THE DREAM of an ART STUDIO

My first “studio” was my bedroom floor. When I was growing up, I would lay down on my squishy green carpet with an assortment of magic markers & crayons and scribble to my heart’s content. In college & graduate school, I put away my art supplies to focus on what would eventually become a decades-long career as an English teacher. Once in a while, I might make a few handmade greeting cards, but that was basically the extent of my art practice during the ‘90s.

Over the next twenty years, I committed a little art here and there in kitchens, spare bedrooms and basements, but it wasn’t until after my divorce, in 2015, that I officially designated a little corner of my apartment as the space in which my daily practice really began to take shape.

Suddenly, I started to dream about a real, light-filled, spacious studio in which to create.

In 2019, I bought a house. There was a lot to do, and my general contractor friend, Chuck, came over to overhaul my kitchen.  There was an area in the lower level I used as a studio for several years, but it was dark and uninviting. “Lemme know when you wanna redo that studio,” he said.

“I’m good,” I said. “I can’t imagine ever wanting more.”

But we humans, we do this thing.

We have a way of expanding into our spaces and changing our minds.

In 2021, in the midst of the COVID quarantine, when everything seemed to be at a standstill, when people couldn’t imagine any kind of a future for themselves, I saw it. I knew what I had to do. I called Chuck, and he helped me build what has since become my dream studio. My original, tiny, basement hovel suddenly ballooned into a roomy, light-filled space with lots of light and storage. Chuck found a huge, heavy 9-foot table for me to work at and he hung my oversized mirrors on the walls. I “shopped the curb” and found a dresser, a desk, and bookshelves that fit the room perfectly.

For the last five years, I’ve been teaching art classes from out of this space. Then, one day, not too long ago, Chuck was over, fixing something or another in my house. “Do ya feel like you want a little bathroom down there, Nay?” he asked. Over the years, I’ve learned that when Chuck gives mention to a project that ‘could’ be done, it isn’t long after before that seed needs to be planted. Today, I have a lovely little half-bathroom just outside of the studio so no one has to traipse up a full flight of stairs to use the facilities anymore!

Y’all, I frickin’ love my studio, and sometimes I have to take a moment to marvel at it all!

It didn’t happen overnight, but here I am!

Every once in a while, I feel a little uncertain about what I’m supposed to be doing next – and then I remember…

Sometimes we have to be patient with our dreams. We simply have to keep working and believe that everything is happening exactly the way it’s supposed to, and at the right time.

Every day that I get to walk in, work, and spend time creating feels like a dream come true!

I love sharing this space with friends and clients, and it’s so much fun to create in here with them.

For me, this dream of a light-filled, spacious studio represents freedom.

Success.

Magic.

It also represents the idea that I can create what I want in my world.

That anything is possible.

That there’s always a way.

It’s easy to fall into the trap of believing that your dreams aren’t possible – out of fear, self-doubt, imposter syndrome, other people’s opinions, and all kinds of difficult circumstances.

But when you keep a dream alive and let it propel you forward, that’s when the magic happens.

Sometimes the road is long.

Sometimes the path veers.

Sometimes your dream morphs along the way.

But your dreams and your desires are trying to tell you something about yourself.

They’re alive in you for a reason! Are you paying attention?

The great American poet Langston Hughes once wrote:“Hold onto dreams for if they die, life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly.”

What are YOUR dreams? Where did they come from? When were they born in you? What do your dreams and desires represent for you? What are you doing today to actively walk in the direction of your dreams?