I've had three more people sign up as followers -- seven more to go, and I'll do the giveaway! Come on -- tell your friends!
I think I've mentioned before that I have a 75-mile commute (each way) to my office -- which makes it difficult to just stop by the office for a while, to get in a couple hours' work or clean up a few odds and ends, or whatever. At the same time, I don't work very well at home -- I'm easily distracted and never accomplish much. (Are you able to work at home?) So a while ago, I decided to look for an office that was close to home.
I investigated a number of different possibilities, including what they call "co-working" spaces -- basically a big room where you grab a seat, plug in your laptop, and work surrounded by other people. This kind of "cafe membership" can cost up to $199 a month, and I didn't think I'd be that much better off than at home -- lots of distractions there.
I finally found the perfect place, a small (8 x 10 or so) office that I share with a few other people -- a real estate broker, a hydrogeologist, a filmmaker -- I have my individual office and then there's a small lobby space with coffee, a fridge, microwave, etc. I took it in January and so have been there four months at this point.
I love it. At first I began to just do work for my "real" job, but as things have evolved, I'm doing more and more of my "art" job there, too. I have all the frames I've picked up at garage sales there, I now have a mat cutter (an excellent purchase), a giant roll of brown craft paper, a box of bubble wrap, everything I need to turn out finished pictures. My framed photos are hanging on the walls.
I can't tell you how much I like having this space. In one way, I guess it's extravagant (though it costs only marginally more than a "cafe membership"), but I've come to love it so much, having a place of my own to get away to. It's also strengthened my identity as an artist/photographer -- yes, I work on my laptop, planning my classes there, but I also do a lot of photography work, and last quarter when we had to do a still life in my drawing class, I set it up there and was able to leave it up for the three weeks we worked on that project -- I couldn't have done it at home. A friend and I also spent one Sunday matting and framing all the pictures for my show that's currently going on -- again, would have been very hard to accomplish everything we did at home.
What do you have for a space? Do you have a home office where you can actually work or feel like an artist? I'm curious to know how it works for other people.
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