Dreams and Struggles

The Dream is to have a Studio space, large and bright and unencumbered by family detritus, pianos, guitars and budgies, outside the home. Separate. Sanctified (meaning "set apart"), Sanctuary.
Ahhh, the Dream will sustain me a while longer I hope.
For now the reality is cracking down on my at-home Studio Space...such as it is.
Once it existed in a spare bedroom. Then, as young people needed space of their own, it was squeezed into the 'front room' of the house; the place our out of tune gift piano resides, where things in this open-concept house continually get dumped because there is no place for them to live....
Then, I think I cluttered myself out of that space. Not to mention, it is a round room. At least, the portion of it I could occupy with drafting table, old kitchen table and easel. Carpet on the floor. Nothing worse in a studio than carpet on the floor one is supposed to preserve, somehow, in its pristine condition for eventual resale... Nothing but nothing stays pristine in a house filled with people, a dog, three cats and (now) 3 budgies, not to mention the four teenagers friends, visiting and stray animals, the general whirlwind of life.
I had ever considered the ineffectiveness of a round room. The toll it takes on one's phsyche to have no 'stop' and 'go' spot. It sure looks cool and creative. I think its best left for conversation space...and cats.

The Studio then moved to the space below that round front room (how artsy - in a turret). It landed in the 'dungeon' of the turret. Windowless, cold - not just chilly - and damp-ish, though I've been in worse! Its also a pass-through space for teenagers with hockey bags and sticks. Not conducive to leaving things in the potential path of destruction! They cut a swath of chaos with every pass. The worst of it is when they decide they just don't have time to put their bags away in their locker area, but dump it in my doorway or on the floor in the middle of the room. Aaargh!

I felt quite muddled by it and thought I was craving natural light (I am solar powered, this I know) and space etc. So I moved one drafting table back up to the front room...and my easel... but alas, no storage units so the clutter decends upon my table and prevents me from working. After wrestling with this all summer I've finally decided its time to move back down into the Dungeon, where I can shut doors, crank music or even turn on an old tv for company (watch out for snaking cords!)

Great, decision made. Unfortunately this space is now occupied by boxes of who knows what all from the adjoining workshop/locker/storage area. Oh for the love...!

Nevertheless, victory is within sight. I have determined to make this space my own, my Sanctuary, where creativity and creative messes can flow. Heaven help the boy or man who leaves their hockey gear in my space! I will paint it pink!!!

And now, I have a plan. A Plan to remove the stuff that doesn't belong. I am enlisting the help of my oldest, my girl, the delight of my eyes and my heart. She of the ordered mind, the helpful, tender spirit.

And now to visit the question of lighting....

American Saddlebred

I painted the original acrylic art from which this design is derived quite some time ago. I made the original for a friend as part of a stall portrait, meant to be hung on a stall door (or in the house.

The picture above is from my shop at Skreened I'm also using it and its variants at my Zazzle store, among other places.

You can check out my new website Ravenwood Studio for more pics, options and info.

New Foal Design at Skreened

Its very interesting to adapt my art for t-shirt design. The fun really comes in at Skreened where the artwork can be printed on nearly the entire front or back of the shirt. In this example I've used an adaptation of a pen and ink pointillism drawing of a three day old Paint foal and included text: 3 Days New the beauty wonder delicacy of a foal is Magical. It creates an artsy equine art t-shirt for the horse lover. I rather like things that tend toward the unique rather than the rote, so the combination of off-centre image and text appeals to my horse crazy heart!

New Fantasy Art

Black Pegasus on Red Oval by ReneeFukumoto
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I've been working on some fantasy art. I used to love creating fantasy creatures but haven't done so in quite a long time. Well, this time I combined some digital and pen & ink artwork to create this Dark Pegasus. I've also used the oval device and the red colour to create more of a striking design element.

Maybe its time to create some fantasy art on canvas. Its been such a long time!
But that will of course, require cleaning the Studio a bit... hmmm....quite the process in itself!

Fun New Designs

I've been having a lot of fun lately with some photos I took of antique tooled leather. Creating designs from the swirly, fancy, classicly Western motif is such fun and pairs well with many of my horse designs, as well as text.

I've always loved tooled leather. I have an aunt who used to custom tool western saddles out in Alberta. Gorgeous work! I've often thought its a skill I'd love to learn. Perhaps I'll look into it a bit more seriously this year. I've wanted to make a wide tooled leather watchband for myself...and can think of many applications I'd love to try!


Norwegian Fjord Horse with Black Heart by ReneeFukumoto
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Such Fun!

I'm having such fun at Skreened in the POD world. Though not as flexible or extensive in product range as Zazzle, the printable surface area of the products is very large. This really gives a lot of area to design. I'm using just the head of the Norwegian Fjord painting I did on this tee. On others I've used a tooled leather design. So cool! Challenging to think in terms of this design area. The possibilities are endless!

Norwegian Face!

Just thought I'd post a picture of Thai, the Norwegian Fjord horse I painted for a friend's birthday. He's really such a handsome guy. Hope the sun shines again soon so I can get out and take pictures of him on a sunny day - before the snow flies again! This picture was taken about 2 years ago. Funny how times flies!

I think I'll use this image at Zazzle. Would make a really cute card!