René Expands Her Art Studio

The path to my art studio is not very long, maybe about a hundred feet or so. The studio is right behind my house, which is so great because I have all the conveniences of home without actually being IN the home. I think having that small distinction has really helped my family respect my need for space and autonomy.

The space itself, however, is not very big. It has served me very well over the years, and I have remained very prolific in my work, but the studio is only 10×15. I have managed to make several pieces as large as 9 feet in length, and I don’t really see myself working much larger than that, but the time has come for expansion.

Things are generally a mess in this studio. My shelves are jammed with all of the various materials I use in my work. The floor along every wall of the room is covered with stacked of canvases, toolboxes, ladder, chair, mannequin (she’s often my model), my work/mixing table, water cooler, and a chair. There’s also my stereo system (which I tend to play really loud while I work, since I love to dance around while I think), and a huge array of art books and magazines for reference material. There is virtually no room left for the storage of any work at all, so I’ve already had a racking system built for all my canvases in my garage. But the new studio plan will include additional racking up in the ceiling rafters. I’m not sure how that’s going to work out yet, but the designer has a plan. He is also going to include an exhaust fan, which I cannot wait to have. Right now, in the winter with all the windows and door closed, the fumes get so bad that my eyes burn and water while I work. Not good…

The workers have already dug the foundation to expand the studio by twelve feet to the South. The new size of my studio will be 22×15, with a higher ceiling, and better lighting too. The outside of the studio will be covered in new boards that will better match the tree trunks of the surrounding woods, and the window frames will be painted to match the wood. This way the studio will really be “lost” back there.

It’s kind of swampy back there, though, so I really wonder when they’ll be able to pour the concrete foundation. Maybe something really quick-setting will work? They need to be done with this whole thing by mid to late April, because the owner of the Paris gallery will be coming to Chicago May 1st, and he may be up here for a studio visit.

The cool thing is that they will construct as much of the new studio as they can before they tear down any walls of the existing space. This way I can work up to the very last minute, before I move my operation to my garage (which is really not a good environment for painting). I will not be very happy in there. :(

Anyway, I guess I will chronicle the progress here in this nifty new blog of mine…so keep checking back!

The concept of writing a blog has really been foreign to me, but I am doing it for a multitude of reasons. Namely, it’s the least intrusive way to reach all of you and keep you aware of what is new with my life and life’s work. I like this idea much better than emailing out “newsletters” and that sort of thing. Just check in whenever you feel like it, and see what’s up. I will also post things like works in progress, and maybe pose questions about new and fun directions I am exploring. I think this will be a lot of fun, and I very much look forward to your comments.

P.S. Check me out on Wikipedia (René Romero Schuler on Wikipedia)!!! How cool is that!!??