Last fall I became aware that studio space was available for rent on Granville Island.  Now if you are not local, Granville Island is a wonderful community of artisans, quality food vendors, clothing stores, restaurants, fancy card shop etc.  Wonderful diverse community of stores.  In the main market is the food vendors.  Fresh veggies, specialty butchers, cheese importers, handmade soups, pies, chocolates, you name it, you can likely find it in the market. As well as the Federation of Canadian Artists Gallery and Studios. 

The Federation of Canadian Artists is a not for profit organization that I've been involved with for a couple of years, and it just so happens they have studio space available for artists. 

Again, last fall, I thought it would be wonderful to secure one of these studio spaces. I wasn't sure how to swing it, or what size was available etc.  I hopped in the car on a particular drab day and went to see the spaces in person.  I'm a big advocate of taking your dream for a test drive.  Actually experiencing the space to see if it is a fit.  In this case, I could totally see myself in the space.  I came home dreaming about how I would decorate it and arrange my artwork for maximum effect. The only thing stopping me from taking a space right away was the long wait list of other artists wanting to rent these spaces. 

​I forgot about it and carried on with the painting I had in my home studio to finish.  

I had submitted a piece of artwork to an upcoming show at the Federation so my husband and I drove down there to wander around and have a lovely bowl of our favourite soup.  While we were there, the studio coordinator called and said that there was a space available for me in the studio.  Oh my gosh.  How exciting.  So we walked over and took a look at the space in person.  It would be perfect.  

Yikes.  Now to figure out the finances of it all.  I wasn't sure how I would afford the added expense, but I knew I was going to dig in and make it happen.  I quickly put a call out to my network asking for help and boy did my community come through.  I sold a couple of pieces within a couple of days and this dream became a reality.  

It has now been just over a week that I've had the studio and I've been so productive and loving the community.  I now have 7 other artists that are in the studio with me, working, creating, laughing, and sharing.  It's wonderful. 

This was such a fabulous decision and I'm excited to see what I can create from here.  Here is a commission piece that I'm currently working on.

Thanks for being on this journey with me.  I'd love to hear your comments about my dream coming true or something that came true for you.  Simply comment below.