check  out everyone else who's having their own party.  Have fun--I'm sure we'll see each other  again  during the  festivities  this weekend!