At the start of February I finally moved into my new, larger studio! It took a few months for me to finally sign on the dotted line but I haven’t looked back since.

Having a studio attached to my house had the convenience of not needing me to travel (or get dressed for that matter), but it was still part of our home and all too easy for one of the kids to pop in and borrow, move, accidentally damage something.

There were a few niggles worrying me about committing to renting the space:

1) I was worried about how likely I would be to actually get up and out the house in the horrible cold weather to drive to a whole new location, especially those days where you’re just too tired to feel motivated to do anything.

2) Do I really want to add the addition monthly outgoings

3) Will I get time to use it enough?

4) Is it going to be worth it?

Then it suddenly dawned on me that I could spend forever umming and arring about it or just give it a go and see what happens. So that’s what I’ve done. I’ll reassess in a few months and make a decision from there but so far so good!

The biggest plus I’m finding so far is that I can leave all my supplies, brushes, wet palettes - EVERYTHING out and where I need them to be. But here’s the best part. When I leave and come back, it’s all exactly where I left it, ready and waiting for me to crack on.

Before

I’ve always wanted a wall mural of trees for a feature wall and the irony is that I finally got it but had to paint over it! Here are some snaps of how the space looked before I finished moving in.

After

(Though it’s no where near as tidy as this now)

If you’d like to find any of the easels, etc I have in my studio or my recommended surfaces, here’s a link to check them out: https://bit.ly/abnw-amazon