On nesting and starting new projects

Five things from my studio to yours. Plus meet one of my studio cats!

I. Summers in New Delhi are not pleasant. The temperature this week soared to 44 degrees centigrade. The Weather app on my phone tells me that the temperature will climb to 46 degrees in the coming week. It’s relentless and brutal this heat, like being in a furnace with no escape, no respite. Thank the heavens for air conditioning — each time I have to step out of the air conditioned room to go to the kitchen, answer the door, take a bio break, the heat hits me like a breath from hell.

II. I’ve made myself a little nest in my studio. It’s nothing fancy, and it’s certainly not Instagrammable. It’s just two floor cushions piled one atop the other next to the stool that holds my laptop and another little stool that I use as a table for my coffee and evening snacks. I have a couple of pillows propped up at just the right spots against my back as I sink in here for a while each evening, with a book or my journal or my iPad, and it makes me feel cocooned and comfortable. It harks back to my favorite spot under the window in my childhood home, sandwiched between the cupboards and my study table. I used to spend hours there, knees pulled up to my chin, listening to music and reading. It’s a space that I’ve recreated in some way almost everywhere I’ve lived, but for some strange, unfathomable reason, I didn’t recreate it in this little home studio of mine. I thought I should try something a bit more grown up — a comfy wing-backed chair with an ottoman to rest my feet, perhaps. But it never worked out; my studio is too tiny for a wing-back chair and an ottoman, a fact that I was too stubborn to acknowledge. This nest, though, is perfect. I can lean the floor cushions against the laptop stool when they’re not in use and drop them onto the floor each evening, easy peasy. I’m completely and utterly smitten with it! And so are my fur babies.

Turned the studio nest into a studio tent for Mr. Loki, who is as naughty as his name suggests! He curled up and slept peacefully in here, until he turned in his sleep and sent the tent crashing down on top of his furry little head! Then he stalked off and went into the living room to sleep in his basket, which doesn’t come crashing around him every time he twitches his whiskers, thankyouverymuch!

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III. One of the tables in my studio is covered with collage papers, book binding equipment and signatures, accordion sketchbooks, half-finished paintings on small A6 sheets of paper. Incredibly enough, I know just where things are in this jumble of papers and half done projects. And while I am a messy artist, things are getting a bit out of hand even for me! But it’s incredible, just how quickly the mess can pile up when you’re in the middle of multiple creative projects.

IV. Speaking of creative projects, I’m planning to start a new poetry journal. I envision it as a space to gather some of my favorite poems. I’ve already made a concertina journal, so it’s on to the next step — gathering some ideas and inspiration. I’m leaning towards a typical junk journal style affair, with tip-ins and pockets and simple and quick collages using scrapbook papers, journaling ephemera, and washi tapes. This isn’t something I’ve done before. All my sketchbooks and junk journals are filled with mixed media paintings. But I want this to be a relaxing, easy creative project that I can work on in little snatches of time. I’m imaging a book filled with lovely little collages and snippets of poems, with the full poem tucked in under a tip in or at the back of a pretty tag.

V. Don’t you love it when a journal starts to bloom?

Tell me 3 things that are going on in your world in the comments below, or simply reply to this email and let’s chat!

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