Studio Story: Part Four

I meant to post a copy of my blueprint so you could see the layout of the studio in the last post but I forgot to do it.  This will be a very short post!

The area at the bottom of the image is my newly-poured concrete slab directly out from the new door.

Studio Story Part 3: Overcoming the Unexpected

Even when you anticipate that there will be things that you don't know about......let's just say that we have had more of this than we anticipated!  Ha!
I am trying to remain philosophical.  Tis better to know the reality and deal with it, right?!

Yes, that is what it looks like:  an enormous (!) old honeycomb was removed from behind the old shower plumbing.

See that line running UNDER the foundation?

That is irrigation pipe, and it was not capped off.  The studio is part of a major addition 

that was added to the house by the original owners.  Who did it?!

The corner just left of the left window in this image was in such bad repair the entire thing was reconstructed and waterproofed.  

These two people, my architect and the project foreman, are working together to get it done properly.

Many problems have been solved.

Here is the newly-widened doorway leading into the new wet-area.  

This will have a  pocket door.

A new shelving area was added to the old hallway...

And this was taken standing in a newly-created doorway looking from the hall into the wet-area.

The plywood on the far side of the room will eventually be the new door leading out to the side yard 

and a newly-poured concrete slab where I can do stinky messy stuff.

Looking from the main room down the hallway...

Some other fun stuff....

I'm looking at materials for the space.  I chose this birch flooring/stain (on the right)

for the main design area of the studio (the wet-area will have simple concrete floors with rubber mats).  The hexi tile will be installed on the floor of the old shower area in the wet room.  The gray composite material in front of the hexi sample is laboratory countertop material, which is what I intend to use on the counter of my wet studio (just one place, everything else will be stainless surface).  

Here we are looking at a variety of subway type tiles for the shower walls.  I want a combo of rectangular pieces (naturally!) so we are discussing how to do this.

Maybe some combo of these?

I was able to sneak out and carve our initials into my newly-poured slab.

I've always wanted to do this!  Yay!

The status is that we are still chasing an occult water leak which seems to be coming from failed caulking around the old window frames.  This has caused a lot of damage and we are dealing with that.  The sheetrock work really can't begin until this has been solved but the crew is finding many things that can be done while the search is on for the leaks.  The electrical upgrades have been put in place.  I added another circuit to handle the potential load from multiple heat sources.  The design wall board has arrived.  I am using the same material as Nancy Crow has in her Timberframe barn in Ohio, a product from Canada which is not frequently used here in the States but is AWESOME for pinning!  We have figured out how to put it up and finish around it.  

A Bit Of Whimsy Awaits You: Try An Adult Coloring Book Created For You By Jamie Fingal!

Who doesn't love to color?  You know what?  We are never too old to do it!  And the time is right to indulge your childhood joy once again as adult coloring books are making a big comeback.  I have had a really good time in the past several days with Jamie FIngal's new self-published "Whimsical Inspirations" book.  And, what fun for me:  I was enroute to Jamie's house to spend some time with her and did some coloring on the airplane and some while sitting across her at the dining room table.   

Jamie chose 110 weight Vellum Bristol Cover Stock and tried all sorts of media on it:  watercolors, copic markers, etc., and had no "bleed thru" (although she does suggest you might want to put a paper behind any dense oil-based marker to be safe).  Her amount of pressure didn't cause any bleed-thru but she knows everyone's drawing pressure on the page varies.
I love the fact that, despite using Caran D'Ache crayons with water brush and watercolors loaded onto a Pentel Waterbrush.

Jamie's coloring book is completely hand drawn with a Sharpie Ultra Fine Point black pen, and some drawings took over 5 hours to create. 12 coloring pages printed on heavier paper, so you can use paints and markers.  Just put a separate piece of paper behind the page you are coloring, so if there is anything that goes through the paper, the next page will be protected.  Chip board back and coil binding. A variety of drawings await you with sewing and quilt inspired blocks, imaginary flowers, trailers, houses, dresses, and cups and saucers.  You can even color in the opening page for an added bonus.

Here I am, sitting at the gate in the San Antonio airport about to get on the first of two flights

heading to Orange County CA.  I have my little Koi watercolor pocket field sketch box and my first-ever Pentel Waterbrush.  I didn't use the one that came in the box, for some reason.  I loaded it

but I never had to switch to this brush because the Pentel brush worked SO WELL and the water seemed to last forever.  I am sold on these brushes:  perfect for mess-free painting on the plane and everywhere else.  

I chose this page because Jamie and I have a long-standing email strand we refer to as 

"The Coffee Break".  This page was perfect for me to work on.

The first drops of water go onto the pans to moisten the watercolors.

This work is so relaxing and meditative.

As I progressed to the background I sort of wish I had been paying attention to the pink on the cup and used another contrasting color in this area.  Oh well....

I had so much fun making this page.  One thing I particularly love is that the page

did not buckle from the water media.  

I hope you will join in on all the fun and pick up one for yourself and why not get a few extras?  You might as well because all your friends are going to want one when they see yours!  Stop by Jamie's blog and look for the link in the right column to purchase.  It is easy!

I hope you will stop by all the other blogs on this hop and see what they did with "their" page.  Leave a comment here (and on the other posts) to become eligible for a coloring book giveaway!

Sunday, August 2 - It's National Coloring Book Day and I will kick it off.  I am having a book signing and sale in my studio from 12-3 

Page 1 - http://JamieFingalDesigns.blogspot.com/

Monday, August 3 - Lyric / Markers - Quilt Circles
http://lyrickinard.com/lyric-kinard-blog/

Tuesday, August 4 - Leslie / Watercolors or Markers - Coffee Cups

http://leslietuckerjenison.blogspot.com/

Wednesday, August 5 - Desiree / Ink Tense Pencils - Trailers
http://myclothesline.blogspot.com

Thursday, August 6 - Deborah / watercolors - Houses

http://DeborahsJournal.blogspot.com/

Friday, August 7 - Susan / watercolors - Flowers on Page 3
http://wwwbluemoonriver.blogspot.com/

Saturday, August 8 - Sue / colored pencils - Dresses
http://www.suebleiweiss.com/blog/