After a day wrangling with code - whoever thinks a modern artist can be a luddite has not seen my average day - that included various webby upgrades, module installs, sql patches, cron jobs and other geekery, some of which went smoothly and some that, ah, didn't, I am back in the studio and thought perhaps you'd like a wee tour?

To begin the tour, I work in a spare bedroom that was agreed would be my art studio I commandeered. My works are currently quite a managable size, so there is no need for a big space. I've learned how to paint without toxic fumes so there is also no need for a super extraction exhaust setup. This means I am able to work at home with my dog and destructopuppy and can take regular breaks out in the vege garden or whip up food when I feel hungry. I really enjoy the flexibility.

First off, it's a wonderful freedom to have all the books that inspire me to hand. And the filing too. 

This here is the office section of my studio, but you figured that out. Yes, this is a bit unusual. I find chairs really uncomfortable. You should see the wriggling and perching and contortions I get into in an effort to get comfy on a chair. But sitting on the floor on a cushion, Japanese style? I can focus without moving for hours at a time. 

I pride myself on figuring out lateral thinking solutions that are dead easy to implement. These are my drying racks. They are wire clothes airers turned into shelves. The blue box is a metal fire proof box for storing the oil paints and mediums. You know, just in case destructopuppy figures out matches.

And finally we have where the magic painting happens.  If it looks pretty basic, let me walk you through the whys and maybe you'll see how it fits me so well.

You might be able to see a few more sideways solutions if you look carefully. Forget fancy brush holders - huge instant coffee jars are perfect! And did you spot the giant plastic serving tray used as a palette for acrylics and the fridge egg holder used as a palette for inks and watercolour (icecube trays also work well)?

There you have it. An artist's studio revealed!

So artists, what's your studio look like? Pop a link to pix in the comments. I'm sure every creativity studio is unique.

Chunky. Filling. Moreish. Easy.

***

Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm oil on canvas. Influenced by the magical realism of Vietnamese born US artist Duy Huynh (pronounced yee wun), my ever present interest in cartoons, and the kid's song, ten green bottles. Now add these all together and shake, shake shake... and mind the hiccups.

By the way, all the food painting artwork is available to own in the Official Art Store.

***

The meatless meals recipe

A South American standard that I recreated after watching a former El Salvadorean housemate make it. So I've probably unintentionally bastardised it, but it tastes fantastic, is quick, easy, satisfying and involves finishing off the bottle of beer while you wait for it to cook involves cooking with beer. I'm going to be really sexist and say that cooking with beer is a sure fire way to make a guy say something like, 'mmm, this is really tasty, what's the secret ingredient?'. Only it does almost always happen when I serve a beer cooked meal to guys. Connection? I think so. Sorry guys!

oil or butter for sauting

1 medium onion

2 very large cloves garlic

1 small red chilli

400g tomato, roughly chopped

375ml / 1 1/2 cups beer, preferably a dark beer

520g / 4 cups cooked beans such as kidney, pinto, chickpeas

1 tablespoon salt

up to 2 cups of other vegetables chopped into bean sized pieces (carrot, green beans, capsicum, celery, potato, mushroom)

Makes 6 bowls.

Artist inspiration and artist influences. No biographies, dates or scholarly research here - this is a personal response to the work of musician Trent Reznor by Australian artist Fiona Morgan.

In these Creative Cauldron posts I talk about my influences. For the most part, these are visual artists. However, there are others. I mean, you wouldn't expect me to be one dimensional now would you? But would you expect me to be taking marketing notes from a musician? Maybe not, so let me show you why.

I think we are all more familiar with the idea of musicians making a living by making music, selling it and touring. Now that CD's are dead in the water and digital downloads of both the paid and illegal variety are rife, how do musicians make their money? And if musicians can and still do generate huge fan bases (collectors), go on sellout tours (exhibitions) and sell their work (originals) despite digital copies everywhere, why not visual artists? Admittedly, not every musician is able to do this, which is why I take notes from watching those that can.

I think it's easier for musicians to gain fans than visual artists, because music is so portable, social and consumable. But I think it's harder for the muso's to make a living from their art than a visual artist. It's easy to rip off a music file and rather tricky with a four foot square painting.  But so much of what these bands are doing can be translated to visual artists. This path is not for those wanting the traditional route to fame and fortune.

There are visual artists who thrive in this new online environment too. Natasha Wescoat, Hazel Dooney, and Val's Art Diary are the first three that influenced me when I realised that what every savvy young band is doing, visual artists can do too.

Before them I was watching the musicians. Especially this one who has always rallied against the big brother lockdown attitudes (snobbery) of record companies (art galleries) which are so last century.

You may have heard of Trent Reznor. He was partly responsible for the score for The Social Network which is doing the film circuit at the moment. Perhaps you know of Nine Inch Nails? If you don't follow electronic music and don't enjoy music that wallows in misery, probably not. I find his music unlistenable nowdays, though I was once a huge fan. I may have changed a bit in the last 20 years! Despite no longer enjoying the music, I still keep an eye on what this musician gets up to. His ideas on the changed landscape of music publishing, distribution, marketing and making living as a (recording) artist since the internet met digital music files are cutting edge, forward thinking, innovative, exploratory, uses social media and technology, includes the fans, you kinda getting the idea here?

The best concrete example of this forward thinking attitude that I know of can be seen in this Digg Dialogg interview. The part on marketing begins at the 10.45 mark.

The same content is also available in a written form here: http://forum.nin.com/bb/read.php?30,767183

After all, musicians are masters at getting rabid, screaming loyal fans. If visual artists could get a tenth of that fairy dust.....

More Trent Reznor links

Official site: http://www.nin.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trent_Reznor

The Creative Cauldron series of posts explores and showcases the visual styles, techniques, attitudes, ideas, artists and paintings that have had the most impact on me. 

The rest of the series is accessible via the Creative Cauldron page. Have a meander if you please, and remember to check out my artworks on Flickr, and have an insider peek at life as an artist on Facebook.

Well Sue surprised me this morning by putting up a part two of her Sunday Salon feature. Big thanks!

Thanks to the lovely Sue for featuring me and my work in her weekly Sunday Salon. I highly recommend you follow her blog for writings on art and creativity of a more accessible, thoughtful and relevent nature than the usual artistic bolderdash.