More progress on the studio

Well, over 40 holes in the walls, insulation all over the place, dust sheets, white plaster footprints! Yup, about as big a mess as can be.But cozier and warmer and quieter already.Now to begin the repair work. Repairing gyprock never seems like a big deal to me, so I was happy to start this part of the reno. Since the studio space runs the whole length of the house and measures about 40 ft, I needed to keep track of the circles and which holes they corresponded to. I numbered the holes we cut out as 1s for position one in studio and so on, sw for studio west wall, c for craft room, and cw for craft room west wall.I saved a bunch of pine left over from the floor renovation, and R cut over 40 lengths to screw behind the holes and support for the rounds of gyprock, and rest was pretty straight forward.I did blunt a pair of scissors though trimming the edges of the rounds for easier sanding post filling.And then the question was, leave the studio a mess until after the sanding and painting, which would make even a bigger mess, or clean up?Clean up first was the decision, because this mess is a bit soul destroying and especially in my precious and private work space.So around supper time, dust sheets were taken away and shook out in the building lot next door, books and art materials were straightened out and placed back on the drawing table, surfaces wiped down, vacuumed, dusted and polished, and apart form 40+ rounds to be sanded and painted, last thing in the evening the studio is looking almost respectable.Whew, tons of work, but so very worth it. Now to finish straightening polishing and dusting the craft room. :D

How to make a huge mess! Aka: The AttiCat system.

Time for a good catch up round here, but first you probably need a lovely, calm photo because the rest of this post will be rather chaotic and over-the-top messy!So here is some sunlight and a gentle breeze coming thru my bedroom curtains. :DIt all started with my bloggy friend Donna's FB challenge to really clean up. This gave me inspiration to haul over my studio/office area. Truthfully, I've wanted to do this for the better part of the year now, but more than that, my 100 yr old house doesn't have any insulation in the roof line, so my studio is generally difficult to keep warm over winter and too hot over summer. So I thought that if I committed myself to a through cleaning and purging, then it might be a good idea to make an even bigger mess and insulate!!!It's that breaking a whole ton of eggs to make an omelette type mess.Robert and I reevaluated the situation, and decided that, while there are a couple removable panels in the gyprock walls which afford a little bit of access to lay insulation sheets, the majority of the space needs drilled holes and a blowing machine to insulate between the gyprock sheets and the roof rafters.So a bit of research revealed the AttiCat system rentable at good ol' Home Depot, and, after two days of moving stuff and hauling stuff to the local thrift, off we went to buy $600 worth of sheet and blown-in insulation.The first day was rather easy. There are two large trunks of costumes in the storage under the eves and so, reasoning that old costumes are probably easier to wash fibreglass out of than our every day clothes, we dressed appropriately: R in a funky Hawaiian shirt...And me, who had to crawl into the spaces between the wall and roof line to lay the insulation, I got a bit more coverage in my black wig, safari shirt, and 40 yr old bell bottoms, :D ,and got to work.At Home Depot, we also bought a special hole cutter for gyprock, attached it to my hammer drill and drilled an exploratory hole to see if our mad scheme would work. Seemed like a goer.And then, a lovely end to our day, my son Jonathan drove his resurrected turbo Datsun Z to show us his work.This is particularly nice for R since he's away from his experimental engines in OXON and always has a bit of fun car stuff withdrawals.And then yesterday was a new day, and I jumped out of bed first thing in the morning and rented that AttiCat machine.We brought it home and plunked it into the back garden and snaked the 150 ft of hose up the three stories to the studio.Now, we did our homework and asked our questions and watched the how to videos, which, by the way, show a lovely pony-tailed blonde in beige jeans and push up bra calmly scoring the bail of insulation along the cut lines and then gently placing one half into the machine while the machine does the rest. It conveniently doesn't show said lovely pony-tailed blonde having to actually haul and break that insulation bail in half. I think that quite possibly she didn't because it took all 5'6" and 138 lbs of me to full force jump on the scored bail over the garage stair cement threshold several times to actually break it in half.But I'm happy to report that the system does work...after a fashion, (the remote just doesn't work and I couldn't hear R shout instructions from three stories away while the machine was whirling away, and this lead to R looking a bit like an animated pink snowman at times)...but soon we had half of the space fairly well insulated.And then it was already 2:30pm and we stopped for a bit of lunch.And then disaster! Nowhere on any of the instruction videos or write-ups or in person instructions at Home Depot does it say: "NEVER STOP FOR LUNCH!!!!"Our lunch break resulted in expanded insulation firmly blocking a huge portion of the 150ft hose and we spent a delightful hour, (not), removing insulation from the machine, uncoupling the hose and beating and reverse blowing the stuck product out of it till my back yard looked like an over-the-top cherry blossom festival gone horribly wrong!Ugh!But we did persevere, and the last photo I took, at about 5pm, is this one of a fully insulated roof, insulation and gyprock dust everywhere, and a very tired Robbie. By the time we finally cleaned up and took that machine back it was 9pm.What a few full days! Time for a break I think before we begin the process of repairing the gyprock holes. It's all going to be so worth it! :D

Plein Air art show, found while walking

The tumbleweeds may have invaded this space lately.That's the thing about me and this blog. It's a sort of no pressure, no worry, post when I feel like it or when I have something to say sort of space.And, while I do miss it, it seems a little unfair to me to have all you lovely friends reading and commenting, and not having the time myself to comment back and pop by yours.So tumbleweeds.There's still a bit of craziness happening round here and we are trying to finish projects here in the Vancouver house before R leaves for England, but there's always time to head down to the river for a walk.And that's exactly what we did on this beautiful, warm Tuesday.We headed down to the little heritage fishing village in Steveston for a lovely bit of lazy sunshine and some fish and chips for lunch.And just as we got to the little village, we saw this:And at the docks...We saw this!Everywhere late summer was still chirping along.And loads of artists found their perfect place there.Some brought their helpers.And then, in one of the large shipyard buildings...There was an art show showing the work of more than 50 artists.Such a diverse collection.We walked around the paintings and admired all the different techniques.Now, while the paintings were already judged and awarded prizes, there was a chance for the public to vote for a favourite, which will award the artist $300.After a good look, I chose to vote for this one. I loved it. It's a reverse painting on a sheet of glass in an old window. I can't even imagine what the starting point of a reverse glass painting should be.A plein air art show. How lucky we were to come across this lovely collection in this lovely place.

Nadine's drawing challenge: Skin

There's a Czech saying I know. It doesn't translate very well, but reads that, when one isn't feeling well, one is not in her right skin.That's been me all week. A toothache turned into an abscess, turned into 10 days of Amoxil, two dentists appointments, and one scheduled root canal in early October, in my otherwise perfectly healthy mouth.Apparently it's one of those things. Go figure!With this nonsense happening I didn't get much work done and didn't figure anything out for our drawing challenge hosted by Nadine (thank you so much woolfie girl).So I thought I'd cheer myself up, and instead of showing you some of my art, I thought I'd bring you some inspiration. I looked thru my library and found the books I was looking for.For me, the master of skin portrayed in darkness is Caravaggio. (The crucifixion of St Andrew)Although he didn't leave a "school of" student notes, and although not one sketch, drawing, unfinished piece survives, he most definitely used a grisaille technique and probably only a limited pallet of various earths, vermillion, lead white and Ivory black.But look at the light! Look at the tone, the expression, the beauty! (The denial of St Peter)As Caravaggio is my master of skin in darkness, Joaquin Sorolla is the master of skin in light.Actually, I think Sorolla is the master of sunshine period. (Valencian fisherwomen)You know, the more and the deeper I look into a Sorolla painting, the more colours I see. The mix which reads "skin" seems to be a rainbow of complex brush strokes laid down so very simply and boldly on the canvas.And the joy! Oh the joy of sunshine! (The pink robe)My modern Master of skin is the brilliant photographer Sally Mann.Her photographs are breathtaking. (Sorry game)Unfortunately, I feel I can only show you the more pc photos on my site here, although I'd love to show you the more beautiful, more controversial artistic photos. I encourage you to have a look at the books yourself. (Jessie bites)Well there we are. I hope I haven't let everyone down with my lack of productivity. Things are getting back to normal now and I plan to be back at work next week. Looking forward to popping around everyone's thru Nadine's for a good mooch and some more inspiration. :DAnd a quick link to my books:Caravaggio The Final YearsThe Painter Joaquin SorollaImmediate Family Sally Mann

Hello from Sunday night

Hello from a the end of a fabulous weekend here. The weatherman said this might be the last lovely summer weekend, and so Robert and I got out of town.We drove to the interior of BC, to Summerland, (perfect for a summery weekend, no?), for a car show...lol. Yes, we're crazy like that. But it was a wonderful car show full of brilliant, candy-coloured, shiny, vintage beauties. It was even called "Endless Summer", and we enjoyed it to the max.Summerland is on the shore of Okanagan Lake, (my daughter Kerstin and her family live right on the other side of this lake, but were in Vancouver for the weekend...figures), and the day was so lovely and hot and the lake looked so tempting, that we decided we wanted to go for a swim, but realised we both forgot to pack our bathing suits. There was nothing for it, we decided that we had to buy some. So I asked some residents about a store near by and they said we had to drive to either one of the larger towns, miles away, to get bathing suits. Slightly deflated and too hot, we drove thru Summerland and I spied a thrift store!!! Immediately parked up and ran into the store only to find a sale where one buys a garbage bag for $1 and fills it up. Have you ever heard of such a thing? I haven't! But my little whip round the store produced about 10 pairs of board shorts and swimming trunks, a couple of T-shirts and tank tops, and a couple blankets to sit on. I figured something would fit, and something did! In the water we went. It was heaven. :DI tried to book us an overnight room at a B&B in the area, but didn't find any last minute spots, so we drove out of the Okanagan to my favourite little town of Hedley and stayed at the most wonderful Hedley Inn. Hedley is an early 1900 gold town and I just love it there. Sunday morning we woke up to another beautiful day, we had a pancake breakfast with the majority of the town in the senior's hall, popped into the farmer's market and yard sale, and had a leisurely drive home stopping all along the way.Back in Vancouver now. Expecting rain to develop overnight and thinking this weekend was the perfect ending to a wonderful summer. I'm ready for the autumn now. :D

Drawing challenge: Pocket

Welcome to our drawing challenge, with this week's theme: pocket. :DI've had this little bit of vintage metal for a while now and recently figured out what it is.It's a pocket warmer!Seriously. :DIt's a little metal container stuffed full of combustible cotton, but this one is missing a little attachment for the top. The cotton is soaked with lighter fluid, the little attachment is lit, the cover put back on, and it warms up the hands in your pocket. Again, seriously! There are little YouTube videos on how to use vintage pocket warmers.But it's still summer and warm and no need for pocket warmers, so maybe our little pocket warmer can serve as a little flower garden.Does anyone remember a child's craft from the 70's called Dip-a-Flower? I used to have one and remember having great fun making flowers, well, guess what? A bit of wire and some nail polish makes brilliant flowers!Again, seriously!I twisted a few loops in the wire around a paintbrush handle and slathered on some bright nail polish. Really gloop it on. I don't know if anyone has tried this, but for me, only the quick setting nail polish worked. The slower drying nail polish ran off the wire.And there we have it. A pocket warmer for the summertime heart. A brilliant little garden to keep in my pocket till the weather gets cold. :DNow come check out what's in the pocket of all our friends: Ariane, Nadine, Lucia, Joanne, Marian, Roberto, Tammie, Eric and Patrice

Paddle board in the afternoon

Oh how wonderful to be beside the ocean after a summer land locked. I love Oxfordshire but I also love the West Coast. This afternoon we took the paddle board out on BC's only fjord. Calm water, warm sunshine...nothing better. :D

Announcing a new drawing challenge: Pocket

Yesterday R and I went for a walk in a local park. It was so beyond beautiful and autumnal and, last week's windstorm brought down all sorts of woodland treasures.Of course, me being me, I didn't bring any sort of bag or purse to collect any treasures in.But then, one requirement for anything that I wear is that it has a pocket!That got me thinking, what's in your pocket?This is what I brought home in mine. Three pockets in my jeans (I would have used the fourth one, but my iPhone and key were in that one...lol)So I'm announcing a new drawing challenge for this weekend: PocketWon't you say yes, turn out your pockets, and join in?(on reflection, that's a lot of pocket treasures) :D

A visit to historic Stewart farm

About an hour away from home, almost at the US border, is a little farm preserved since the 1800s. It's now run as a little museum/photo/wedding/school trip/other venue. We were driving out in that direction for a car show and I remembered taking a two day plein air session there about 13 years ago, and wanted to have another look.I'm so glad we stopped by because it's just such a little time bubble, and I love all things vintage and time bubble like. :DCome walk with me.From the front parlour, reserved for the occasional visitors, to the drawing room and the dining room table set for afternoon tea, this little jewel is so traditionally Victorian.And practical! You know, from the central cast iron stove to the bath room right beside the kitchen so the hot water doesn't have to be carried far, from the staircases relegated to the odd corners of the house, to the wrap around porch for maximum summertime enjoyment. Those Victorians knew how to build a home. Actually, as I walked around this house, it occurred to me that I own and use many of the household goods I see on display.On the farm grounds is a lovely garden with 20 ft tall sunflowers. The farm offers packets of seeds so I bought some for my garden here in Van. Among the packets I bought are Giant Russian sunflowers, a mix of annuals called The Children's Victorian Flower Garden Mix, and a pole bean called Lazy Housewife (apparently the first stringless snap bean).Further there is a beautiful old barn, an apple orchard and a well stocked root cellar.(sigh)Next life I'm so living on a Victorian farm.Sharing with Judith and the mosaic bunch.

Back once again, (like a renegade master)

Well then. Every time I say the words, "back once again", those lyrics pop up in my head. I can't help it. :DBack once again in Vancouver, back once again trying to get over jet lag in the fastest possible way, back once again in my studio.Robbie and I opened the door to the studio and saw the stairs completely covered with stuff! Not only that, but the whole studio space looked like a war zone. Poor Clover with her broken ankle couldn't really negotiate the stairs and carry things at the same time.So, a massive clean up happened (note art table before photo above and after photo below.)And now my art table is ready for me to complete some paintings, and my work desk is ready for me to mail art away...And the writing desk is ready for R to set up his work there.While R and I were in England, Kerstie came for a visit with our three little girls, and that meant that the toys were out of the trunks and basically the whole children's area looked like a five, three and one year old were there.C took a good hour putting the toys back into the trunks and organising the space.A bit of around the house spruce up happened as well. I took out the Kalenchoes on either side of the sink and replaced them with these beautiful, feathery Maidenhair ferns.Outside...OH MY GOODNESS! So much to clean up, harvest, trim and replant. I'm not even sure where to start with the garden photos, so for now I'll show you my little hot pepper harvest, (minus about four which C and Bryson picked and ate and made some humorous videos for us running for the glass of water.)Oh, and mom's nurses gave her this large planted basket, and, while she enjoyed it all summer, now it's time to do something about all these tropicals, and so she gave it to me to sort out. I think I identified about a dozen lovely plants in it and am looking forward to expanding my house plant collection (all the time sticking to my "I'm not a houseplant person" dogma.)Things are slowly settling down to city life round here. :D