Blogging Environment

Fun Monday at the Mamadrama web site issued a meme challenge about our blogging environments. Unlike Jenny of the Mommy Bloggers, I can not blog just anywhere. I have a dial up modem and in order not to have to stand up by the sink (where the phone is located), I have strung a wire out of the kitchen, down the hall past the bathroom and into the far bedroom that serves as my study so that I can actually sit down on a chair while I blog. What luxury!!



Of course the room itself is tiny (not as tiny as the bathroom that my sister blogged about today, so in that sense I'm moving up in the world)! This room has the best light in the house, but by the time I got my loom and all my other art supplies into the space, there was only about a 6 x 6 foot space left for me to do my work. That is plenty actually, except that my family also loves the confines of my spacious "studio," so I get visited by the cats (not really a problem as I'm there to work and they keep me from sneaking off to take secret naps...)



But then there is my other family member - Bart the 800 pound dog. (So big that I can't stand in the room and get a full picture of him.) For some reason he too wants to be with the family when I work. He can literally move his head down to rest it on our dining room table. I love him dearly but the poor thing really needs a flock of sheep or a mountain lion or something to keep him active and happy.



So here is the space I blog in. There are some areas of interest there. Note the elephant on a spring to the LEFT of the computer on the box (er, I mean table). The screen is for sanity's sake - the wall has one of those woodland photo murals on it and in the winter it reassures me to see green leafiness peeking out of somewhere - so I can't make myself get rid of it, but of course I don't really love it either.) A few of my more beloved action figures stand above the work space: Rifraff from the Rocky Horror Picture Show Illyria from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Callisto from Xena are some of the more favored ones. To the right on the wall is a water color that my Mom (the real artist in the family) did in South America.



On the table to the right are some very important items (You can click to enlarge the image for a better view)- The Xena mug
follows me everywhere just like Gabrielle followed Xena. Without it and the coffee it inevitably contains, I would be lost. Amongst the brushes and wood glue and sculpture pieces is my computer Buddha, who protects me from hard drive melt downs. My sister gave it to me (probably for the dog - since it squeaks - but of course the dog already knows right speech and right action, so he generously donated it to me.)

Of course also very important is my picture of my partner Don (one of those black and white ones from the days of the bathroom darkrooms!) This keeps me inspired and as long as he stays out of the Study when everyone else is there, I love him and think he is the greatest "spousal-unit" in the world. These memes are fun, but it is time to go paint!!