All we were looking for were a few gardening tools during a recent visit to the Golden Goose, a local thrift shop. Didn’t find any. But I did stumble on an odd contraption—a former display kiosk made of clear Plexiglass with movable Plexi shelves on four sides. I have no idea what it was originally intended to display. My mind raced.

I have lots of art supplies. My acrylic paints, gels, pastes and related items (all Golden acrylics of course) were stored in baskets on wire shelves. All in a jumble. More than once I’ve gone into a panic when something I needed wasn’t there, ordered it and had it arrive after desperately waiting for delivery only to find a brand new jar or tube or bottle of the very same item hidden at the bottom of the basket.

This display kiosk seemed like the perfect solution—clear, compact and transparent storage. Out came my credit card and before I knew it we were loading my new acquisition into the car. A stop on at the local Tractor Store yielded just the right castors to attach to the base. Back in my studio Jim attached the castors while I got out the Windex and cleaned all the shelves.

Next came the Domino Effect. A total restructuring of my studio (again). It took several days of concerted effort to figure out how to reorganize everything since getting the paint supplies out of the shelves of baskets resulted in empty shelves of baskets. Now what to do with these? More reshuffling. And more…

I’m excited about the end result. The most important part of this reorganization is that I expanded my painting area. Gradually the part of the studio in which I paint has shrunk as my workshop organization and office space has expanded. With the Plexiglass kiosk I was able to consolidate painting supplies. And get rid of ineffective storage. I expanded my painting space to take up fully 2/3 of my studio. It’s now much easier to move around in and much more inviting. By making more space for painting, I created a visual reminder of my commitment to making art.

In the photo above, plexiglass storage is at the far left. This and the wire rack next to it form a visual barrier to the workshop prep/office space portion of my studio. Makes it easier to ignore all that stuff I “should” be doing instead of painting.

A view of  the whole studio. Beyond the Plexi and wire rack are my consolidated workshop prep area and office space.

And now it’s time to paint!