Studio Use Questionnaire 2013

What do you do in your studio or the place where you usually make work?

Write down everything you do in your studio or the place where you usually work. Include drinking cups of tea, dreaming, reading the paper, phoning friends etc.

·         Painting/drawing

·         Talking with friends

·         Planning for potential opportunities

·         Searching magazines/books

·         Coffee and picnic

·         Build and stretch canvases

·         Write about work (notes)

·         Sometimes read

·         Contemplation

Which of these things do you want to be doing and which do you not?

·         Happy to do all these things – however, other people can be distracting or brilliant for constructive dialogue, just need to be quite self disciplined to use time to maximum possible benefit. I find talking to other artists in the studios quite distracting as this is rarely work based.

What else do you want to do that you don’t? Why aren’t you doing these things?

·         Would like to print dry point etchings but have no printing press

·         Should spend more time but very difficult currently

·         Bigger paintings

Is your studio set up for you to do what things you want to do?

·         Mostly, time is more of an issue than resources

What stimulates ideas and your imagination?

·         People I see/know - girls, otherness

·         Colour

·         Animals – winged creatures, falling, flying

·         Magical environments – forest, hideaways

·         Objects/people/spaces that remind me of stories

How do you keep track of projects?

·         Post-its

·         Display work stages

·         In my head

Is it too messy and chaotic or too neat and tidy?

·         Every so often I have a blitz but it tends to hover in a workable state

Do you feel at home and relaxed?

·         Yes, I love my studio – it is freezing tho!

Can you play there?

·         Of course

Can you refine and finish work there?

·         Yes and I can leave everything out so it easy to work on a series of pieces over a longer period

Is there enough storage?

·         For now - I think I need to rethink my tool storage and work out which of my degree show paintings I should keep if any

Do you have a comfortable chair to sit in to contemplate work?

·         Yes, but it is too low to work in at the table. It is great just for contemplation tho.

Is the light adequate?

·         Adequate is probably the best description, especially in the winter I wish there was a little more light. It can limit how much time I spend and what time of day I go – sometimes I take my work outside to check that the colours I’m using are what I think they are

Are there enough electrical sockets?

·         Yes plus extension leads

Is there a good enough internet connection?

·         No internet access apart from my phone – this has pros and cons but I like to go to work so I focus. I wish I had broadband for the making days.

Where else do you make work or think about work or carry out research?

·         At home

·         Sometimes at work

What do you do in these places?

·         More computer based work or using equipment I don’t have in my studio e.g. printing press

Do you need to make any changes?

·         Think about getting broadband although not financially viable at the moment. Find more time and be strict about use of studio time.