A Visit to Beth Curtin's Studio

Welcome to my studio! It is a wonderful, sunny room in an old mill building in New England. The walls are full of my portrait work. These pictures are part of a series called "The Thayer Street Project," portraits of young people posing in front of their favorite shop or restaurant on a busy street in Providence, Rhode Island.


Here is the little corner where I draw. I am working on a contemporary annunciation scene, using a favorite painting by the Flemish primitive Campin for inspiration and help.


I also have colorful abstract pastels laying about, and inspiring collage materials.

I love color, and my studio is messy with it.

A lot of the color comes from my sewing and doll making supplies. This is a quilt my daughter and I are making together.





If you are a waldorf doll maker, you know why I have band-aids in the studio.



I think it is good for me to mix the art and craft sides of me in one place. I used to keep them separate.

It is good to have a place to try things and to make mistakes. These are failed doll experiments,

and doll clothing designs which didn't work.

To be comfortable in my studio, I need toys for when my child is with me.

I need natural things.

I need children's art.

I need a little kitchen area for making warm drinks and lunch.

I need inspiring books and magazines. Here are some of my vintage Threads magazines, which used to belong to my friend Magda.



I need to feel it is clean and cozy so that I can take off my shoes and feel at home.


I need a place to sit comfortably and do hand sewing, and room for visitors, because I love to make art with friends.

I need to feel it is okay to be messy.

I am so lucky to have all these things. I think all of us need a special place to make things. Perhaps it is not a whole room, luxuriously large like this one, my first studio away from home. But we creators need a spot, especially a spot where the mess can be left out. My husband has always helped me make a special place, whether it was in an office shared with him, or a corner of the guest room. Thank you, Sweetie.

Something else which you need in your studio is your energy. I want to share a little story with you told to me by an artist friend. She had a studio away from home, and small children. She would hire a sitter to come watch the children, and before the sitter arrived, she would bustle around her house doing all the chores, the cooking, cleaning, and laundry. By the time she got to the studio, she was so tired she would fall asleep on the cement floor. We must save a part of ourselves for creating. You can do the chores when you are tired and half-awake, but it is hard to either be a mother or create art without a rested mind and spirit, and some physical energy. And it is worth making the space for creating in our lives and in our homes, because we can pour the energy which art gives to us right back into our families.

This is the first in a series about studios for Natural Kids blog, organized by Tonya of naturalearthfarm. I'm looking forward to seeing other people's creative work spaces as this series continues.

If you want to see more of my art, go to bethcurtin.com, my new website, which is under construction. My waldorf doll etsy shop is www.primroses.etsy.com

A Visit With Salley Mavor

 This is the artist Salley Mavor, one of my favorite artists, with a project she is working on.  She is the author of one of my favorite books, "Felt Wee Folks," a craft book which I would also call a coffee table art book the way she illustrates it, and and another favorite book of mine, "Pocketful of Posies: A Treasury of Nursery Rhymes"  I like "Pocketful of Posies" so much that I have a copy of it both in Switzerland and here in the seaside cottage.  It's very inspiring and must represent years of labor.

Anyway, I got to visit her a few weeks ago.  I didn't get to write about the visit sooner because I have a terrible internet connection at the cottage.  Actually, I have no internet connection.  I "borrow" it from neighbors or go next door sometimes.  I envisioned doing lots of wonderful summertime seaside postings and that isn't going to happen, but I must share a bit about my visit with Salley.

I almost didn't post about it at all.  I just wanted to have a visit with a friend.  I didn't even bring my camera.  But there was so much beauty to record that I borrowed Salley's camera.  As usual, I took up-close pictures, and I took the picture of Salley, but all of the pictures of the studio itself  are Salley's.  Sometimes I get overwhelmed when there is a lot to see!  I need time to take it all in. Look at all of her beautiful collections!  I'm glad I can look at these pictures.  Thank you, Salley.

Look how Waldorfy it is: the baskets, the natural materials, the natural colors, the collections.

 If you visit Salley's blog, you will find out about this amazing piece of art she is doing about birds in Beebe's Woods.  Look at the cool wisteria or grape vine in the background.

Here's a detail.  Her art is breathtaking.  Click on the link to her blog in my favorites in the right hand column.  Hers is one of the most consistently interesting and worthwhile I know.  Thanks again, Salley!

A Visit To My Studio

I'm doing some experiments in the studio using Caran D'Ache crayons, acrylic, color-aid paper, pastel, watercolor pencil, lead pencil, and more. Landscape is nudging its way into my art. I think that's interesting. I love looking at landscapes, but have never liked drawing them. I think it is because of the Beautiful Place. To see the Beautiful Place, scroll down to my recent posting, Icy Walk.


I haven't used Caran D'Ache much, but I love their slippery waxy texture, and the way you can use water with them.

These are the lead artist's colored pencils I love to use for drawing portraits.



Here is a commissioned portrait I finished before Christmas. You can click on the title of this post to see my Disguises Project, a series of portraits of children wearing costumes.



There is something so tantalizing about the two layers of colorful watercolor pencils in this set below. I get excited every time I open the black metal box and touch the shiny pencils.



These acrylics are nice and juicy and easy to move around with the brush.



I like way used palettes look. Usually I just use aluminum foil on a dish, just like my grandfather did.




This is the first pastel I have done for about eight years. I have been working with artist's colored pencils all this time with great intensity. As I worked on this painting, I was thinking about seaside landscapes and bioluminescence. I felt very happy. I love pastel. I've missed it.



Here are my wonderful Sennelier soft pastels. If I change my mind about a color I have painted in hard pastel, I can cover it with the buttery Sennelier soft pastels.


I hope this makes you want to get out some art supplies and make something!

Copyright 2010 Beth Curtin Please help me protect my art. Don't copy.