usually i enjoy the visitor who is actually interested in what i am doing and is not trying to tell me his/her opinion about what i am doing. but then there are those days i hang my sign out over the doorknob: "if i hear the door open, i'm going to throw a brick in your general direction"...
I never let anyone visit my studio. On the few occasions, where I haven´t been able to deny someone access, my studio and I play this trick on the visitor: The works in progress are put away, the floor gets sweeped, the ashtrays emptied etc., so by the time the visitor enters it´s not really my studio as I know and love it. Ha ! As soon as the visitor is out the door, the works in progress are returned to their easels, a cigarette is put out on the floor and my studio and I are back in action. Just recently, I´ve started sharing a new studio with a buddy of mine and that poses some problems. It´ll take a couple of months before, I´ve worked out some routines that can make things work for me.
It seems to me that many artists who have matured into making a living, avoid studio visitors. I maintain a select few who are allowed in here. Even then, they aren't allowed to flip through the stacks of canvases/panels facing the wall. I also practice a strict rule:
1) Look, but don't touch...ANYTHING!
2) Look and I don't want to hear what you have to say about it, especially if it is a work in progress on the easel.
Anyone who doesn't stick to this rule...never gets invited again.
I certainly can't have anyone in here when I'm working...even if I am just thumbing through references. If they say they want to learn from me...weeelll, that's what a school is for.
There have been only two instances that I can recall where I actually tried to mentor an artist. Didn't work for me. My time in my studio is important to me. Someone who wants to learn better be darn serious about it, and not just think it's cool to hangout with an artist. This is work!
