Storing Liquitex Soft Body Paint Jars Upside Down So You Can See The Colors Easily

I have mixed feelings about sharing with you Kim Weston's approach to storing her Liquitex paint jars. Kim, an artist in New Haven, who I met at Erector Square's Open studios, recently, showed me a great trick. If you want to see the colors of your paint at a glance, you can store your jars of paint upside down. I do like the idea very much, BUT here is my one and BIG concern.....I'm very messy with my paint jars. The cap barely fits back on the jar when Im finished playing around with my paints in a Mixed Media piece. In order for me to model my studio after Kim;s, I would have to vow to work very carefully, wiping the top of the jar after each use and then screwing the cap back very intentionally. This will take some time for me to clean up my act. But in the meantime, I thought I'd share this idea with others who may be more meticulous when working. 

Using An Old Kitchen Cottage Cabinet As A Work Table In Your Art Studio

I spotted this old kitchen cottage cabinet in a nearby Antique store and wondered how terrific this piece would be as a work table in an art studio. With deep drawers and shelves, counter height and ample table top work space, this cabinet is a very practical piece for an art or craft studio. After pricing similar new work stations in stores and online, this older piece was priced at almost one quarter of the price of newly made work stations. I wish I could tell you I bought it, but I was twenty minutes late, someone snatched it just before my visit to the store! But I thought I would share this idea with my readers.    

Discovering Your Art Studio Quirks

Planning Your Art Studio Space

Once you have moved all your art supplies, products, materials, tables, easels etc into your new art space, where do you actually set up shop so you can work comfortably and productively? Each artist has to find out what their unique work vibe is.  Do you like working near windows? Are you an artist who prefers being "hidden" away from public view? "Do you want to paint near the air conditioner or further away? Are you storing paints to close to the sun? Take your time planning out where tables, paints, papers will go and respect the fact that your ideas about placement will keep changing as you begin to work more and more in a given space.