As I write this, I am sitting in my newly rented studio space. It feels like a huge step for me as it is something I have dreamed about for so long. I've always made due with carving out spaces inside my house, so this is all feeling kind of foreign to me. Right now I feel like I am in my own teeny tiny clubhouse. This morning I moved my favorite chair out of our current home office, and a desk that was sitting in our garage. Within one hour of leaving our house I'd moved everything into my little 8 x 12 room, situated my desk in front of the huge window, cleaned the space, sat down and plugged in. It may be the fastest move-in on record, at least it feels that way right now.
From my little hideaway I look into an inner courtyard. I can see the studios across from me and above two big trees sway in the breeze. I've got a good view of the sky too, and have already spotted a few float planes overhead. I think I'll like it here.
It is hard to describe the mind-shift I experience when I walk into this room. I love that I have the choice to do my work anywhere, but this is like nothing I've had before. I took a hint from one of my heroes, Dick Proenneke and am thinking of this like my own little Twin Lakes. No internet, no phone, no email. The no internet is a biggie. Not only will it save me some hard earned money, but I am going to be very interested to see how much work and play I get done without the distraction of my email, facebook, blogs, pandora, or the like. I'm grateful for all the ways we have to connect, but they are so compelling that they sometimes pull me away from what it is I want to do, say, or make. Dis-connection is not such a bad thing; it is my own version of being "Alone in the Wilderness".
The fun stuff will have to wait a bit; the decorating and personalizing of this space. I'm currently so swamped with projects I can't even let myself stop to do that. A little delayed gratification never hurt, and will serve as good incentive to get my work done. In the meantime, I'm just going to get a feel for my space so I can make it exactly what I want. And I'm kind of enjoying the minimalist feeling of the room, feels like such a blank slate. So, time to put my money where my mouth is and get to the business at hand.
*Thanks to my (talented) pal, M!ke for inspiring the title of this post. I think Phil Collins really, really, should have written the song as "Stu-Stu-Studio", not that other one.
