In my studio

Karen Lynn Ingalls in the studio • © 2010 Nathan Ingalls

My nephew, Nathan Ingalls (a young cinematographer – you'll be seeing more of his work in years to come, I know), took this photo of me in the studio earlier in the summer. This was one of the "arty" angles he was having fun with – taken through my paint brushes. In it, I'm facing the painting that is in this year's catalog for Open Studios (it's not on the web, though).

Karen Lynn Ingalls in the studio • © 2010 Nathan Ingalls

Yes, that's an ironing board serving as my taboret (a table for holding one's palette and paints). It works well for painting on location, too, believe it or not. You can adjust it to different heights for sitting or standing. I got the idea for it from a photograph of a painter – maybe Frank Gannon? – working en plein air (in the open air, on location), in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat.

I work from my own photographs, though I don't usually print them four to a page. Now that we have digital cameras, I crop my compositions on the computer before I print them.

Although it's a little dark, you may be able to see behind me, in the wall right around the window, some of the wool I've used to insulate my studio (I still have part of one wall to go!) in part of a rehabilitated chicken barn. That wool came from the same sheep I've been painting lately. I have a lot to thank them for!