studio musings

 so you all remember the proposed re-arrangement of the painting end of the studio? (there is a fast sketch >>>)
well i am trying to figure out how to set up again for the new way i'm working and for the adding of the gouache area...i also need a spray booth area for fixatives
that wasn't figure in ...and i would need an exhaust fan too
i am wondering if it really is time to either add to the studio or move?
we really seriously need just a huge open space with two bathrooms
because where ever i work is where we live, no matter where i set up (and i always try to get the best light for what i'm doing) ...... before i know it, bernie's workbench is in there.....the cats are there, the plants are there, the computer is there and when we had/have people over.....they hang out in there... when we lived in the apartment and i worked in the bedroom, i used to have to throw people off my bed just to go to sleep!

now i have a lot of supplies.... i have a lot of palettes also
i am trying to decide how to handle the gouache area, it's own brushes of course so that i don't ruin my good kolinsky brushes, it's own palettes goes without saying.. now i am considering what palette system for the gouache so i don't confuse it with the transparent watercolor...
i am looking at closed palettes with half and full pans, i am looking at open palettes for mixing...
i actually prefer open palettes but they do tend to get dusty and attract these stupid little beetles from heaven knows where...
 so far i am keeping all tube paints and some filled pans in the wooden three drawer box that rhonda gave me last year for my bd.
i also keep my drawing graphite pencils and some smaller tools in there- i really hate dusty supplies especially dusty from the woodstove.

i also need room for a computer over there, so i can work off reference photos in color on the screen
i would like to add a drawing tablet to the computer there as well....

and eventually (but sooner then later) i need a flat file, i would love wood, metal is probably safer, and i think 15 drawers or maybe 20?
and i want everything able to be on wheels to be moved for cleaning, the shakers sure has something there with their insistence on everything either hung or on wheels-- it makes things so much easier.

now i would dearly love running water there.... but probably not in this house
(and a bathroom as i am running through the house up the stairs to our bathroom all the time)

so some of what i need to come up with ideas for

1.  a second distinctly different palettes system for gouache, 
2. spray area
3. dust free system for palettes
4. computer area with drawing tablet
5. paper storage until the flat files (i use archival boxes but need them to go somewhere (low and cat pee proof)
6. more background lighting
7. light box area (set into a work surface would be best)

so this is my working list so far...... oye
add the other studio stuff to this....and the yarn, books, beads and fabric you got a seriously cluttered studio
so i want to take this opportunity to tell you that a 400+ square foot studio is way too small a space......... ahem
possibly i need 4X that..... just for studio space.... oh and skylights
i need me some skylights

any ideas?
and i need to stuff this all within the swivel of my paintings chair (the one bernie repaired as it is the only chair that fits in that area...... )

more snow, more storms, more shore birds

i guess the ever growing snow mounds have inspired my flooding fears
as i dreamt that there was a HUGE wave/lake out back..... and that it came down the hill and across the front lawn into a lake that was dug right next to my driveway
however apparently i am dreaming in some sort of mirror ...through the looking glass way cause it came down the right side (as i watched through the front windows) and went over to the left......
in the dream THAT was downhill!

shorebird/gull 4

(and the back yard was UP hill in the dream.....)
but it goes to show..... how utterly pervasive this snow pack is for me
HEY you try getting up every few hours for the woodstove and see how your dreams hold up.

meanwhile we struggle with wet wood..... bored poultry
and quail tails
(still not done with that painting)
however i am doing a series of fast shore bird/gull paintings- some good......some not so good.... all
fast.
it takes less time to do the birds then it does to do the backgrounds which are just sort of random
with speckles added -it's to keep my hand/eye going while the quail resolve themselves-- they make me want to do a few 'big paintings'
i also came smack up against some of the limitations of this studio at the moment, no place to cut paper during the winter.
it's not easy during the summer either but i use the woodstove- i don't actually have that option in the winter..(not if i would rather not burn the house down)
so i was looking on craigslist and found flat files.... but right now there are a few marks against them
1) i don't have the money
2) i don't have a way to get them home (they are huge)
3) i don't have a place to put them
4) i don't have space to refinish them in

oye.....but they would solve a few problems.... like taking the bulk paper off the top of the bird cage and the big shelves (where i can't reach it) .....and the top would be the right height and size for cutting paper
(cause i was drooling over a 10 drawer unit)
if i put it on a rolling base...... i would have it made!
i could even mount a roll of water color paper on it and be able to cut that too!

now we are to be getting a few storms over the weekend and next week...with the already over burdened electrical grid... we may lose electric. although ppl has been reinforcing the grid here since sandy.
for me that means keeping cooked foods in the freezer that are easy to reheat and keeping stock pots etc filled with water for us
water for the poultry will be melted snow if the electric goes out
we really need to get the switch put into the circuit breaker box for the gen so we have water-
and i really need to get back to sleep even for an hour or  so
i think the woodstove is going to be ok for a while now

keep safe everyone

a long and winding...........road

i am slowly finding my way i think,
i did three outlines (see yesterday's post) for the three main projects i am working on currently
and i wish i could grasp how to sort of put them all together if that is at all possible ....if not.... oh well.

in the meantime, i finished the layout of the new nest painting, and started to lay down first washes. (see the layout transferred- that is how i begin working, i transfer it and then erase it!)
i also have now gotten a better way to plan series.
i began to cut all the paper for the series first, so they are all the same size (and type, you would not believe the mess of different papers the bird series is on)
boy it really IS the journey huh?
i've decided first off.....better late then never, and also that when i start the series, the first thing i am going to do is pick and cut the paper!

(*** i put the catalog number of each paper on the back of the paper, and when i cut the paper i also make sure that the catalog number is on every single page back. then i keep a master list of the catalog numbers with the paper manufacturers name, the #, and the surface finish, inside the box of cut papers-now when i go to photograph these paintings, i will take a scrap of the paper it's painted on to set the white balance in the camera with- finally i figured that part out--- for now this feels like the right way to do it) oh and i long for a flat file..... or two, i am thinking now....20 drawers would be about right...to be added to as i continue to paint.

now today started out sunny but it fast became very overcast and threatening. we even brought the ducks in early as they looked miserable out there.
it's not really cold out but raw, so we've kept the woodstove going... i've used pieces of dried bark from time to time to heat it up a bit more then what the log is doing by itself.
it's sort of a lazy day around here.....in spite of my poor overloaded brain.
bernie keeps nodding off in his chair, the cats are laying around like furry little lumps, even the chickens seem subdued, the only ones that seem not to be affected by the day is the budgies.....they are screaming their fool heads off inside.

i want to thank everyone that came to visit me .....i hope you all come back soon.
i am slowly trying to tag the back posts so that recipes, and information on how to do stuff is easier to find, as well as some of the funny stories.
a few posts a day i am tagging with their contents, i am not sure how many i can tag per day but i am doing a few here and there

i spoke to a friend of mine today and read her the post about bernie's angel, i am sharing the link with you folks as it reminded me.... (i ended up crying as i read it to her..) really maybe we aren't alone, even during the darkest times? so since another one of my friends pointed out that this is the beginning of advent if you are a christian, i think putting the link to bernie's angel is ok.

now i am not a religious person at all, BUT, i do believe there is a higher power in the universe. however i definitely do not believe that only one religion has a handle on it-  and i do believe in angels.. maybe not with the whole wing and halo thing though..... (the one dream i had about a winged being scared me shitless for MONTHS)
i also believe in miracles cause we've had them happen to us. anyway this seems appropriate for the current holiday season as well as some of what appears to be going on in my life---

i definitely have had a huge burst of creativity- it's like my brain is getting stuffed to overfill with creative ideas, so very many, and a part of me is trying to enjoy that, because i love when i get a bunch of wonderful interesting and irresistible ideas like that, and a part of me that can't quite see how to accomplish all i want to do yet (despite the project planning lists) throws my hands up and says to the universe, 'well if this is what i am supposed to do.... help me find my way'
somehow that seems to work........ not always fast, although there have been lighting fast responses that i have no choice but to classify as miracles

pyrex oven proof bowl

well folks you'll all read this tomorrow morning, but it's sunday night right now. i'm about to go into the kitchen, we are making sort of pot pies out of tortilla  and leftovers, so we'll do that together (they are actually pretty good and if anyone is interested, i'll tell you how we did it)
oh and rho asked for information on how to dry food and how to use dried foods
so i will get to that too, in a while ( i wrote it down rho)

drape tortilla over the outside

softened tortilla in the bowl

 ok i drape the tortilla over the bowl on the outside and put that in the microwave for about 15 seconds, it softens it up enough to put it INSIDE the bowl then

shaped into the bowl while warm

you can now add your filling, and bake it in the oven. i usually add the filling pre-cooked and hot. you can moisten the edges with water/egg and add a softened tortilla on the top then bake at 350 until the top is crispy (it puffs up)
i'll have to make a start to finish for you on this.
you can make the filling with dried veggies and leftover meats in a homemade cream sauce....
if you want me to run through an whole post on this please let me know


take  good care everyone.....