Welcome to the 273rd installment of A View From the Easel, a series in which artists reflect on their workspace. This week, artists befriend the stillness of early morning and find calm in white walls painted the shade of watercolor paper.
Want to take part? Check out our submission guidelines and share a bit about your studio with us through this form! All mediums and workspaces are welcome, including your home studio.
Adam Crowley, Kansas City, Missouri
How long have you been working in this space?
Ten years.
Describe an average day in your studio.
I get up at 5am to paint. I’ve been doing this ever since our daughter was born seven years ago. I have a full-time job and my wife is a gardener, so she has the daylight. So every morning, I am in the basement working. I’m conscious of using my limited time for painting, so I make sure to leave my phone upstairs and focus as much on the work as possible. I have come to really enjoy the early-morning dark and quiet before the rest of the world wakes up. I’ve become cognizant of the noise in the world, so I try to keep it quiet and don’t listen to any music or podcasts.
How does the space affect your work?
The space and the time I’m allotted affect my work because there is no natural light that early, so I have taken to using photographs or setting up still lifes in the studio. On some weekends I will do some plein air, but most of my painting time is spent in the basement. It is nice to have my studio in my house because I don’t have to worry about another commute or try and carve out extra time. I can go downstairs whenever I am home, and the only thing I need to do is make sure my alarm is set.
How do you interact with the environment outside your studio?
Kansas City has a wonderful art community. It’s a small city, so there aren’t really pockets of artists around. I do live a little south of downtown, where a lot of studios and galleries are, so my biggest concern is getting myself out to see shows from time to time. But there are few galleries popping up around my area, which is nice to see.
What do you love about your studio?
Its proximity to our home, and its comfortable familiarity.
What do you wish were different?
I wish it were a little bit bigger, and had more light.
What is your favorite local museum?
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art for the Old Masters, and the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art for newer dialogues.
What is your favorite art material to work with?
Oil always, but within the last year or so I’ve been working with tempera which, after some initial frustration, I’ve become very fond of.
Lilian Cooper, Delft, Zuid-Holland, The Netherlands
How long have you been working in this space?
Four years.
Describe an average day in your studio.
A studio day usually begins around 8:30 in the morning. I normally have several series I am working on. At present, I have several projects I am preparing for exhibition so these are the first priority — but I do love to add time for research and just thinking through experiences or things I want to capture. My day begins with a fresh sheet of paper, unless I am already working on something. I usually have an idea in my mind that I need to realize straight away, and from there, I see how the creative process unfolds. I have recently started listening to podcasts when I find it hard to dive into the creative process, but mostly I love the silence. I can hear urban birds, on one side moorhens and to the rear the green parakeets, blackbirds, pigeons, and turtle doves. I hear students, too — I live in a university town and just enjoy the distant sounds of life around me. The experience is so calming and centering that I will find myself in the studio late at night, just to grab as much precious time as I can. If I come in from being elsewhere — openings or my temporary job — I will treat myself to snatched studio moments.
How does the space affect your work?
I find the space very calming. I now live (and work) with a garden. I’m finding that the plants have started taking over my life and creativity. I retreat into my creative space, which I have painted the broken white shade of watercolor paper. I wanted to be without distraction. I have light pouring in and filtering linen curtains. If I feel like being in the world, I will open them; otherwise, I relish the diffused light and the focus it gives me.
How do you interact with the environment outside your studio?
First and foremost I connect with my neighbors. I am a guerrilla gardener, helping and encouraging my neighbors to create street gardens. The street is now populated with insects. I also connect with the arts community all around me. There is an art and ecology center a 15-minute walk away and fascinating research programs everywhere. This place has allowed me to connect with the scientific community. I keep in touch with my long-term (art) friends and colleagues via social media and we meet up regularly, particularly at openings. I now live an hour away, but it also means I am an hour closer to the communities I work with elsewhere.
What do you love about your studio?
There is so much I love about my studio. The calmness, the white walls so that no color distracts me. Being close to other people, the community I live in. Having so much space compared to before. My drawing table, which was a present to myself — I had dreamt of a surface where I could roll out long drawings without impediment.
What do you wish were different?
Very few changes required, except I do dream of serious storage space. It is also really a sitting room and dining room that I converted into a workspace. I would like a space that is less precious, if that makes sense. I would like not to worry about the floors getting dirty and to be able to pin things to the wall.
What is your favorite local museum?
That is a very difficult question. I live within 30 minutes to an hour of several amazing museums. I would put the Kunstmuseum in the Hague high on my list along with the Mauritshuis, equally Boijmans van Beuningen in Rotterdam. The Stedelijk and the Rijksmuseum are a little bit over an hour away in Amsterdam. One of my favorite museum collections is the living plant collection at the Hortus Botanicus Leiden. As artists living in “the Randstad” — including the cities of Rotterdam, the Hague, Amsterdam, Utrecht, and smaller towns in between — we are all spoilt for choice.
What is your favorite art material to work with?
Again, a challenging question. I love a sheet of cold-pressed cotton rag watercolor paper. I would be lost without my watercolors, gouache, and drawing pencils.
I love this ‘Easel’ series. Thank you for choosing such interesting and articulate artists time after time.