Mornings In the Space Where I Create

I have never been a morning person, but lately early mornings have been something I really look forward to. The quiet that surrounds me as I walk into my office-slash-studio serves as a warm cup of inspiration and joy. This is my happy place, my safe space, and I feel my best when I’m in this room surrounded by all the things I love.

I sit down in my favorite desk chair and sip hot coffee touched with a bit of coconut creamer for taste. I use the time to plan my day, browse Pinterest, or begin a new piece of artwork.

If it’s a weekend morning, I sip my coffee while creating a new build in Sims 4 or more CC to feature on my shop.

Where (Other) Women Create

This morning, I flip through an old magazine I used to love, trying to decide whether or not it’s time to recycle this collection. It’s called Where Women Create, and I loved collecting them for inspiration and ideas. I began to realize, however, that the women featured here don’t create the same kind of art I do, neither do their spaces look like mine. Not like this matters - I love looking at all art and all spaces. But the clincher is that the vast majority  of the faces featured here every issue represent one type - and that type doesn’t represent me. It’s consistently one-sided. The theme is similar – light, airy, and usually muted colors. Unless, of course, the magazine editor has to throw in some color for the annual “diversity” issue; you know, so it looks like we’re getting a glimpse at something or someone different. Mostly, though, the art, women, and places featured are similar. And it is a lovely magazine - beautiful in its layout and well thought-out. But If I’m being honest, this magazine isn’t very diverse at all. So very disappointing, yet, I still love peeking into the spaces of women who have carved a place in the creative world for themselves and who are living their dreams despite the lack of representation for all kinds of artists. 

Maybe one day I’ll create a more inclusive magazine and call it Where ALL Women Create.

Where (This) Woman Creates

Me? I have a small space. Truth be told, it didn’t start out as a studio – it all began as a place to escape horrible 8-hour workdays of hell. It guarded my depressive thoughts and feelings of anxiety as I created cosplay and blogged. In the very beginning it was a place to put my various art supplies so I could find them when I needed to create. It has morphed into many looks for many purposes in the years we’ve lived in this house. I’ve tried many things. It all seems to come back to a nerdy-craft-art-space. So I just let it be what it wants to be, and I’m happier for it. I have managed to stuff a ton of things into this space and still have room to work – the quirky space lends itself to collections, cosplay, crafts, and PC gaming, utilizing every space I can while still allowing the perfect place to breathe and work.

Walls of What I Love

Note: since this unpublished post was written, we have since moved and our sweet bunny left us for bigger and tastier carrots in the sky. The space may have increased by a bit, but it’s mostly still the same:

On one wall you find my comic book collection seated beside a sewing table with tools and instruments used for making all manner of costumes. Another wall bears witness to my fangirl signed works of art by some of my favorite artists and creators – underneath sits our pet bunny nibbling away at whatever bit of hay and treats he can find to eat. A small table with camera accessories and webcams sits below the one window next to the bookshelf, and underneath is hidden my secret stash of crystals, candles, and good energy. 

The next wall is actually a closet that has been turned into a visual harmony of craft organization. Fabric, a bookshelf with labeled boxes, a basket of misc supplies, another smaller bookshelf with my second sewing machine and other sewing trinkets and necessities, and original patterns, wigs, yarn, foam, and worbla all stretch across the open closet. 

And on the last wall, my pride and joy, I have displayed my Star Wars collection – three-and-a half bookshelves chock full of Star Wars books, figurines, POPS, and signed pieces that make me smile giddily every time I sit down at the desk I’ve placed in the center of it all. Amazing vibes radiate off this wall, and I feel my most creative and my happiest while sitting here. Honestly, the walls probably cannot fit another poster. It should be crowded and claustrophobic…but it isn’t. 

It’s perfect. It’s mine.

Okay, sure, I often have to twist my body in all kinds of impossible ways to get that perfectly well-lit picture of my newest piece of art. And when I’m creating patterns for sewing, I find myself squeezing my not-so-tiny body into corners just to get that perfect corner line or cut. But it’s always worth it to be in this space instead of the horrible job I’ve suffered through for years. Because, again, it’s mine.

What the Magazines Don’t Show

I continue to flip through my magazine sipping my coconut creamer-infused coffee. It doesn’t ever show this – the first place these women had to create before they ‘made it’ to their big dreamy spaces. And I often wonder why. These first spaces, the cramped and sometimes inconvenient spaces where it all starts, are often the places where amazing inspiration is born and matures into beautiful art. Where would we be without the beginning – the cramped spaces – and why not be proud to show off the not-quite enviable places where it all began?

This is how my inspiration and idea for OMGeek started; from a place that knows who I am and that I love what I like. There was nothing out there for my quirky tastes, so I started creating it. If this nerdy fangirl felt this way, then there has to be other geeky-chic women out there who get it. 

Art isn’t always water-colored-florals and perfectly-placed-patterns. Sometimes it’s nostalgic binges of childhood in pops of color that don’t match one aesthetic. What it represents - the imagery from our past that reminds of how free and fun we used to feel. I use my space to harness those feelings and bring them to life for other adults who really don’t want to ‘grow up’ the way that society wants us to.

#Goals

One day I will level-up my space, and perhaps it will grace the pages of Where Women Create. Hopefully it will inspire a new artist sitting in her small studio apartment or tiny closet bedroom with nothing but a desk, some brushes, and a dream to just keep going and helping to make the space around her more beautiful. I want to encourage others to not be ashamed of who they are or what they love, and to make amazing things from those passions – even if it doesn’t seem to fit in with all the other art out there.

I want to create, right here, right where I am. Everyday.