My studio is irritatingly cluttered at the moment. Zoe is chewing on everything at the moment so a lot of my belongings are being stashed in the studio to keep them safe – such as all my shoes:

I had a fairly lousy day, the kind where having a shower is an achievement. I cheered myself by doing some reconnaissance at two local art shops, continuing the work I’ve been doing on getting my inks set up more professionally. 
I came home with some Arches paper, the big awkward A1 size because it’s the most economical and I like the ragged edges when you tear it down to size, in three different finishes and thicknesses to trial and find what works best with my inks. I also bought this cheap water dish/brush holder, so I can hang my expensive watercolour brushes (which I use for the inks) upside down to dry, which apparently keeps them in good condition for longer. 

I also bought a couple of different types of portfolios to display/protect my finished works. You can buy these up to A1 in size, but that is expensive. I went for two A4 and an A5. My current system to protect finished ink paintings has been hopeless, I am pretty excited that some of these are not too expensive and will make it much easier to store and find work again.

The 25 ink paintings for my talk “Peer Work: a consumer perspective” now have a home. I am so pleased about this, it’s about time. Once I make some space to store a collection I’ll buy some more and file all my old collection safely away. It will be good to pull out some of my older works and have a look at them again too. I might try and photograph some and load some here on the blog for you. 

Can’t stay and chat, I have a studio to clean up. Hope your week is off to a good start.