"Flower Fiesta", a 24" diameter reverse hand painted glass chandelier that includes irons, electrical, chain and canopy. 24" in height plus chain length. Jenny Floravita's Hand Painted Chandeliers can be purchased through Jenny Floravita's website http://www.floravitalights.comWarm, romantic colors and exotic flowers make the reverse hand painted glass chandelier titled Flower Fiesta a beautiful piece to behold and one of my most romantic pieces to date. When I paint, I put myself on an island in my mind but lately I've been faced with a tsunami reality that my working house needs to be re-adjusted a bit.
Eight years ago I moved from Santa Cruz, the college town that I love so much to live where my family is to better help my career as an artist thrive. It worked. And I also found the love of my life, who happened to be a best friend of my brother. I live in a small town an hour north of San Francisco, half an hour north of Walnut Creek...more than an hour below Sacramento. My town lies on the Delta that thrives with wind surfers, jet skiers, sailing enthusiasts, fishermen and the occasional humpback whale that gets off course.
By modern standards my house is very large and I'm embarrassed to admit that I got momentarily lost upstairs when originally viewing a model of this home. The size makes my home a perfect studio space for a working artist. The proximity to the heart of the San Francisco Bay Area has made it a wonderful location as I'm not far from some very good art festivals and a huge hub of affluent people. Buying this house has been one of my best lifetime decisions.
The downside is that my house has allowed me to sprawl with my ever growing creative tools...everywhere. As my husband says, "art stuff, art stuff, art shop, art shop, everywhere!!!". He's correct. I work in more than three mediums: watercolor, oil, glass...and iron, too and each has it's own plethora of equipment which occupies spots all over my house now. It's hard to do all at once and also run the business of showing my art to all of you. Very hard. And I'm thought of as a very professional artist and most who know me will tell you that I manage a lot.My office has unfinished glass, glass tools, some iron working tools plus all of my office equipment. My husband has referred to my desk as my 'command center'. Two of my upstairs bedrooms have huge canvasses, ready to be painted on and unfinished irons and packing materials. I need to consolidate those to one room. Then we could have a guest room!
Our upstairs living room is my main paintings space though I do paint on the outside front porch in the summer months and occasionally in the downstairs kitchen, too. Hey, it's a large space with no furniture. Our house has practically no furniture! It does keep the space open. Our larger downstairs formal living room is my gallery where I exhibit my paintings for client visits. I also used to teach piano so this has my baby grand. Our third living space also has paintings that should move to the main gallery. Easy.
Now the garage: we're planning a side building to house my iron working equipment, kiln, welder...stuff like that so that some things can move out of the garage.
The bottom line is that when you make a living as an artist and you work in more than one medium or you work in a medium that has a lot of components then you need to be organized in your workspace. To create my hand painted chandeliers requires a lot of equipment and effort.
And yet when clients come to visit they have no idea of my little feung shui because my house looks very professional, it's just that after living here for the better part of the last decade through a growing art career it's now time to re-organize. And this is why most industrial artists have industrial spaces...
My husband is now clearing the mulch on the other side of my office wall...for our new mini industrial workshop...to be built in the near future...
To see more reverse painted glass chandeliers and art by Jenny Floravita, please visit my websites: www.floravitalights.com and www.floravita.com
