20.11.07

Studio carnage

It is a cold, damp and dark November night. The village smells of mist and woodsmoke. The woodburner has been going all day, although it doesn't make my fingers any warmer, up here in the studio. We have been given our first brace of pheasant of the season, and Andy has been in the dank, twilit yard, 'dealing' with them. Sounds of chopping and rinsing. I would have 'dealt with them' myself, but I have not stopped working at one thing or another for weeks now. I have been out of the village twice this month, each time to the woods, as posted previously. Can't remember the last time I went to any town or shops - not including the Co-op down the road. Which is almost a shop.

To anyone who has visited the Hovel and marvelled at my neat and tidy workspace, I display to the whole world, my recent shame...piles of STUFF everywhere as I combine finishing a Christmas tag order/doing an illustration for deadline which crept up on me while doing aforementioned tag order/packing up Etsy and shop orders/trying to find a spare moment to design two more Christmas cards, and update this poor little blog, the latter of which I seem to be achieving anyway. Some readers may recognise one or two things in my little heaps...





I may be surrounded by miscellaneous THINGS but many of them are things from lovely friends and everywhere I look I spot something which makes me smile (Tara and my SOSF partner...am saving your packs for the calm after the storm, I am a chronic hoarder, I'm sorry...)




My table! where did it go?




(Note to my Hallowe''een SOSF partner - see that chair in the bottom right hand corner? With the bluey picture on? Under that is my lovely lovely box, you can just see it peeking out beneathwhich I keep in sight (usually) to spur me on...)


The only peaceful area, waiting to be packed up tonight and sent down to
Your Life Your Style, which opens today in Winchester - good luck to her and all who sail in her!




I will resurface later in week when things are more - manageable. And tidy. Must have some tidy. Tidy is good.



18 comments:

Cowboys and Custard Mercantile said...

Hello PG
Oh it is of great comfort to know I am not the only one living in chaos.. my chaos is fairly contained in one corner but .. what a corner.. piled high with 1950's annuals, Blank cards, envelopes, badges, badge machine etc etc.
I am very envious of your book press.. should have kept mine.. sold it years ago in moment of madness!
Thank you for the book recommendation.. I will seek later. Your Life your Style sounds intriguing.. will have to investigate.
Michelex

Anonymous said...

It looks like you have been very busy indeed. Your printed labels are beautiful, and the chaos will decline as soon as the season is well upon ye, I'm sure :)

The pheasant sound delicious, I watch them in the fields next to my place-of-work and think of our local game shop... They are pretty things.

Anyway, thanks for the suggestion, I'll look that track up!

Unknown said...

Um... It all looks quite neat to me. And where do I sign up to live in a village. I love the idea of Julie and I owning a cottage on the shore somewhere. I wanted to see if you'd post 5 random things about yourself. Alicia Padron tagged me and I usually don't go for that sort of thing but i did.

tlchang said...

You are living my life of the past nearly-two-years... (gets old, dudn't it?)

I am relieved to see you are still alive, however. I was beginning to worry a bit!

Emm@ said...

Those tags look fabamundo. Well done. Now breathe!

Libbys Blog said...

No rest for the wicked hey!!! I'm so glad your in my group!! Maybe we can be wicked together??????

Anonymous said...

Heh heh, it's creative chaos, at least! Me, I have a load of stuff heaped on top of my printing press at the minute!

Caroline B said...

That's relatively tidy.....you should see my 'work station'!! Love those tags - they've all turned out really well.
I cannot believe you have not opened your parcels!!!Just thinking about it makes me agitated!!

Elizabeth Musgrave said...

We love pheasant too and I have to admit that I let Ian see to them.
Your piles are clearly all creative. I am a bit of a pile creator myself.

natural attrill said...

Beautiful labels G.
P.x

Joanna said...

The tags look wonderful. I'm pleased to see sometimes you are not so tidy but probably still tidier than me!!!! I can't see my floor for pink and purple tissue paper and envelopes.

Anonymous said...

I think if I spent 2 hours cleaning my workstation, it might come up to par with your ;)

Lovely labels too!

Merisi said...

Dear Gretel,
your tags are truly beautiful!
I started today to transfer the stuff on my desk to the guestroom. I use our spare dining table during the year, but we will need it to accomodate all of our Thanksgiving guests on Saturday. In the guestroom I have a real writing desk, but I like the dining room's southern location better. ;-)
I wish you good luck and time for a real breather every now and then!

Sandra Evertson said...

First visit here, Love it, you have a great blog!
Fantastic illustrations, Mushrooms and newts!
Love it!
Sandra Evertson

weirdbunny said...

How an earth can you have packages and not open them !!!!

I keep saying that when I receive Christmas cards this year, I'm not going to open them, but save them all to open Christmas morning. Of course as much as I really want to do this, I don't have the will power to carry it through. ~ love Julia x

Frances said...

Ah, so annoying, I just wrote you a long fellow-artist message about the perils of this time of year.
And so much more.
And then the server failed.
So, here is the not even nearly as good comment, just to let you know that even in this over-heated New York apartment, I do feel connected to you clutter, and your pheasants, and you attempting to keep up with the demands of Christmas.

xo

Paula Bowles said...

Hello, i really like your 'After the Ball' pic on etsy... i haven't seen anything like that, with inky outlines, from you before, have i? Anyway, like it! And hope you are well :o) x

The Ginger Darlings said...

Oh how well we know what a messy studio can look like, for when we prowl into Her studio it is always in chaos. But sometimes, just now and again, we find that She has left a painting and some paints for us to help with.
Now the studio is cold and unloved. Maybe tomorrow She will be back in it.
But we feel that maybe they are meant to be chaotic places, and when they are tidy no work is done.