My cat died.

In fact, it was a pussy, and she did not die, but was put to sleep. Eighteen years together. She moved with me from Warsaw to Kuwait, from Kuwait to Lisbon and then further to the Portuguese countryside.

She was quite a bitch – she did not like people (especially children, to whom she was religiously aggressive), she was a very picky eater and she was always in charge of the rest of my cats and two dogs. I guess that’s why there was such a close bond and a lot of love between us. The dictator cat and me.

Maybe it’s a cliché that animals take after their owners, I don’t know…. To me, there is some truth to this. With Goblin (that was her name), I had a strong relationship based on a code of rules that we both strictly followed.

I still have two cats – Slipper (the cuddly one), LuLu (the ugly one) and two Weimar pointers: Slate (the leader) and Flint (a drama queen). So if I take after my animals it would make me a spastic drama queen who likes to cuddle every now and then. I suppose it could be worse.

I feel much better around animals than with people. People fail on so many levels! They are flawed by nature. An animal, on the other hand, does not have this selfishness, it is loyal and protective. It is not afraid to show how much it loves you, neither it is afraid to show its gratitude for your love. A simple, unpretentious relationship. Also, there is nothing better then a properly warmed-up couch or hiking together in the woods or long-lasting face licking/stroking sessions.

For years my studio has been a borrowed place. A table borrowed from the kitchen, a bed borrowed from a bedroom, a floor in the living room. I have never complained about working at home, on the contrary – you can always check what’s new in the fridge, and when working on less ambitious projects – do laundry, wash windows or even take a long bath in the middle of the day. The truth is that I work a lot and I don’t often take on obligations that are not attractive to me – so the windows were always kind of dirty. In addition, the studio is a workspace  – a place where it does not matter if you splash paint on the wall, where the floor should be in multicoloure, and the bathroom sink does not stay white for long. At the same time, I would like to point out that stains of paint on the floor do not mean dirt – I like to live and work in a clean and tidy environment.

After moving to Portugal, we’ve decided to build a studio separate from the house. These two buildings are only a few dozen meters away, so I could always pop into the house and clean these unfortunate windows …

So I have my own splashing area, built by a fantastic team from JULAR, a Portuguese family-owned company that deals with wooden constructions. The guys came over, took measurements and… it was ready. Bitch, I was gagged!

For the last three years, I’ve been starting my day here with coffee. I work from morning to evening, every now and then letting my eyes rest with the soothing views of the Alentejo hills stretching to the horizon. And when I feel a little hungry, I open the cupboard with a hidden supply of chocolate.

Here the brushes do not dry out and the easels are always ready. Here my dogs are taking afternoon naps, the gramophone plays music in the background and I play with colours. It rarely happens that I don’t visit my studio every day – maybe because I like my job. Even when I have guests, my hands itch to paint something.

About WerkShoppe

A few years ago we realized there were so many artists out there doing amazing work but struggling to be seen. It made us wonder; what if we could bring these artists’ work to a larger audience, so they could continue to create? And how can we help people discover all this new art by making it really accessible?

So we decided to create WerkShoppe.

We see ourselves as an Art & Design community first. An online gathering place and ecommerce platform where artistic collaborations with emerging and established artists are turned into creative products.

We help people connect with art and with each other. We’re definitely picky about the art we love but we’re not snobby about where to find it.

Art brings us so much happiness and we want you to feel that way too.

Our first products are beautifully made puzzles designed to help you press pause, featuring really interesting artists. We love it, we love what we do, and we hope we can share that love with you.

Press Pause,

Ann – Marie & Wayne

It is so nice that with small communities everybody becomes a part of daily life. Projects like this one also give a chance to younger generations to participate and to express themselves. It was a pleasure to be working alongside them and even my limited knowledge of Portuguese language was not a problem (quite the opposite, they defo taught me few cool expressions and new swear words:P).

Working in the centre of Sao Luis.

It took us almost one month to finish. But it was an incredible experience. Every passer by would engage in conversation, I had older people telling me stories about the well and teaching me history of the town. But my favourite part of the day was when local restaurant owners would come over offering me coffee or little snacks (sometimes full lunches and yes, I do like my food).

I am very proud of the final result and I hope the new Old Well will become a part of Sao Luis for years to come.

None of it would be possible without Fernando and support from CIN, who kindly gave us their best paints.