"Artist Joe Goode lost 40 yeasr worth of valuable artwork when a fire detroyed his studio.  So what did he do?  He made art about the devastation."  -LA Times

Read the entire article here...so inspiring! 

Affordable, light-filled artist studios - makes me wish I lived in the Bay Area!  Art Explosion Studios rocks! 

I loved this LA Times article about Fette and Matthew Green, whose home doubles as a gallery space and exemplifies minimalist cool at its best.  Be sure to take a look at the photo gallery.

 Can you imagine having a studio treehouse?  I would love one of these magical creations in my backyard.

Visit the TreeHouse Workshop and let your imagination run wild! 

Sparkletopia's most recent Sparkling Guest was the lovely Indigene Gaskin.  If you missed her interview earlier this week, check it out here, and then come back here to take a peek into her creative sanctuary.  Let's start with a walk through the front door, shown above.

Next we'll stroll on over to her just-organized work space.

A couple of close-up shots are always nice...

What a tidy desk!

And of course every artist needs a crowded bookshelf...a studio staple if there ever was one.

Thank you for letting us into your space Indigene! 

I found out about this wonderful, inspiring, easy-to-get-lost-in website - Inspiration Boards - this week and I can't get enough of it!  Here are just a few of the colorful glimpses into some of the creative spaces shared on this blog.

What's on your inspiration board today? 

I recently re-organized my studio to make it a work space and a meditative space, and thought I'd share the results.  It dawned on me that up until this re-design - which mainly consisted of the addition of that new comfy chair - my studio was a space that was centered around doing, with only one teeny corner set aside for being.  I had been having an unexplainable uneasy feeling about my space for quite some time, and now that I have moved things around and opened up the corner by the window for a place to sit, read, write and draw I understand what that was about.

The photo above shows my shelf unit and 4' x 4' Blue Girl on top.  This shelf is filled with art books, sketch books, binders of papers, my new blue mini file drawer unit as well as paintbrushes and colored pencils. 

This is my new pride and joy - a cozy chair that I love sinking into.  I want to hang more behind it...it is looking a tiny bit lonely in the corner, but that is a fun project I can look forward to.  You can see my collection of SushiPot creations on the wall between the windows.

This is my desk and workspace.  I am still trying to figure out if it will be possible to use it as a computer space and art/creative table...the verdict is still out as this new studio arrangement still feels like it is in an experimental stage.  On my wall above my desk I have a few of own creations plus artwork by Ashley G, Kurt Halsey, Kelly Barton and Kelly Rae Roberts.

My giant bulletin board, easel, and closet.  The easel gets rolled around all over the place, so right now its home is in this corner.  It actually feels like it is in my way most of the time right here, so we'll see how this dilemma sorts itself out.  My closet has both of my printers, books & supplies, so I am in and out of there a lot.  Another Kelly Barton creation can be seen above my closet.

Two creations by the divine Mati Rose hang above my door, and that is the tour!  I would love to share more studio spaces...if you are interested in sharing photos of your creative space, please email me at christine@swirlygirl.com.

I have been a fan of Lotta Jansdotter's work for as long as I can remember and love using these fun sticky notes whenever I can (although I admit I tend to save them for special notes.)  From stationery to housewares, Jansdotter has created her own unique look for a variety of useful items for more than ten years.

In my sleuthing this morning, I found Jansdotter keeps a lovely blog that I look forward to visiting on a regular basis, and there is also a fun, inspiring studio tour and interview right here.  I love seeing artists' creative spaces and hearing the stories of how they got started, so this was a great find. 

This is the interior view of a lovely Meditation Hut I read about recently.  Where are your sacred spaces? 

Here I've been walking around thinking I have the most fabulous and organized creative space around when THIS has existed all along!  How is it that I am just now discovering Donna Downey?  Her website is a feast for the creative soul, with a fabulous blog, a tour of her studio, workshops, colorful creations for sale and all kinds of other goodies, including her first journal entry for 2008:

Her site is now officially bookmarked and I look forward to learning more about her as 2008 unfolds. 

This dwelling was built in Costa Rica as a writer's retreat and to house a collection of 16,000 books.  Can you imagine calling this your creative haven?