Late last year I purchased a modest 1970s house at Ballarat in regional Victoria. Although still a steadfast Melbourne girl, my weekends (and sometimes some extra days besides) are now happily spent there.
I decided to start looking for a place in Ballarat, a town I’ve long been fond of, relatively spontaneously. And as if it were meant to be, the aforementioned house was the very first - indeed, only one - that we looked at. It helped enormously to meet an amazingly astute real estate agent, who recognized the needs of a couple of crazy artists better than we did ourselves (thanks heaps, Steve.) Ironically it was the huge garage in the back garden that primarily attracted us. Potentially it is an ideal space for a studio, particularly a printmaking workshop. Currently my partner Shane is in the process of insulating the walls and lining them with plasterboard.
In the meantime, I’ve set up a temporary studio in the third bedroom. It has excellent natural light, and is least twice the size of my space at Abbotsford (see previous blog post). An inbuilt cupboard efficiently stores a mountain of books and other reference material, ensuring the space remains relatively uncluttered. It is conveniently adjacent to the tiny laundry where I have set up my press. My pint-sized print workshop similarly benefits from inbuilt storage. It overlooks the garden and our print studio-in-progress.
