It's been a while. I've neglected to blog and have been itching to share some exciting new developments in my world. I am feeling really motivated by a new studio space face-lift that has taken place over the last couple of months.
I'd been renting a studio space in downtown Edmonton for almost a year and wasn't very inspired by the ambiance, it was borderline dungeony and a bit scary venturing down there on my own. I was the only one down there, so it was also a bit lonesome. After I returned from summer vacation, I was seriously contemplating giving the space up, but then, as the universe tends to work, the owners approached me and said they wanted to rent out the whole bottom/basement floor. That's when a fire ignited within me and I saw an opportunity and took it. I asked if I could take a kick-at-the-can and see if I could spruce the space up and rent it to other creative people.
Sadly, I don't have before pictures, but can tell you that it was very 1970's. There was brown carpet and a collection of items that had been piling up in the basement over the past 20 years. The owners were awesome and ripped up all the carpet and exposed some of the large cedar beams. What a difference it made and completely changed the vibe of the space. I wanted to come up with a solution for the floors, which were exposed concrete with the carpet glue sanded down. I asked around and found a concrete flooring place in the city and did a test in my office with a gloss epoxy. The result was amazing and once the owners saw it, they loved it and we did the entire basement. All the offices have been filled with other creative entrepreneurs and we've labeled the space unit b. It's a work in progress and are working together to turn it into an amazing creative collective space. We're planning our first party this December. I'm painting more and because of the new energy, I'm super pumped. I'm planning an art show in the space in the new year. Here are a few pics.
