My studio space is perhaps the one place I have in the world that I can truly call my own. It is both a physical and mental retreat for me and I can work there for extensive periods of time in one sitting. Countless hours have been spent under my lamp at this drafting table cranking out illustrations, drawings and paintings. Pouring out ideas and countless cups of coffee (my best work-friend) over the years the studio has taken on various configurations, but I always have my essentials within arms reach. I am a lover of jazz, blues, folk, bluegrass and almost any kind of acoustic music so I keep my guitars and harmonicas close by. One will also find countless stacks of cd's, classic literature, art books, my camera and last but not least my laptop. The walls of my studio are adorned with (wait "crammed with" is more like it) a combination of my own latest victories on the battle-field but hanging next to it the work of my biggest inspirations to remind me that I have a long way to go and that the work of my dreams is still (humbly) ahead of me. I am a particular collector of drawings more than paintings for to me drawing is where a visual artist is stripped down to the barest form of expressive mark making... a monochromatic line or scribble on a surface!
Workspace Detail
I am really a mixed media painter with an emphasis on emotion through drawing, color, and texture so I use whatever gets me the surface and emotional quality I am looking for. I don't work digitally for the creation of the art itself (I still love having an original piece of art when I am finished), but for email, website, reference, scanning, color correction, web color correction, archiving and delivery it is as much a part of my professional life as a piece of charcoal or a paint brush.
Oversized Corner and Upright Easel Painting
I don't like to paint everything sitting down, in fact the bigger the piece the more I like standing up. It has more to do with being able to see my work as a solidified surface. I am not a large scale painter by any means, but anything 16x20in. and over I move to the easel. At the moment this set-up gets it's own corner across from my drafting table. When I am in the middle of a painting it can get quite chaotic around me. I am fast... and a deadline freak... so stand back! I clean up the mess after each painting is finished just to satisfy the other compulsive side of me... the neat freak!. It sweeps up the mental fragmentation and melt down and clears the mind for the next piece. This is an essential part of my creative process.
For most of us, that studio space is a place that only "we" will truly ever know what went down there. The countless late night hours spent there that will never be accounted for. The highs, the lows, the intense excitement, the severe depression, the unstoppable victories and the humiliating losses, IT IS PERSONAL, and it is a place that I go mentally as much as I do physically. These pictures are only half of the floor plan I call the "Studio".
For more information and to view an online portfolio, please visit www.treygallaher.com
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