A View From the Easel
“These four hours every afternoon are sacred, and if anyone disturbs me, I will bite their head off as my poor family knows all too well.”
Welcome to the 259th installment of A View From the Easel, a series in which artists reflect on their workspace. This week, artists in California settle into their own worlds and tend to beloved pets as they work.
Want to take part? Check out our submission guidelines and share a bit about your studio with us through this form! All mediums and workspaces are welcome, including your home studio.
Brooke McGowen, Shingletown, California
How long have you been working in this space?
Five years.
Describe an average day in your studio.
I always start work at 3pm. Before that, I have to deal with household chores and our Portuguese Mastiffs. I usually try to get something going for dinner that will be ready when I leave the studio around 7pm. These four hours every afternoon are sacred, and if anyone disturbs me, I will bite their head off as my poor family knows all too well. After getting into the studio, I hook myself up to my online jazz station for invigorating music. Then I just kind of sit there and let all my thoughts slowly sift to the bottom until my head is clear and I can get into my "painting space," as I call it. That's when I let ideas come to me for new paintings or possible improvements on the ones at hand. If I start a new series, I will do a million drawings first to get my muscle memory. I always work in series, giving me the chance to judge the paintings against each other and see which one is winning the competition to be the most expressive, wildest, and most colorful.
How does the space affect your work?
My space is small but I love it. I work on larger canvases by putting them outside on the ground.
How do you interact with the environment outside your studio?
We moved from New York to a wilderness area of Northern California six years ago. I miss the art community I had in New York. Since living in the wilderness, most of my art community has been online, except for a few recent shows in Los Angeles and San Francisco.
What do you love about your studio?
I can shut the door and go into my own world. No one can bother me.
What do you wish were different?
I would love to have more space. Presently looking into renovating a nice-sized shed on our place.
What is your favorite local museum?
The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art has incredible Gerhard Richter paintings.
What is your favorite art material to work with?
I squirt the paint directly out of the bottle onto the canvas using acrylic paint diluted to a fluid consistency.
Megha Jairaj, Los Angeles, California
How long have you been working in this space?
Three months.
Describe an average day in your studio.
My studio is a nook in my living room that I share with my roommates who are also artists. I start off my day on my chair flipping through books and responding to emails. This nook is a passageway, quite literally in its location between the kitchen and living room and also in my engagement with it as a "studio." It’s almost a designated space for processing everything that happens during my day; at work, on the streets, etc.
How does the space affect your work?
The architecture, light, and what is around it have always determined the scope of my work. This space is fairly new to me and has a relatively different ecology than my previous studio.
How do you interact with the environment outside your studio?
An ice cream truck frequents every afternoon and their melody "La Cucaracha" determines what one should be about at the time. It's a folk song about a cockroach that cannot walk and is sometimes appropriate for the afternoon hours.
What do you love about your studio?
What I love about this space is that I have easy access to our cats.
What do you wish were different?
The only thing I wish were different is how much room there is. I would like to lay things out and spread them without having to clean up the living room. But in this moment, it all works out. It is a space to cultivate within what is there and I feel lucky.
What is your favorite local museum?
America Tropical Interpretive Center and Avila Adobe close to it on Olvera Street are local museums where I would take anyone.
What is your favorite art material to work with?
A loom is a new addition to my studio, and I am venturing into weaving again after five or six years. That's a favorite at the moment.
