Here are a few more art studio ideas for a basement or garage art studio. I posted about painting the floor white in my art studio the other day. As I started to move things back into the room it was obvious that the one back wall needed paint too. Here is the back wall and door before I painted the floor:

I used the same paint as the floor to start painting the wall and the door was in such bad shape that I thought I’d start painting art quotes on it to cover up the imperfections. And here’s what I ended up with: 

We left out a piece of styrofoam insulation for a few days so that I could work around it to see if it might be too big but I think the bigger the better:

Brett has saved up piles of reclaimed and scrap wood so we were able to build this table for about $24…only having to purchase the finish-grade plywood top:

I painted the top and the shelf below with the same paint I used for the floor:

Happy is unsure of the new floor. Here’s what I imagined her saying:

“Every day has its own challenges. You just have to take tiny doggie steps and move forward…unless of course your mom goes and paints the art studio floor white. What kind of sorcery is that? Will I fall in? Will I have to swim across it? I think I’ll just stay here on stable land and wag my tail. At least I can see mom from here. Maybe she will make me a bridge across the white abyss so I can at least get closer to her. I’ll close my eyes and imagine that for a moment. She will. I just know it. See, I just moved a little bit forward.”

The workspace is already getting a lot of use. I’m still painting at least one painting a day i’m just behind in posting them but here are a few new works: 

I never thought I’d enjoy hanging out in our basement but it’s quickly becoming my favorite space. It’s quickly filling up with art again. I think the key to a functional art studio is workspace. The oversized work table allows me to work on several projects at once and they can be left out to dry as well. I usually like to paint horizontal but sometimes I used the easel system shown in the back of the room. It’s also a great place to display art so I can see what it looks like from a distance:

Creating an art studio, a place to work, is just as much as part of my process as painting and writing. I am constantly rearranging and collecting and purging. Stuff comes in, stuff goes out. I recently moved the large vintage metal mattress panels to create “rooms” in the studio. They hang from the floor joists using small hooks:

For me a creative space works best if art supplies are easily accessible and easy to move around. Most of them are stored in crates and clear tupperware bins. I also like the ability to be able to work on multiple projects at once so I use lots of tables, easels and even drop cloths on the floor. I have an old recliner in the space where I can write and sometimes I just sit there and brainstorm…or nap.

I used to stress over the fact that I didn’t have one medium that I spent a lot of time on, that I didn’t have one type of art that had a “look” that people could say: oh, that’s an Ashley Hackshaw painting. I like to wander too much. I like to make something and then move on. I think that’s why blogging has been such a good outlet for me…it allows me to make something, and then release it to the world with instructions, encouraging people to make it their own. And it’s a infinite process because nothing I do is ever purely my own, I draw inspiration from everywhere. It’s the process of making that I love.

Recent wandering:

Small Landscape Oils (see more small paintings here)

A Large Moon:

Making Necklaces for Bryson City Outdoors:

Collages of Found Objects (more collages here)

Chicken Coop Signs (read more here)

A Tiny Book (read more here)

Stamping (See the Making of a Stamp here)

Sign Painting (Click here for a full tutorial)

Floral paintings:

Collecting Inspiration:

Click here to see the evolution of this space!