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As this is my first blog thought I would write a short story describing how StudioSosenka came about.
In 2017 I decided to put part of a barn that we own to use by turning it into a tiny art gallery. It had up to that time been a leaking ( and rat riddled ) 1950's block built addition to an ancient barn next door.
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A great friend of mine Jon Everett did the building work on the studio, his eye for quirky additions is something I have always valued ! When there was plaster left over he cut some strips of plasterboard and told me I had 20 minutes to "create " something - and the result was a border we installed along the top of one of the long walls, made to look like original Suffolk pargetting! In fact, it actually fooled two rather impressive ladies who came in one day during a show and announced to each other that " this is clearly a very ancient building judging by the reliefs" . I am ashamed to say I didn't correct them!
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And again when Jon uncovered a hole in the internal boarding he suggested to one of my daughters that she make a plaster face inside it. She promptly did - and the result was stunning! Possibly a bit too terrifying for a group of ladies that came in to see a show one day - and when one of them spotted the face she shrieked out of genuine fear and ran out of the room!
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We eventually managed to transform it into the light and airy space that it is now. We thought up a cool name, put up some hanging rails, installed a small woodburner, got in touch with a bunch of great local artists - and started booking shows. Everything went swimmingly with exciting shows, exhibitions and the very popular Christmas shows… until Covid hit.
Overnight all shows were cancelled and we all hunkered down at home with no idea when it was all going to end.
After a month or so of intense boredom and frustration I suddenly had a lightbulb moment when I realised that I could actually use this space for my own painting - instead of relying on the kitchen table as I had done for years!​
A family walk in the woods gave me the name for my studio, as the word Sosna, or Sosenka in its diminutive form - means 'small pine tree' in Polish. I figured that it was easy to pronounce in English - and I loved the romantic association of Pine trees and woods with all things folkloric in Eastern Europe. I have to admit that I probably spent most of my childhood dreaming about gnomes ( krasnoludki in Polish ) living in mossy tree trunks and eating their dinners under spotty mushrooms, and consequently spent countless hours decorating their living quarters with whatever I could steal out of the house! How much this actually influenced the aesthetic in my painting work I don't know- but my guess is a lot!
I found that​ Instagram was clearly the way to go in terms of telling the world out there that the studio existed, so I divided my time between painting treasures that I had stored and working online.
I was lucky enough to make some early sales, I got given some really sweet commissions ​and since then it has become my beloved work space. One that is big enough to fit in loads of big projects and work clutter, one that works brilliantly for my workshops - and a space that has enabled me to make countless new friends
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