https://youtu.be/o6LKrT5h8ls

So what's going on in the studio then? I don't want to make you dizzy so I'll try and spin quite slowly. But yeah there's things going on in the studio this week. Changing our spaces does influence our state of being, emotionally, physically, mentally and spiritually. Imagine living in a tiny cluttered unwindowed space for long periods of time or just that feeling of having a tidy home after weeks of it being messy. I was feeling so uninspired by my main painting space. It was lacking in vibrant energy and I didn't feel nested or at home but kind of unsafe to create. I couldn't let my creativity out properly to play or express herself. My juices weren't flowing with all these obstacles or blocks including the mess in my space. It just felt stressful. I felt overwhelmed. It was even getting me into bad habits where I was sitting on my laptop and not painting. I needed a shake up, a refresh of my current space to reignite my flow. But also I didn't want to spend much if anything at all. So a low buy situation was required. I wanted an energetic burst enabling a playful lightness supported by comfort and ease. I wanted a studio that will support my creative working but also my ponderings and percolations as well. A comfy nest to sprout all of my inspirational flow. It's clear for you. It's like, yeah, it's creating this kind of... And like a painting zone. More, but bigger. I think, I think I would keep those two back against the wall. I think I'd take the hooks down. Yeah. So welcome to the studio. We've been doing a studio makeover. In specific, focusing on the, what I call my wet area. So the painting area. Doing some rather interesting mods. James and I just sat and put our heads together and I was saying some of the difficulties I was having because I was finding I couldn't sit and paint. I didn't have my setup right for this area of the room. So I thought I would have a slow down week where I have a bit of a creative break as well at the same time. Because I find that really important. Have a bit of breathing space between my creativity and also get this studio looking tickety-boo. So we've been doing that on and off all week really. Yeah, I've kind of got rid of what was the oval office as well. So, yeah. And I've had loads of help from James. Dr DIY, also known as. And he's been doing a load of mods with me. So I'm really excited to show you. You still have a little bit of space in the corner to sort of, you know. And then these, these you can just go. We don't get anything out of it. These chairs probably need to go So I think the Feng Shui is good to come in. And then you can either have your freestanding easel here, this one here, or your trolley. That could go in the corner actually. As long as he's got a bit of shade, he's happy. And he can go, he can go in that corner over there and he's fine. But yeah, and then maybe having the easels over here. I like what you say about the idea of having more storage here for the shop. Yeah. I mean, the other option is, we haven't tried this yet, but, you know, if we moved this desk and slid them along, you could, or buy another set. Would you need to buy another set? I don't know. But, you know, have another, another set. So it's like deep storage. Because there's a lot of this that is deep storage. You know, it's like, it just, it's like, like Deep Space Nine. We didn't have things we needed often. Like, you know, those kind of boxes, they could just be out there, out of the way. All your fabrics could be out over here, out of the way. In the lower levels. And then the upper levels, it would be shop stock, shop stock, shop stock. You know, so have a reorganisation of it. That would work. Since moving into this room, I've really been taking my time to really connect with my space and get things right for my own particular needs. Maximising my creative ideas and motivation. Intentionally setting goals or zones for each part of the space. Okay, why don't you sit at your seat? The artist is in residence. Right, what's happening? What are you doing? Creating a list. Two lists. One of what bits we need. And the other is what jobs you want me to do. Go on then. Okay, so we know we need some L hooks. And we need some bulldog clips of some sort. Is there anything else that we need to buy right now? No, we want to be no buy. No buy, yeah. Minimum buy. Minimum purchasing mods. Yeah. Okay, so we need to attach this board. Yeah. So what we're going to call this wall extension? I don't know. Board. Let's call it attached board. Okay. Can't spell board. We want to paint this. Okay. Paint the back of the dresser, the cupboard. Yeah, cupboard, whatever, yeah. We need to attach shelf. It's obviously into remove panel. And what else did we discuss? It's in this end. We've got a plan for that end. Let's see if we can get the stuff. Yeah, get stuff ordered. Okay, get stuff for the plan for there. We can change the energy of a room in terms of feng shui, but also the vibrational energy of the objects placed in there. So for example, my painting area is centered in the creativity and children area of the bagua mat. But it felt like it needed something. I wanted a wrap around wall to create a cocoon feel. I might try painting in different areas too, just for fun to see what I create and whether it makes any difference. So for example, the love or the fame area are really close by. Hmm. Ponder, ponder. Shopping. We've got that. And we can get that as well. The logs, yeah. And then... We'll attach the board. Tick. The light in any space is massively important and I'm so blessed to have such amazing light in here. So I didn't have to think about that in terms of painting as even the shadiest parts of the room are bright enough to paint in. If you have a darker space than me, then it's definitely worth thinking about additional lighting to help. So what were my main problems then? I was having a problem with the entranceway. It was becoming a clutter zone, attracting all sorts of stuff like a magnet. And this is located in my helpful people area and also is the mouth of the qi in terms of feng shui. So it should always be kept as organized and clear as possible for easy access. This is where new opportunities can come our way. I was also having issue with the L shape of the room, which can be problematic. I had the door behind me and I wanted to resolve those uncomfortable things. The things that were interrupting my concentration and stopping me from working. I also knew I needed to declutter, reorganize and minimize some of the visual clutter. But remember, it doesn't have to be an idealized minimized room. This is a space with purpose and so the furniture light and the stuff should all be assisting in that purpose. Purge any outdated artworks, whatever is no longer serving you or relevant. I also wanted to organize my tools. They are an important part and deserve to be treated as such. I wanted easy reach, easy access and easy to store away when not in use. But I also wanted to have the space to lay things out when they are in use. That's my key. This is very different to creating a zen-like dreamy room. Think intention, nest according to ergonomics and need. And as this is a working space, that's what I had in mind. I'll give you a 360 of the whole room, if you like, just trying to hold the camera steady and then you can kind of see what I'm dealing with. But it's really exciting and yeah, it's going to be life-changing. And I've even found a home for the little brown shelves currently sitting down there. They're going to have a really important job soon. And we're also going to do something quite exciting with some paint storage solution. So we've got a few things in mind to do. So I'm just waiting for James to get in and then we can get started. I need to do another coat of paint on here as well because I needed one last night. And yeah, I thought I would take you with me as I'm doing all my adjustments. And then I will do a studio tour at some point where you can see all the different things we've done. But the last area to do in the room, if you like, will be the shop area. So the bits over here and all the stocks piled up over there at the minute. So one of the first things I did was actually get rid of the oval office as an oval office, if you like, and create another painting area. I know it's covered with stuff at the moment, but that's just temporary. Yes. And because I've cleared on here the oval office where I was basically had a little bit of an office to just step over all the things on the floor and the obstacles here. Yeah, I do have like all my bits and bobs. So, you know, my stuff, my writing stuff, yeah, my bits and bobs. So I do need to find a home for those and I am going to need some kind of corner. But I don't really want to utilize that table because as you can see, it creates a really nice L shape of painting and wet and messy possibilities. That's what I'm thinking. So I'm very excited to get everything back into sort of in its normal order, if you like. And then I've got a really lovely cozy nook and also this lovely L shape of a messy painting space. And I've been able to get some of my bigger paintings out as well. And I'm thinking to rework them. So as I was talking about in last week's video, but now I've created the space with which to do it to facilitate that. So, yeah, it's really quite exciting. It's funny, isn't it? But sometimes having more space, it's just there's more options. And so there's more things and possibilities that you can do. And so it can create a little bit of confusion, I think, at first until I've got it right. And I do think an L shaped space is quite complicated as well. And the other point to make is that I am pretty sensitive to where I am in the room and how I feel in a space. So I've been struggling a little bit with the L shape and the back to the door and that kind of thing. The whole kind of feng shui of having your back to a door. It doesn't feel comfortable. And at the same time, you know, if I've got my back to the window, that's not good feng shui either. That feels a bit weird because you've got all this stuff going on behind your back. Yeah, I think that's taken me a little while to kind of get my head around and move in. And so because I'm such a sensitive person, and I know I'm not the only sensitive, I know a lot of you are sensitive, empathetic beings out there as well. And so you probably know what I mean. I need to be able to settle down to do my work and concentrate and not have to sort of think about anything else. Almost like being a horse with blinkers on. That's kind of what I need. And then I'm in my safe cocoon nest space. And I'm safe to create if that makes sense. It's quite an intimate process at times. And of course, I've still got my lovely journaling nook. So that's still all there for me as well. So I just need to clean the floor so I can actually get about. So I'll show you as well the shop in actual fact. So we're debating getting another cupboard that may be a shelf unit. So we took those down and then jiggled this around. And then maybe we're going to get sort of another tall shelf that's going to go there. Which we can house a load of the shop stock. But we haven't decided on a cupboard and we kind of found one. But it was just too deep. So that's not going to be finalized in this kind of part of the makeover if you like. But if I just show you around. I mean, got a lot of sorting out to do. And yeah, a load of stock here that's come out of this cupboard. Just zoom out. Yeah, this cupboard. So all the stocks come out of there so that we could move it. Because it weighs a ton with a stock in it. So we couldn't have moved it. So that's why we've taken all this stuff out. So that is what I've been doing all week. And then you probably won't see me for dust. Because I'll be away with the fairies in my painting zone. Can't wait. Cheers everybody. So we are day two of extending the wet area. Aren't we in day three? Is it day three? I don't know. I think it's officially we only started work yesterday. Well, I suppose we were moving things around the day before. Anyway, whatever. Day two, day three, whatever it is. Having a coffee. So cheers to you. Cheers to you. Where are we? We are going to need to put a second coat of paint, as you can see, on the back of the cupboard and the wall there. I mean, it's sticking out in the middle of the room, people might think. It is sticking out in the room. But what we have done is given Wendy some privacy so she can have the door open. If anybody comes into the studio, Wendy's not going to feel like she's suddenly getting people overlooking her shoulder. But it's also helping to delineate the areas. This is what we were kind of talking about quite a lot the other day. What we consider the shop area is now quite clearly defined down the bottom there, that end of the L. Which gives a much clearer indication for Wendy of what is her area here. And it kind of feels like it opens out strangely. It's weird. Some obviously were there being stock down that end. We don't want to have any issues with getting paint or damaging anything. Yeah, splashing. So smashing. So it helps. Again, it helps helping to just protect everything. So Wendy can fling her paint around left, right and centre, should she choose to. And there's no restriction. She can get them loose. Looseless. Loose wrists. Keep loose. Yeah, I'm going to do a video on how to be loose because it's going to be really loose. So today we are fitting the shelf on here. Painting another second coat of paint on there, like I said before. And we are also going to create a very interesting, exciting pegboard, which you may have seen already. Wendy's put it on Instagram, is it? Yeah, giving them a flash. Giving you a flash. So today we are actually going to build it. That's exciting. See you later. What are you swearing at? Trying to put some paint on, it's coming off. Oh yeah, because you didn't let it dry. Oh, it's fine. I think that's job done, isn't it? Do you want to deal with the paint? Yeah, I can deal with the paint. I'll go and wash that. Buy anything else. We don't, we don't want to buy. Yeah, use what we have. Totes. Okay, let's do it then. Love it. So I think James is done, finished up all the DIY bits. And yeah, so it's just a case of me now sorting myself out, putting my bits and bobs away. So just turn you around and then I'll show you what it looks like at the minute. And you can see what I've got going on behind me. It's, yeah, it's a little bit of a chaotic mess. But it always looks worse before it gets better, as my grandma used to say. So worry not. So that was really quick to just plonk the bits and bobs back on the shelf. And so useful. And then obviously that's now painted. So that's pretty cool as well to make a little cubby. And then I've got to put all the paints on the new pegboard. And I'm really excited about doing that because that will be just so satisfying. Yeah, let's see if they all fit. So coming to the end of this process, I definitely believe that changing your space can truly change your life. Here's a few last thoughts and final ideas. Think comfort. Comfy chair. Moving your desk around to see how it feels. As well as back to the door considerations. Or even back to the window indeed. Plant babies. For beauty. They bring a living energy. And they're also EMF and air purifiers too. And make your space joyful to the eyes too. And the other senses. Smells, sounds and views out the window etc. Carefully placed items. Like for example my Lady Godiva painting. I'm placing it in the reputation and fame area. As discussed in last week's video. Because I'm bearing in mind the meaning behind her actions. Of riding down the cobbled streets naked. And of course she did this with honourable intention. You can watch last week's video for the full story behind the painting. Also I brought in my sweeping brushes to make cleaning up more regular. And as a practice before I begin or after I've finished a creative session. Cleaning, sweeping up the dust and refreshing the space. As part of a ritual to aid creativity. And finally thinking about an area in the world of feng shui that can get ignored. The centre or the chi of the room. I've made it so I have room and space to move. To dance and spin or do yoga. Whatever I please. A space to move my body physically. We're even thinking about a swing or a yoga silk in there at the moment. Ponder, ponder. So I think I'm done for today. And yeah, cleared up loads of stuff. I've still got some bits and bobs that I just need to decide where I'm going to put them. I might need the extra odd shelf or something like that. So I'll review that next week. But yeah, I'll turn you around and I can show you what it looks like. So let's just zoom out a bit. I've got a few things that move around a bit. So I've got this easel and also my art trolley. That moves around a bit. And James is going to, I think, put another shelf on that trolley. So that will be even more useful. I haven't actually tidied up that trolley at all. But yeah, that's kind of what it looks like now. So that whole bench is completely and utterly organised. Yeah, and I have the oval office as a kind of additional space. I always need extra space. And then, you know, you can work on some big paintings on the easels on there. Move things around. So it's not set in stone. I can give you a little bit of a closer look. So here I've just got a little space on the end for sort of coffee and tea and stuff. I might have a shelf allocated for that later on. But for now, it's fine. And then all the sundries can go on the shelf, which is amazing. I finally found a use for that shelf. And it's really cute as well. Love it. And then my brushes and other bits and bobs in my wooden box. And yeah, I've just tried to leave everything as much space as possible. So that I've got, you know, room to work. Yeah, just zoom you in a little bit. Yeah, trying to keep it all spacey. And pile of sketchbooks and papers and stuff. There's always piles of papers. I don't know if you're like me. You'll have to let me know in the comments. And then just zoom in here and show you my favourite thing of the whole room, which is my colour organisation, which is going to be pretty life-changing, I think. There's no point in me minimising that point because that's going to be amazing. And it looks so cute as well. I can see it's practical. I've done it all in colour families. I've got a couple of spare hooks. And I think I'm going to need maybe another board as well, making it a later stage. And then we can maybe wall mount it or something. For now, I've put the colour chart as well. So you can see what I need. And then, yeah, just zoom you around. So for now, I'm just kind of, I'm just going to move my laptop out of the way. I don't want an actual sitting down office. And then if I want to edit, I can always use the standing desk that's just behind the easel in the shop. So that's what I'm going to do. And then I think I'm going to have some kind of bookshelf or something and put all my journaling stuff in the journaling nook. And then books maybe on a shelf near the daybed. So I've got rid of the extra stuff, maybe with a shelf or two on there. And I can sit and read and get all inspired. And then I can work at the computer on the journaling table or here, or, you know, or indeed the wet area, as I call it. So that is the painting area, all reorganised and sorted out. And I've got all the floor clear as well, which is really good. And I'm really excited to start painting now. So that'll be perfect for next week when I come back in. So thank you so much for helping me with my lovely makeover. And of course, massive thank yous to James as well, who's given up so much time and energy and efforts. And I know he enjoys it as well, but it's still really appreciated. So big thank you to James. And I know you all appreciate him as well. And what else to say? So as always, thank you so much for watching. Try to keep your teacups full and try to keep your lights shining bright. And I will see you in the next one. Bye for now.