Sarah Jane Tart

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Studio Tour

My art studio is my favorite room in our house! There’s always a project (or several!) in progress, and it’s where my creativity can run wild!

This space, which is right off of our kitchen and living room, became my studio because of the great natural light that comes in from the bay window facing the backyard. (It was actually one of the reasons we bought our house!) The room was originally meant to be a dining room, so we’ve done several renovations along the way to make it work!

We started out by ripping out the carpet and putting in vinyl plank flooring. (I have spilled a good bit of paint on these floors, so I'm so thankful that it’s not carpet!) And we removed the chair railing and gave it a fresh coat of paint. It’s a nice neutral Sherwin-Williams Useful Gray now!

I have my desk space along one wall where I do my computer work. We ended up finding my desk setup at IKEA. I just have a white tabletop that sits on two sets of Alex drawers, and I have an extra set of drawers on the end, so lots of storage! It’s pretty spacious, so I have plenty of room to create smaller paintings, trim paper or package an order.

On that same wall I have three shelves, the contents of which change out constantly. It’s home to bits of inspiration, paintings, books and sometimes panels or canvases waiting to be painted! 

I also have a little white, wood sign I painted my logo on for pop-ups and other events. In a way I feel like it ties the room together!

I keep my printer tucked away in the opposite corner. It sits on top of a larger Alex drawer unit where I file smaller paintings and prints. And I typically keep my easel and rolling art cart nearby in the bay window.

My easel was actually my wedding gift from my husband! It was used to restore paintings at the North Carolina Museum of Art, my husband definitely knows me well!

The latest studio renovation has been my wall hanging apparatus. When I created the Wonder collection, my largest paintings at the time, I needed somewhere to put them, so we used wood boards and screws to build a hanging system. It is perfect because it allows me to fill the entire wall with paintings!

My studio space has shifted and changed quite a bit in the past two years to best fit my fine art practice as it grows and changes, and I can’t wait to see what the next evolution holds! I’m just thankful to have a dedicated studio to create in (although my art and packaging supplies are starting to spill over into the closet space in our guest bedrooms)!

If you have any questions about my current studio setup, let me know in the comments below!

All photos by Allison Nichole Photography.