This week I moved into my studio – a brand new HQ for Rachel Shilston – Inspiring Creativity. The first couple of days have been busy, unpacking boxes and arranging, then re-arranging art materials in a creative manner. But today the fun really started when I cracked open my new pots of Dulux paint, (all mixed to perfection by a local Dulux mixer centre) and I set to work on attempting to create an artistic hub that would shout Rachel Shilston and scream ‘inspiring creativity’. I’m not entirely sure which phrase sums me up the most; ‘Smiling like a Cheshire Cat’, ‘Happy as a pig in ****’ (that smelly stuff), or ‘As happy as Larry’, but today I have had a ball, painting ‘things’ for my new studio.
If I’m completely honest, I don’t think I’ve been ‘right’ since Changing Rooms. I mean is it really normal for someone to get that excited about pots of paint? I blame that ever so smiley Carol Smiley. What with her and her eccentric crew of interior designers, I can’t look at a pot of hot pink paint in the same way anymore.
You remember Changing Rooms – right? It was back in the nineties, when we were all convinced that lime green and yellow were the colours of choice for our bedrooms, acid orange would work well in our bathroom and as for the lounge, Cadbury purple and a mock silver suede was the only way forward. We were convinced to ditch Magnolia walls and use tile paint to spruce up our kitchen surfaces. Each week we saw Lawrence, Linda and Anna, come up with quirky makeovers for every room in the house, for relatively small budgets. Handy Andy, the resident DIY expert, was able to knock out all sorts of impressive structures from MDF.
I loved it and I think a little of me is still stuck in that colourful ‘Changing Rooms’ world. When I finally fling open my doors in a few weeks’ time for my official studio launch, there will be no doubt where my creative inspiration has come from.