The Artist's Studio at The Sainsbury's Centre for Visual Arts

I recently visited this exhibition and found it very enjoyable but also really interesting and informative.  I do however wish I'd taken notes so will do in future.  The main body of the exhibition was of paintings of studios, often as portraits or self portraits.  The accompanying texts gave info about the history of the studio and it's uses.  The picutres had been painted for a range of reasons from it being an easy place to paint to using it as an advertisenment of the artist's skills.  It was of particular interest to note the props that were a common feature in painting schools i.e classical style statues to be copied.  All in all it gave me a really good overview of different artists studios and ways of working. 

There was also a section with photos of famous artists at work on in thier studios - again very interesting to see the different ways of working.  Local artists had been invited to display photographs of their own studios - the variety of spaces people work in is intriguing and reassuring to someone who has only a corner of the conservatory and everything has to be tidied away out of reach of the toddler.  I'm hoping that by this time next year I will have at least  a corner of the utility room as my very own studio area!

I learnt a lot from this visit but wish I'd taken notes as I went around so I could research some of my favourite pictures in more detail at home.  If nothing else it has taught me it is worth taking notes as I go round.  REMEMBER TO DO THIS!!!