At the moment I’m moving into my new studio. I thought it would be fun to share a bit about this.
Keep in mind that I’m a full-time artist, so I try to make this studio as pleasant and handy as possible for my needs. However, this doesn’t mean that you should strive for the same things! As long as you have a nice spot where you can paint, that’s great. Also I've got some specific needs because I'm making a lot of videos.
Working from home
Up till about 2021 worked from home. I just confiscated a part of a room in my house. I used the garden to gesso my canvases.
I was always struggling with space and there came a moment that the lack of space seriously limited my workflow.
So, for a few years I rented property guardian studios or temporary workspaces to use as an art studio. It’s a common practice in the Netherlands where artists can use vacant spaces for a reduced fee while preventing the property from being squatted.
And on the one hand, it was nice because the rent was always low, but on the other hand, it was always very uncertain how long I could stay. There was always a one-month notice period.
First studio (former school)
Below you see my first rented studio. It was very nice, but I really struggled with the light over there, because it had windows on all sides. The lighting conditions changed every minute.
After about a year I had to leave it, now it’s a home for refugees.
This was a very nice studio, but I really struggled with the light over there.
Second studio (gym)
Then I moved to the studio below, it was a gym in a former primary school that hadn’t been in use for about ten years. For a very low rent I had an enormous space that even I couldn’t fill with all my stuff!
This studio was so large, I only used about a quarter of it š
Here the lighting was a significant challenge as well. I replaced the tube lights with daylight tubes and bought some daylights on lightstands.
I had to leave that building because it was scheduled for demolition. In the meantime, they’ve built a flat on that spot.
Third studio (office)
Then I moved to a former office. I never expected that I would ever work in an office! I really loved this place. From day one I was scared that I would have to leave it soon.
And there we go, moving once again!
I loved all the green surrounding my room as you can see in the small photo below, I had windows with a lot of bushes and trees in front of it, it was just fantastic!
When I got the studio the wall I wanted to use as backdrop was way to colorful, so I quickly made that grey. It’s not that I don’t like colors, but for painting it’s easier to have some neutral surrounding colors.
By the way, can you see as well how easy it was in this space to have great lighting conditions for painting and photography? Even on these simple snapshots made with a phone, you can already tell that light was very easy over there, if you compare it to the two previous studios!
My favorite studio up till now
I’ve recorded quite a lot of English YouTube videos here and really had a great time. Also, this studio was on walking distance from my home, what a luxury!
Sadly enough, after only half a year I already had to leave it. š¢
In the Netherlands at the moment there’s a great need for new houses, so all those old buildings are being demolished in order to build new houses. Below you see my beloved last studio building getting demolished and on the far right it’s completely gone. On this spot they’re going to build a lot of new houses.
Maybe I shouldn’t post these photos because it makes me sad again!
So, in the past two and a half years I therefore had to move 3 times! And when I had to leave the last time, there were no other buildings available anymore.
Therefore, I have had to work from home for the past 9 months. Although working from home also has its benefits, it can be really difficult to be productive when you have too little space.
I also even had to rent a self-storage unit, because I couldn’t store all my stuff anymore!
And of course, meanwhile I had gotten used to space, so it was hard to work in a small space again, but I made the best of it!
Back home again. Struggling with space.
Working in a small space is no problem when you work on one painting at a time, but I have to switch constantly. For instance, when I work on a commissioned painting but then want to make a YouTube video or a painting for Atelier Magazine then in a small space you run into all sorts of problems.
To give another example: for me it’s easiest and most effective to gesso 10 canvases all in one go. It saves a lot of time, because I just premix a large amount of grey gesso and do all canvases in one go.
In spacious studios, it’s easy to prepare piles of canvases at once!
Another thing I’ve noticed is that I love my job, but it’s also great to leave my work behind and go home. It helps separate my job from my personal life.
New permanent studio!
Now, I’ve finally found something permanent in a really great spot. It’s a shared building where around 26 artists rent studios in an old furniture factory. Practical and fun!
The old furniture factory currently has about 26 studios for artists.
I’ve chosen a studio without daylight! Now that might sound strange for an artist, but here’s why: I’ve rented different studios and everytime light was a challenge. This time I want to be able to control it fully myself. I think in the end this is the best solution, because then I continually have the same light conditions, not only for painting, but for filming as well.
I just have to take several short breaks during my working day and take a short walk outside. And that’s no problem, we all know how important it is to take a distance from a painting now and then!
This week I’ve done the floor. I also laid down a piece of vinyl on the area where I’m most likely to make most paint stains š
I’m going to place the easels in front of this wall, so I’ve painted that wall grey. I like a grey backdrop. A white wall as backdrop for instance can be a bit blinding. Also, grey recedes a bit more when filming.
There’s a great handy niche in this wall as well, where I easily can put my paints and brushes and it also provides for a nice background for the videos.
The ceiling is another important element. I want to paint it white, because that way a lot of light is reflected towards the easel and canvas.
Same goes for the rest of the walls. Indirect light can bounce towards the canvas. By the way: that’s what I expect, but I’ll have to wait and see!
Another great thing is that towards the background wall, the ceiling is slanted upward. And I can use that extra height, because that’s exactly the spot where I want to hang my palette camera.
We all know how important the palette is, so I want to film it in the best possible way. A while ago, I invested in a high-quality palette camera with a fixed 50mm lens. Ideally, I would like the camera to hang about 120 cm above my palette, and thanks to the slant in the ceiling, that will be possible!
Left: in that studio I had barely enough space for my palette camera. Right: this slanted ceiling is very convenient, I can hang my camera over there.
By the way, speaking of light, that’s going to be the next challenge. These funny lamps hanging on the wall are leftovers from the old factory. I use these lamps while I do DIY, but for painting and filming they are useless of course.
Funny lights
So it might be that I’m going to remove them when I’ve installed my lights, on the other hand they are a kind of funny sort of design element to keep, I’m not sure yet!
This week I’m going to install the lights, I’ll update this post.
I can’t wait to start working there!
First light panel
Unfortunately I didn’t have enough time to do all light panels today. But I’ve never used these panels before and was very curious, so I quickly installed the first one.
And then it was time to turn the lights on! It was great, I think everything will be all right when I install the other ones. In the photo below you can see that it already looks promising, the colors of the painting look good.
I’ve also reassembled my shelving unit.
Day 3: more light!
Today I installed a second light. The lighting for the easel and palette are good now. I had brought the camera with me to check that. I only need a bit of extra fill-in light for wider shots, but that’s easy. The main thing is that everything is starting to go in the right direction.
Then I also continued filling the walls with paintings.
Day 4: Third light and setting up cameras
I installed a last light that I needed as a fill-in light for wider views. Then it was time to move my main easel to the new studio.
Then I mounted two boom arms. One for the main camera:
And one for the palette camera:
These wall mounts are fantastic. In previous studios I wasn’t allowed to drill in the walls, so I had to use tripods. And tripods take up a lot of floor space. Also, while painting I very often take a step backwards and a lot of times I hit the tripods and had to re-adjust the camera again š
Below left a previous studio with lots of tripods and on the right the current studio.
Also the mobility is just great. I can very quickly turn the camera forwards for close-up shots of the canvas or backwards for wide shots.
The palette camera has a fixed 50mm lens. I can hang it quite high above the palette. Therefore it isn’t visible in the shots of the main camera and also it’s not in the way when I’m painting myself (when I’m not filming).
With the cameras in place, I could start tweaking the settings. Because there are no window, I now have steady light conditions. I can adjust the white balance of the cameras and adjust aperture and shutter speed and just leave it! No more adjusting all the time, this is going to save me quite some time.
And last but not least I had to move in all my paints, brushes etc. At this moment I’m just glad everything is there, but I quickly need to organize all the stuff.
Everything works great, this means I can start painting and filming here next week!
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