I want to do a run through of my workspace and the materials I use. Artists work spaces can be very personal and therapeutic, well mine is at least. This is in the corner of our bedroom, it’s where I do all of my traditional drawings or paintings and sometimes digital stuff if I’m not too cosy in bed to get up. I have all my supplies at hand which makes life much easier when I’m in a work flow, especially during college assignments. In this post I’m going to share what’s on my desk and how I organise my supplies...
So, above is an overview I guess, of my desk and all the little bits and pieces I have around the place. My phone screen has my Facebook page (Karen Moran Artwork) open. Give the page a like if you want updates and new art on your feed.
I like to call this my motivation board. My sister, Ellen, bought me this board for my birthday a few years ago. It has a rustic looking wood print with string and mini pegs, of course I did have to buy more pegs (which I got from Flying Tiger in Athlone Town Centre) because I packed it with images. I even had to start using pins because I was running out of string space. Anyway, I searched Pinterest and made a board with my favourite quotes and printed them off. I also kept some clothes tags from Penneys (one from a Friends jar & a Frida Kahlo top) my Dublin Zoo map, my ticket into The Met & my Animation Dingle pass. I pinned up my Game Of Thrones charm bracelet and dragon eye necklace too. The cute ‘Actually, I can’ canvas block was a gift from my sisters and the small Van Gogh place mat was a gift from my friend, Louise. I have some photos taped up over my board of my family, my friends, boyfriend & my dog. Oh and colourful fairy lights are a must, got these battery ones in Penneys.
Next to my motivation board is my cork board which I bought in Tesco years ago. It’s currently dedicated to a fav of mine, I have a Van Gogh Pinterest board because why not. Just like the quotes I printed them out but this time I collaged the images on Procreate A4 size. It saved on using pins and some of the images are quite small and detailed so I didn’t want pins taking up the majority of the board. My lamp from Argos is in the corner next to my jewelry stand from Dunnes Stores. My fav thing on my jewelry stand is my pandora charm bracelet, my boyfriend got me it a few years ago and it’s the cutest thing. While we’re on the subject of cute things that’s my baby, Timmy, in the frame and a little toy figure of him next to it. I got the pen holder in Flying Tiger. It’s full of pens.. obviously and pencils. That pink tiger you can see is actually a rubber that I certainly didn’t need but just had to have it. Like 90% of my purchases, I got him in Flying Tiger. I got the cool Buddha candle holder in Penneys and the huge Yankee candle was a Christmas gift from my aunt, it smells unreal. And yes, that is a tiny little Jack Daniels bottle.. I am a college student after all and I have this weird urge to keep cute things especially jars or bottles. I sometimes use it as a pencil holder for my fav pencil that I always use.
I am obsessed with the candle holder of the two bears, I got it in the home ware section of Next. That’s a half painted little Samsun next to them. For those of you who don’t know, Samsun is my character I designed for a college thing and I have fallen in love with him. He is the main character for my final year book project and will more than likely be used in my future projects too. The lindor box came in handy, I use it to hold my paintbrushes. I got these in Mr. Price, they’re very good. The candle next to Samsun was only like €1 in Penneys and smells so nice. You may have noticed by now that I love candles, I think I get it from my mother. The really cool penguin mirror was another gift from Ellen a few years ago. The little Empire State sign with my name was a gift from my friend, Ceara, the Central Park NYC pencil was too.
I got this little white box from Penneys and it holds the essentials.. tape, scissors, glue etc. The wireless pencil sharpener is amazing, I got it in lidl last year.
This is my big stationary box that I keep on my desk, it was actually a box that had loads of spa lotions and beauty products. As you can see it’s a sort of organised mess. In the main section I keep my hot glue gun, rulers, washi tape, more glue and just random stationary bits. In the drawers I have one dedicated to sticky notes and flash cards as well as loom bands. Remember them? I never made a loom band bracelet but they are handy for keeping pencils together or for holding rolled up drawings/posters. In the other drawer I have chalk pens that I got from Wish, paper clips, staples for my tiny stapler, pins and other random bits, I got these all from Mr. Price.
The same aunt that gave me the huge yankee candle also gave me this candle holder a few years ago. It’s so adorable, it’s a penguin with a bow tie that I now use as a water jar for when I’m painting.
Next to my desk is this storage rack that is donkey years old, it’s probably older than me. The top shelf holds my colouring pencils, pastels, drawing tablet and some paints. The Aztec pattern material case I got for my pencils is from Wish. The middle shelf holds the rest of my paints. I use whatever container or jar I can find to organise my supplies to make life easier for myself. I used to have them all mixed up in a bag which proved to be a nightmare. The bottom shelf is home to my blank(ish) sketchbooks and canvases. Next to the rack is a make up artists case which is perfect for art supplies. It currently holds my markers, I did have paint in it a few months ago but markers just made more sense for it. You can scroll and have a read of a post I done ‘My Art Supplies’ where you can see inside the case and how I organised my paint back then. The weekly blackboard is from Penneys and I keep all my art books together.
The books pretty much explain themselves, my favourite is the art of Pixar book. It’s full of colour scripts and some background art, I really recommend getting it for yourself or someone who loves Pixar art. Beside my pile of books I keep a box for notebooks and folders. This is always messy because it’s full of my most used books. I got it from Penneys, it had a Thumper pyjamas set in it and I had to keep it. It’s too cute to throw away.
These are the notebooks in the Thumper box that I use most and where I bought them.
Last but not least is my posters & drawings I have stuck up next to my desk. You might recognise my influencer drawing on the top right from a few weeks ago and my Pitch Bible book cover of Samsun, the sun bear from a big college assignment last year. I have a cute postcard from Brown Bag of a still from Angela’s Christmas, it’s on Netflix you should watch it. The original Mickey Mouse poster is my favourite, I got it from a poster sale in college. The dog poster is actually a jigsaw guide and I printed out the 101 Dalmatians pic because it’s cute and makes me smile.
I hope I haven’t bored you to death and you found this post interesting and hopefully helpful. I am opening myself up to you all and it’s kinda nice but kinda scary at the same time. I would love to hear your thoughts or if you’ve picked up any of the bits I have in this post. You can either comment below or on any of my recent Instagram posts or DM anytime, I’m always up for a chat with my followers.
Thanks guys,
Karen
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