newses

the bad news first.
the lights we got are not bright enough :(
my husband had put 6 or 7 of the 13 in and it was just too dark.

but he brought the ones he didn't put up back and exchanged them for others that
should be better. but now he has to put THOSE in and exchange the others.

today i went to the city to drop off paintings for 2 galleries.
when i came back, there was good news...



closets!!!

there is one on either side (was hard to get a good photo...).
one hides the electrical panel and the other hides the water pipes.
they are perfect because i will be able to store my fabric bins in there!!!

there will be a worktop connecting the two pretty soon :)



i was joking with them saying i wanted a toilet in there so i would never have
to go upstairs ;)

more spackling.
they say i will be able to paint the primer on by tuesday! :D

next weekend there will be two art openings. i am definitely showing 2 pieces in the one, and the other, i will find out tomorrow if they are accepted.
*crosses fingers*

13 is a lucky number

13 of these are going to be in my ceiling.

i counted them.

13!!!!!

i am going to be able to SEE!!!!!

ceiling!

the ceiling is drywalled! the whole thing :D




our friend, jon, who has been working so hard for us, is not coming here tonight, but i am pretty sure my husband (whether he likes it or not) will be doing some electrical work, like maybe putting the lights in? or the inthewall speakers that he got for me?
i hope he does anyway. it'd be a good time to do it...

the last of the walls that need drywall are the parts that started this whole project in the first place! there was no drywall there EVER, and i had fabric stapled up to the walls to hide it. i asked jon if he'd drywall that area and put up some shelves for me...
i think it has evolved ;)

you see that tall light in the photo? that's jon's. it is our only source of light while we are working until the lights go in.

there was yet another mishap yesterday (caused by me, of course) when i tried to put the light on. see, the thing with that light is...you have to slide the whole light bulb part UP. it's in that big clear tube. i've watched jon do it and he slams that sucker up and down.

there's a little lever that you have to pull out in order to slide it. i pulled the lever out, holding the top little knob eversocarefully with the other hand, and guess what?
the whole top broke off!
how can he slam it and not break it, but i touch it and whammo!?
i felt so bad all day.
he wasn't mad at me though...

i have everything wrapped in plastic and ready for the spackle dust that will ensue any day now...
it looks a lot like that scene in E.T. when they come in and try to take him away...


i've been on the computer for most of the day...looking for ideas on how i want to paint the floor. it took me forever to paint those tiles on there and i sort of hate the idea of having to paint over it again. especially because i will have to do it in sections with all of the stuff i have still in there!

hopefully there will be lights for next time so the photos aren't so dark.
till then...
ciao!

the insulationator

now, you may think i look quite ridiculous, but i am indeed protected from the deadly insulation fiberglass bits that make people very itchy.

this is a tested insulationator suit, and it works very well.

what you need for full protection is:

1. long underwear. this is necessary for double protective leg coating. besides, it's flippin' january.

2. jeans. these are to cover said long underwear and are not as absorbent for the fiberglass bits.

3. long sleeved t-shirt

4. hoodie. and this is important...WITH the string intact. you will need the string to tighten the hood as snug as possible around your chin.

5. bandana of your color choice.

6. safety goggles. unfortunately, after great physical activity (which means if you are height-challenged and are installing insulation in a ceiling), you will become quite warm in your insulation suit, and your goggles will fog up. you may want to take a break when this happens. perhaps out of doors where you can breathe fresh air.

7. rubber gloves (preferably purple)

8. face mask. please note that these type of face masks are not made with bumpy nosed individuals in mind, and the mask will hurt after long periods of time. it will also leave a giant imprint upon your bump.

i finished putting the insulation up. drywall completion is due this evening...

and then there was trouble...

maybe i shouldn't be left alone...
unsupervised...

i was supposed to go down and move my stuff to the already drywalled area so they could drywall the rest of the room.

20 minutes in, all of the power in my house went out, so i worked in the (almost) dark till it came back on an hour later.

the power came on (and i swear, it was the storm and not anything i did to any outlets!)
and water started to seep in from our neighbors side (we are in a semi-attached house or a twin, like they call em here)
i had to move a bunch of canvases and stuff in a big hurry before they got wet :(
it normally doesn't happen unless it REALLY REALLY rains a whole big LOT!
but it really sucks when it does.
we have a french drain and a sumpump (is it a sump pump? or a sumpump?)
on the other side, but i have no control over what happens on the neighbor's side :/

THEN i started to smell some sort of gas. it was a propane torch that the boys were using for the pipes they had to move in the ceiling. the top musta got jostled. i wonder how long i was breathing that in?

what else?
OH! and there was something dripping from our boiler oil heat thing... i had to call the husband to come home from work and check it out!!!

and i pinched the bejeezus outta my finger with these death pliers my husband owns.

but i cut down two of my big shelving thingies so they aren't so tall. i think it makes it look less huge and looming...they both fit on the smallest of the new walls, and i think i will make them sort of my collections area ala mutter museum style.

:D

maybe i'll make the whole basement mutter themed :D
haha!

i still have moving to do, but i think i still have all day tomorrow. phew.

i'm not very good at this...

but i've keep being asked where i'm going to put what...
i measured and stuff, and i made this quicky (bad) pretend studio.
whatcha think? is there a better way???



please ignore the misshapen closets and things...you get the idea ;)
and if you can't get the entire image on your screen, you can click the photo. it will take you to my flickr. :)

REAL walls

it's getting there!!!!



where the yellow wires are sticking out, i'm going to have recessed lights :D lots and lots of lights!!!!



spackling. so messy...

walls!

so excited! they started building the new walls last night! a late start, but they are starting early this morning. they are already down there sawing and stuff :D

i'll have quite a bit more room since the one wall was moved back a few feet :D
i will have to repaint the floors...but that's ok :)

and on the 3rd day, there were wires...

or is it the 4th day? nothing special happened to the studio yesterday, but i did work on my website which i think is almost ready to launch, as soon as i find a good parking space...

so whatever day it is...the wires are in and tidied! and there are metal boxes and other things that i have no understanding of...

but what i DO know is that it means i will have LIGHTS!!!

...AND it means GOODBYE fluorescent lights!!! i will not miss you!


and it also means that we are all ready for the drywall tomorrow!!!! wheeee!!!! :D
see you tomorrow with my new walls! x

studio. day 2. ruh-roh!

i thought i'd surprize my husband today and tear down all of the paneling from the studio so he would only have to worry about the electrical stuff and whatever it is that they are going to do...but you know...so they can GET STARTED!!!

this is the ugly paneling (that i had painted) that i mentioned in the last post...





you see those little window things? they were for projectors i think. the old fella that lived here before us had it all set up down there like a big multi-media room....only it was all done in the 70's. all brown wood paneling...
he had this little wall thing built that you could walk behind because it held a t.v. and a stereo and stuff, and i think he had a big screen you could pull down to watch movies from the projectors (dirty movies, from what my neighbor tells me ;) )

i think i have a polaroid i took of it when we moved in. i will try to find it...

so this is what it looks like now...



and the side wall...



so i was at the last piece of panel. and, you know, i had to unscrew all of the electrical outlet plates and fiddle with the thing so it would go through the paneling to get the paneling off.

that last piece was trouble because it was/is behind the radiator.
so i nearly had it, when all of the sudden... POP!!!! sparks came out of the outlet and now everything is dark! :O


(the culprit)

i rang my husband (mr. electrician) who was less than happy with me for trying to do this all myself (which i should have known, but i am perfectly able to do things myself...well, almost.) and warned that i should now leave that alone and wait for him to do it.

my internet was actually what was plugged into that outlet before so i had to get a big extension cord and run it all the way upstairs to plug it in ;)

i did try to organize all of the stuff better and put plastic sheeting up...

(see how it's dark down there now? hehe)

now i s'pose i should take all of that old paneling out and get it ready for the bin.

wish me luck for husband arrival time and that i don't get in too much trouble ;)

su-su-studio

well, here goes.

the studio tearing apart has begun. i was instructed to move everything i could along to one side of the basement so that the main part of the new walls could be built.
i have done all i can by myself, so the boys are going to have to start helping now with the heavier stuff...

this is basically what my studio DID look like before i tore it apart....even though this was taken a while ago, and surely it was even more cluttered...



can you see that back wall there? it isn't really a wall at all. i just stapled fabric onto the beams. there is insulation under there. it was ugly.

also, all along the wall on the left (that you can't see) is this ugly paneling that i had painted. that is getting torn out and drywall put up everywhere.

i need to put plastic all over all my stuff so it doesn't get the dreaded spackle dust all over everything....

i will take photos along the way. i can't wait till it's finished!!! :D

trains and gypsies

two new tiny ones!

"reading" is a square one. i love old trains, and we are lucky to have a sort of "train graveyard" nearby where i go often to take photos and stuff. they have a running steam engine that takes people out on a little tour (it's the one pictured here in the painting). i wish they still made them like that.

anyway, the painting is approximately 5" square on a wood panel with as much stuff on it as i could muster ;)



it is for sale in my etsy shop here.

the second one happened because i needed to draw something. it's been ages (seems) and sometimes i just gotta do it.
anyway, her name is "vadoma"
and she's on a wooden panel that is approximately 5" in diameter.
she's made with acrylic and ink and i used brass nails and upholstery tacks for extra fanciness ;)



she is also for sale in my etsy shop here.


in other news...i was NOT one of the 10 winners of the contest that i submitted most of my "survival" paintings to. they picked 8 (!!!) sculptors/installations and only 1 painter! there were over 2,100 people who entered, so i'm not too heartbroken, but i now need to find somewhere to show all of this work (besides my living room!)

also, i am bartering with a friend who is going to remodel my studio!!!! in exchange for some artwork. :D :D :D
construction starts next week, so i will have to move a lot of stuff out of here so he can tear my walls down and put up new ones.
he will make this room bigger and put up shelves, cabinets, and build a BIG work table! yay for bartering!!!!

i do not know how much work i will be able to do while this is all happening, but i will bring my computer and my sewing machine upstairs at least ;)

ciao!

getting back to it...

the new year started off a little wonky.
i had some sort of weird cold thing going on...
but i've been feeling a bit better, so i made this:



it is for sale here where you can see more pics in the listing.

i also bought a new coat, that i think needed a lil' pin. so i thought...
i'll make one. like a little painting. because people ask me what i do, and i can just say "i make big ones of these" ;)

i made 3. to try it out. i messed one up a little (but i think i may have fixed the big problem) so two are alike (but different)

they are approximately 1.25" square, so the actual painting part is about 1" square.









i think that working tiny is very difficult, but for some reason, i continue to torment myself. go figure.