curiosities

For years I worked comfortably out of my own apartment. I had a door from Home Depot that I turned into a drawing desk and before that it was the kitchen table where I drew. A little over two years ago a friend of mine was moving from his studio space and the price was too good to pass up. I agreed to it without even seeing it, only aware of its location. At first it felt awkward being at the new space and then I tried to make it feel like a second home to me. It worked. There have been times when I’ve been enjoying myself there so much, that I’ve constantly lost track of time. I once even burned my knees on a space heater and didn’t notice ’till someone called me on the phone and I snapped out of wherever I was when I was drawing- Crazy! I don’t know how much longer I’ll have this space, but I thought I’d share it with everyone. It’s not something I normally do, but I’ve always enjoyed seeing people’s workspaces and for the sake of not knowing if I’ll have this studio tomorrow, here goes…

Welcome!

The place is hidden behind a non descript store front, which I like, because nobody knows what’s happening inside. This was a shot my friend Bosco took when he came over one time to take pictures of some of my sculptures. Some of the place still felt empty here. Lots of the furniture was found on curbs from people trying to get rid of it or from a thrift store, including my drawing table! The floor is great here because you can let the paint fly! (not good for apartments)

 

I’ve been out of town for a while, and I snapped a shot of the last thing I worked on at my desk, which was a drawing for the save the Totoro forest auction. Here are some sketches.

 

My favorite part of the studio is the window where colored bottles hang. I bought one or two and hung them and liked it so much that I just kept going. They almost serve like a stained glass window. There’s a certain time of the day that the sun hits just right and colors bounce all over, inside. It’s magical! The ones at the bottom I just haven’t had time to put them up, but I hope to cover more of the window with them.

 

Here are some of my sculptures minus flower-belly and the band.

 

A close up of the little guys that play on the edge of my window.

 

On the head of my drawing table is this little guy watching over me. It’s a story for another day, but this guy saved my life!

 

A close up of the shelf to the right of my drawing table.

 

That’s a foot pedal organ in the corner that I DON’T know how to play…YET! I found it at a thrift store and had to have it. It was one of my craziest impulse buys ever. It was a steal, I guess there’s not a demand for foot pedal organs these days! If you look closely, I put some flowers on the ground to add some green to the place.

 

This coral head is hanging above the organ. I found it at a clothing store of all places. It was super discounted, because maybe nobody wanted it or had any idea it was there. I thought it looked great. Sold!

 

Some of my prized possesions: drawings by kids from some of the schools I have visited.

 

On the corner are some of the original paintings from the book I painted that was written by Vicky Rubin: THE THREE SWINGIN’ PIGS.

 

The trusty fridge which is usually semi-stocked with unknown goodies from a Korean store next door. Since I can’t read the packaging (which usually depict fun characters), I have no idea what it is until I eat it. I’ve been lucky 90% of the time= good! That’s a schedule to the right, probably the most businessy thing here. Please pretend that the plant on top is green and full of life!

 

Pink Popcorn= Treasure! I used to love these when I was a kid. I used to eat them at a small local amusement park where I grew up. I found one store that sells them in town! Sometimes I put two bricks together and eat it like a sandwich for lunch- just kidding!

 

A close up of the wall-o-Melvin. This is where I hang the sketches for the Melvin Beederman Superhero series by Greg Trine. I place the inked images over them as they are completed, sort of as a marker for the workload.

 

This section is to the back wall of my drawing table. This is where I do my sculptures. That’s another bookshelf to the right that holds some books but mostly things that I’ve found and matched together.

 

Here are some of the projects. To the right (white box with blue filling) is a mold for the flower pot kid which I hope to make multiple copies with. I use different things to sculpt, but for the most part, I use Super Sculpey (A synthetic clay that only hardens when you bake it) with an aluminum foil filling or interior structure, so that I won’t use as much clay, and it won’t be as heavy. If you look closely there’s an image from an old BEAUTY AND THE BEAST book in the back that’s pretty spooky.

 

A close up of the work space. I don’t know if you can see, but the paints shown here are called FOLK ART brand paint, which I just started using. It has a matte look to it which I like that’s unlike acrylics, which tend to look shiny.

 

Another close up to the left of the sculpting table of projects that are finished and some still on the way to being made. The metal character on the far right was originally a topper to a roof of a Victorian home. It looked like a skeleton with a hat to me!

 

Two shots of found objects.

 

This is from a rag doll that I altered and made to look dirty by rubbing ground cinnamon on it. I read about it on the internet and is a great substitute for dirt, which doesn’t smell as good! (:

 

Here’s a close up of a sculpture project that’s being worked on. Here it is after just being baked and ready to paint. More on that hopefully the next time…

Thanks for visiting!

-Rhode