And then there was snow...

We haven't had snow like this in England in November as long as I can remember.  Down to minus 20 in some places and eight inches of snow expected in the next 24 hours. 

I know it is nothing like you get in other parts of the world, but somehow snow seems to always take us by surprise here.  On the news they keep talking about the travel chaos everywhere, but I am secretly happy about the quiet magic that falls over the countryside when snow comes. 

We shuffled downstairs early this morning, before the rest of the world woke up, and sat with steaming mugs of tea looking out over the whiteness.

View from my studio early this morning

View from my attic office skylight

Our little garden

What's the weather like where you are today?

At home: Welcome to the garden

On days like this I feel very lucky to work from home - Sunshine, freshly baked gingernut biscuits cooling in the kitchen and a pot of tea by my side.  What better way to get in the right frame of mind for working on exciting business plans?

There is a cute water feature surrounded by white stones which remind me of island hopping in Greece, although we don't actually turn it on very often as it seems like such a waste of water.  The neighbour's cat tends to get more use of it, as a mirror in which to preen himself...

And there is a wall of black bamboo which reminds me of where I used to live in Kyoto, surrounded by rice fields and bamboo forest.

But my favourite bit of the garden is this sunken table, which has benches on each side and played host to a party of 15 with room to spare last weekend.  We had the clematis cut back a bit, got rid of the bindweed and tidied up the deck so it is now a lovely shady place to gossip, play cards or relax with a chilled glass of wine...  It looks magical at night, all lit up with small spotlights in the steps, and little candles on the table.  Now all we need is a barbecue...

Having lived in flats with no outdoor space for years, this is a very special place indeed. 

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For more peeks around our new house see here

At home: Welcome to my studio!

"Pick one room and make it yours.

Go slowly through the house.

Be polite, introduce yourself,

so it can introduce itself to you."

(borrowing the words quoted by the lovely Louise Gale as a comment in response to this blog post)

So that’s what I am going to do. Introduce myself, then introduce you, room by room, bit by bit. As we start to make friends with our new home. 

Here is a peek of the first one – my studio.  Won't you come in?
 

At one end it has this sweet fireplace, which will be great when winter sets in.  I have just put up this picture for now while I work out what to do with the space above the mantelpiece.  Any ideas?

Here's my painting/making stuff table.  There is an easel in the corner but I like making a horizontal mess!  The glass table is actually more practical than it looks - it provides a brilliantly smooth surface for painting and is easy to cover, but also makes the most of the space in the room when it is uncovered. 

The wooden floorboards were reclaimed from an old school gymnasium.  They are full of marks and stories - you can almost see generations of children jumping over benches and off climbing bars (and maybe even sneaking a first kiss behind the pommel horse). 

There are three big windows like this so they let in lots of light

Handy storage for my art supplies, and just enough space to squeeze blank canvasses underneath

No such thing as too many art books...

These old picnic hampers make great storage for my sewing stuff - fabric, ribbons, thread for the things I am slowly learning to make!

And there's the lovely painting from Judit at Pilgrim of the Moon (I talked about it in this post )

One of my inspiration boards.  This one includes prints by Juliette Crane and DJ Pettitt, and my Soul Collage cards that I made in California back in February

I think the paper obsession, stationery obsession and book obsession may be linked...

Finally I have somewhere to put all my bits and bobs - paper ribbon, buttons, lovely shiny things

My little bonsai friend (in need of a haircut)

My reading corner, and all important stereo - 

a girl's gotta have tunes to paint to!

So there it is, my new studio.  Would love to have you all come over to create and make mess.  What's your creative space like?  What's on your inspiration board?