My studio is located in a semi-industrial area of North Vancouver on the ground floor of a building. I am surrounded by a very eclectic mix of workout studios, auto repair shops and various businesses. My neighbors are an ice cream maker (very convenient in the summer) and a sewing and repair service store.

I love being in my studio, I think I created a space where I could feel inspired, surrounded by objects that I made, that have a meaning to me, or that I simply enjoy.

I am using the studio to paint most of the time, but once a week I have to move everything out of the way so I can host the life drawing class I am co-organizing. I also occasionally will have open studios for myself or for our life drawing group.

So everything I am using in the main space of the studio has to be easily foldable or on wheels, because the set up is changing often depending on what is happening.

This is my reading/relaxing and chatting with friends corner. The table is made from a crate to which a top and wheels were added. It serves as the platform we are using for the life drawing models. It also doubles as a storage for some of the supplies we use for life drawing: pillows, sheets, heater…. This table and my storage wall have been designed by James Powel, a North Vancouver carpenter and craftsman (http://restoreheritage.weebly.com/)

This wall is on wheels and easily movable, inside it is hollow and I am using it to store paintings. I move it around the studio depending on how I need to set up the space.

These are pictures of the annual exhibition we have been organizing for the life drawing class.We had many drawings for sale on the table and some finished paintings displayed on the walls.

The easels are piled in a corner of the studio so we can use them once a week for life drawing. For the class I have to free most of the studio space so we can fit into a circle around the model on the platform.

In the studio, I like to surround myself with various objects that have a meaning for me, that I like or that I made. It is an eclectic and inspiring mix!

This is from an activity I held in the studio for our annual North Shore Art Crawl, I was encouraging people to draw designs on pebbles with markers. A few people gave me extra ones to keep 🙂

I like to add designs with acrylic and markers, or crochet over pebbles. I have a few extra for sale in the studio and I am using some as paper weight. In most of my paintings I am adding patterns on top of natural structures like trees and these rocks are an extension of that idea but in the real world. I sometimes think of my paintings as virtual yarn bombing!

Hooked on Trees is a painting where I added crochet patterns on top of tree trunks. It is like a painted version of the idea behind the crocheted rocks.

I made this lamp by twisting a bit of wire and some fairy lights in a more of less round shape, I like that it is far from looking perfect.

I made this decorative pompom while exploring ideas for a collaborative art work that would recycle plastic bags. We are going into a different direction now for this project but I might use this idea in the future for an activity in my studio.

I am having fun experimenting with materials. While I was researching ways to recycle plastic, I also experimented with plarn (recycled plastic yarn) and crocheted this bowl. It is holding felted pebbles. I keep a few business cards of local artists and neighbors in the studio so we can direct visitors to each others studios.

Because most objects on the ground have to move around, I like to hang things out of the ceiling, here a hen string that I found while on a weekend trip to Seattle.

Here a knitted and felted heart on a string

My dog Java comes with me to the studio a few days a week. He enjoys taking a nap at the window, watching the world go by and occasionally barking at people walking past the window.