a place to draw (and thoughts on "process")

I know it's sort of the thing now to show an artist's work space. I was at the local art store this week, browsing their magazine selection, and saw no less than four separate publications on creating an art studio/work space or showcasing other artists' art studios/work spaces. Other art magazines at least have a section on some artist 'in the studio' which will generally dedicate more space to pictures of the studio rather than the artist or the artist's work. Art journalists have identified the favorite procrastination activity of artists everywhere:

"I can't think of what to paint/draw/perform/write so I think I shall rearrange/clean/reorganize/add on to/ build/design/dream about/blog about my art studio/work space."

Clearly, I am not an exception to this process. (Art-linguistics lesson: When you are an artist and you called something a "process" it makes "goofing off" sound fancy and important.)

My main workspace is my kitchen. When my daughter and I decide to eat dinner at the kitchen table we carefully clear everything away into various toolboxes, boxes and crates and then I move it all back out again the next time I go to work. Generally, the tabletop resembles the inside of my brain, which is a fun place for me but sort of scattered and definitely influenced by mild ADD. I'm okay living with this, because it's my process. (Here "process" means "my damn house because I pay the mortgage.")

I call this controlled insanity.

This art space works when I am in the frantic, busy place of working on an actual painting, but that is really the end of a long process (here "process" means "piles of sketches on napkins-in notebooks-on the back of junkmail, months of indecision on a color palette, taping paper down to boards while watching The Daily Show to kill time, drawing the same little person a kajillion times from various angles and in various environments so that I can spend 12 hours straight turning six months of 'scattered and crazy' into a finished piece.") When I actually draw, though, I want order. Maybe it's the black and white sensibility of drawing or its linearity but I need a more settled and quiet space to work on the drawing sections of my pieces. So to that end, I spent a large chunk of time yesterday (when I could have been working) creating a second art/work space in my home. I give you, the drawing table: (now doesn't that sound snooty?)

That's Dorothy, the mutt, peeking into the picture. She was distressed that I was rearranging her room, which is technically my room, but she chooses to not recognize the difference.

It did feel a little like procrastination, BUT when I was done all I wanted to do was sit down and draw there. Which I did. See? It's all part of the process.