New studio on Samish Island!

New studio on Samish Island in Skagit County 

For the last year or so I've been casually looking around for a new studio space. My goal was a building where I could create much larger paintings with room to store my work and room to stretch and frame canvas and to cut wood. In addition to that I had a wish list: trees, a small cabin and (although I couldn't afford it) a water view. I shared that list with a friend, Heather Othmer, a realtor in Bellingham. Late July Heather emailed me a photo of property with trees and a cabin and after some delay, we all drove to Samish Island on a Saturday to take a look.

When I saw the shop (the middle of the 3 buildings - the cabin is behind the trees - I could picture it as a studio. The next day my husband and I drove back to look again and on Monday we made an offer.

It's just under 14 acres - nearly all trees and 12 of those acres are in a wildlife conservation easement with the Skagit Land Trust for bird habitat. There's a view of Samish Bay and Padilla Bay and the North Cascades. The flat land in the distance? All habitat for ducks and geese, owned by the state (ie the people of Washington). The shop is old, built of big timbers, but it's large. And I've got a pole barn for cutting wood and storing kayaks. I never dreamed this would be my studio.

It's 35 minutes from my house, just past the town of Edison. I feel very lucky.

Comments

RG said…
FYI - maybe you know - this property is adjacent to a very large Heron Rookery managed and protected by the Skagit Land Trust. They sponsor work parties, tours, and science in there and you might find that quite interesting to be part of!
November 2, 2015 at 8:31 AM
Lisa McShane said…
Thanks Rabbits' Guy - we are really glad to share ownership of that forest with Skagit Land Trust and have already sponsored an ivy pull. We're looking forward to a long partnership with SLT!
November 2, 2015 at 8:38 AM
Elizabeth said…
Congratulations!

Elizabeth
November 2, 2015 at 4:29 PM
Matthew Lee Studio said…
WOW, what a magnificent place to paint. I'm a bit jealous! I'm in an urban environment (Memphis, TN), and dream of having a place in the country or mountains. I want a log cabin or rustic type building, with a fireplace, a few cozy chairs for guests, views of nature, and a stream nearby.

Matthew
January 4, 2016 at 7:51 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My favorite love poem - West Wind 2 by Mary Oliver

Image
for Dan on Valentine's Day West Wind 2 by Mary Oliver You are young. So you know everything. You leap into the boat and begin rowing. But, listen to me. Without fanfare, without embarrassment, without any doubt, I talk directly to your soul. Listen to me. Lift the oars from the water, let your arms rest, and your heart, and your heart's little intelligence, and listen to  me. There is life without love. It is not worth a bent penny, or a scuffed shoe. It is not worth the body of a  dead dog nine days unburied. When you hear, a mile away and still out of sight, the churn of the water as it begins to swirl and roil, fretting around the sharp rocks --- when you feel the mist on your mouth and sense ahead the embattlement, the long falls plunging and steaming---then row, row for your life toward it. Still Waters. ©2010. Lisa McShane.
Read more

My favorite art inventory system

Image
Over the past couple of years I've looked at and played with a lot of computer programs for keeping track of artwork. Here are past blog posts on the subject: Art Inventory Systems, here's what I've tried and then this Update on Art Inventory Systems Alyson Stanfield has also written about this riveting subject on her great blog here . I come to these systems with built-in bias. I prefer a FileMaker based system to an Access based system because I think it's a more powerful and smoother software to use. I'd worked for a nonprofit that used Filemaker and it's what I know. I also prefer a system without goofy graphics. I'm an artist. I care how things look. If I open up software every couple of days I would like it to be clean and simple and not ugly. But computers evolve and the next direction is to the cloud. That is a system where software doesn't live on your computer but you access it via the internet. I operate on 3 devices: my iMac in my
Read more

#artinthetimeofcorona

Image
Tenino: Flooded River; Dalles at Dusk , 2020, Oil on Linen, 24" x 60". Shown here with Andrew Vallee sculptures. Hey check out this great blog article from Metropolitan Frame! It's an interview of me and where things are at with my work, given the virus. Metropolitan Frame is a custom frame shop in Minneapolis, Minnesota that produces most of the frames I use these days, including the one above. Their work is flawless and fits my work well. Click here for the article, #artinthetimeofcorona
Read more