Room of one's own

I've been looking again at Where Women Create: Inspiring Work Spaces of Extraordinary Women by Jo Packham, through which we get to peek inside the studios of twenty artists and craftswomen. Their workplaces range from the bold and brilliant to the minimalist and restrained, while what comes out of them runs from paintings and quilts to collages and pottery. The book shows sources of inspiration and materials, and describes the work methods and habits by which these very different women do what they do.

So, because I enjoy the more 'conversational' posts where everyone comments and tells their own story, here's one on 'creative spaces'. Where do you do what you do?

I create in the kitchen, in that I make things there and interpret recipes and invent a bit. I knit almost anywhere - that's the beauty of a truly portable pastime - although the yarn lives in a couple of baskets on the ottoman at the end of my bed where I see it all the time. If it was put away I'd forget what I had: out of sight, out of mind.

But this happens to be Cornflower's 250th. post, which means that most of my creating at the moment is done here at my desk. The 'Desk of Power', or seat of world-domination (!), has been featured here before, but never has it been used to such an extent as in the last few months since I started this site. I read at the desk and knit here too:-

and words and pictures come together here every day.

So where do all of you write/sew/paint/knit/, etc.? Do you have a room of your own, or do you claim a corner of the kitchen table and move your projects at mealtimes? Do you like things clear or cluttered, materials visible or stored away; is it a 'public' space with free access for the family, or do you shut the door to keep out interruptions? If words are your medium, do you use pen and paper or keyboard and monitor? Do you keep records of what you make, such as in a project journal? Share your creative stories, if you will.

Comments

[Peter the flautist]

250 excellent quality, literate posts is a fantastic achievement. The flute player, and all his feline companions, salutes you.

[Avice]

My current seat of world domination (as it were) is the chintz filled bedroom of a ladies club in New York. I have my knitting (hooray), the essential and ever present New York Times, and masses of work files because I have to draft a summary of my next year's budget, a truly creative undertaking. I like my familiar places -- the cluttered desk at home and at work -- and the infusion of color from flowers and yarn and pleasant fabrics -- but sometimes I do my best thinking in quiet, unfamiliar spaces. For me, music is very important and I sometimes play the same selections over and over again (all my favorite hymns, a guitarist named Leo Kottke) when I need to focus on a challenging bit of writing. Thanks for the inspiration! And the yarn looks pretty nice, too.

[Charity]

Congratulations on 250 amazing posts! :0)

The concept of a "room of one's own" has always fascinated me. I don't know a single woman that doesn't feel the need for some space for herself, be it a corner, a room, or just her own shelf in the cupboard.

I do all my creating wherever I happen to be at the time, (since most of what I do right now is knitting, like you said, it's very portable, and just follows me around my day) constantly surrounded by my household, but my heart longs for my own space.... One day, perhaps!

[Peg]

A Room of One's Own - Never had one for most of my married life, and now that I do, I don't often tend to go there. It is a room for reading, listening to music and knitting - which I do just about everywhere.
Our computer is shared and is in a large room with my sewing machine, serger and large work table. I am not much in to sewing anymore, so it gets used little. The computer, since it is shared, has a work space that I find cluttered. I must admit that I like things tidy - if not, I feel less creative and am unhappy.
For so many years, we moved 23 times, I sewed in walk in closets, the dining room table, and knit just everywhere. Perhaps that is why I don't tend to go to the room of my own. However, now that we are both retired, my DH works in his workshop or at the computer, so the living room area can really be my own. I listen to classical music and my MP3 player (books and podcasts) while I knit. I love this, and wish that my grandmother and mother, who taught me to knit, could see me now! They just would not believe it.
I do love to knit in the car or on a ferry, as I tend to sit still, no jumping up to change loads in the washer/dryer, etc. I never mind the time waiting for anything, if I have my knitting.
As I write this, I realize more and more why I do not sew and quilt anymore - knitting is so portable and restful.
Perhaps I am one who retreats into my knitting, so where I am doing it is not so important. As a day dreamy child, I was told I was off in my own world, as a knitter, I am off in my other world!
Thanks for making me think about this, Karen.

[Donna]

I work in a studio on the second floor of our home. It is a lovely big room, perhaps not the brightest in the house, but when I look out of the window I can see our back garden, the Avon river and the swans and assorted Chinese ducks floating by.

I really do try to keep it neat and tidy, but somehow never quite manage to do so. My studio door is always open to any that wish to enter, in fact I have a little seating area with two chairs, just in case someone needs a little heart to heart chat, or some quality time.

I try to keep a photo journal of pieces that I have painted and things that I have sewn, but there to, I am sometimes a little lax, and the piece has gone out the door before I remember that I should have gotten a photo.

For many years I worked in our basement, and one day I realized that I felt like a mole, working in very little natural light, and only emerging for sleep and meals. Now that we have moved house, I can proudly say that I have moved up in the world, and it is much, much better.

Thanks again Karen for posting those lovely flower photos yesterday. I think I shall have to check out Where Women Create.

[Robin]

Wow! 250 posts! I always enjoy reading your posts, full of color and interesting ideas.
As for a room of one's own...I'm still hoping for one someday! In the meantime, I'm all over the place--blogging on the kitchen table (in the sunlight), knitting and reading in the living room in my favorite chair. For me, though, the important thing is to have a little TIME of one's own. I don't necessarily need a room of my own, but I definitely need at least a little time of my own.

[sherry]

No matter how many attractive workspaces I create, I always seem to end up at the kitchen table. Seems like many of my more interesting ideas are initally sketched out on the back of an old shopping list or such, as I am sitting in my car. Motion is a catalyst.
How are you coming along with your book reviews?

[Fiberjoy]

Karen, these posts with questions which tap our brains and draw us out are met with joy.

Ed & I joke about my having a yurt in the backyard as my space but in reality it wouldn't be healthy. It's too easy for me to escape into my own little world, and shut the door in my drive for alone time.

Since we live in a small place my knitting/crocheting/reading are mostly done in a chair by the living room window. The loom separates kitchen and living room. My stash is stored in a small closet between the office and daughter's bedroom. Stash on one side keeps company with extra food supplies on the other side. I used to love sitting at the table and writing with pen and paper. The computer has upstaged that settling past-time.

[a simple yarn]

The space to call my own has currently been invaded by packed boxes reaching to the ceiling. Suffice to say not much creativity going on at the moment. And such practicality has likewise invaded blog writing, blog reading and blog commenting.

But in the 'normal' scope of things, I generally search out some place of peace, although easily accessible by the myriad of childish interruptions. Still, it needs a door that is shuttable for those rare moments when 'Mama needs a bit of quiet, please' away from the typical chaos of life with children.

For having been behind that closed door for a brief respite of silence and solitude, or a burst of creativity clears the cobwebs and centres my thinking. Ah, think I shall go there now...!

[Melissa!]

Oh it's all quite embarrassing. I have a detached studio that started off as the art studio but due to shifting things around the house and building bookshelves and acquiring thrifted furniture this art studio has become a storage. I have to climb over boxes and situate myself between furniture and piles to get to certain things, it's a terrible mess. Due to that invasion, items have made their way into our home creating piles here & there. Some day it'll all make sense! Until then, I'll knit here & there (mostly in the car or at activities), we use our game table a lot, the floor of our sunroom and spread out on the dining table which means we perform the pile shuffle come mealtime! I keep little notebooks (I have a thing for notebooks/spiral pads - paper in general!) here & there of lists, ideas & snatches of pictures of things that have caught my eye. For years I had journals that I carried with me and have on a shelf in the studio. Now I have my blogs. I moved the computer from the studio to inside the house so the family can get to it and as a result I can blog away while moving about the kitchen. From this computer I see the remains of one daughters' creative project on the counter and another daughters' sewing project on a shelf.
I don't mind it - all laying around to some extent - because the stuff is being used. I plan on making that detached space into an art studio again. In the space, everything can be displayed when opening cupboard doors, things can be left on counters & tables without disturbing the house and everything will be used - I can just imagine the things we aren't using because they're trapped behind boxes!

[Rebecca]

I so long to have a room of my own, but we are for the moment very spacially challenged! I have use of a 9ft dining table for sewing but can only machine at night as my work from home husband has his desk in this same room. All my materials, knitting/sewing/clay are kept in various boxes which can be quickly put away when necessary and I manage, but I do dream of space frequently....

Congratulations on 250 posts, I do so enjoy reading here.

[Tui]

I really enjoyed everyone's comments and the thoughts they provoked. When our lads still lived at home, the only room of my own that I had was between my ears. Now that it's just the two of us, sharing the computer in the den is fairly easy, so I can write, research, or goof off and read blogs or email to my heart's content. There are books all over the house as we both read anywhere. The sewing machine sits largely unused in a nook in the pantry - the bloom is long off of that rose. In the summer, the main room of my own is in the garden, my personal bit of heaven. In the winter, knitting moves around from room to room. I hope to take up painting again when I retire in a year but haven't a clue where I'd do it - maybe the kitchen table?