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...... )

we had a tornado yesterday

http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090730/NEWS/907300311

this is a few miles away from me about......5 or so (giver take a mile)
then it veered through a tiny corner of my township

i went out early to get the ducks in, about 2 pm
i discovered that the pens were flooded
so i never took them back out again after the storms passed

bernie ran into all sorts of problems on the way home

today it looks green and peaceful out
so i will be taking duckiekins out shortly
(and i hope lilli's bad mood is almost over with the passing of the storm)

in studio news
i have reluctantly agreed to give up the shelf that i keep my handmade doll molds on
as well as possibly ( i am out of my mind here)
a 7' workbench........but i am not entirely sure about the workbench
one small shelf is coming out, and may be altered a bit to serve as a hutch top
bins of fiber have already come out
and three white metal shelves will be switched with a big pantry shelf
bernie gets the pantry shelf
the pantry gets the three white metal shelves
and i get to figure out where to put the stuff stored on the white shelves

i didn't get a lot done in here yesterday, as it was so dark and i didn't want too many lights on with the storms
but i did get some paperwork up and filed
and a few things put up
i also found and labeled a box for wigging fibers
so that is a plus when i go to empty one of the storage thingies under the 7' workbench
as i know there is a box under there full of viscose wigging fibers

today i think (in addition to finishing dishes that i was afraid to yesterday.......there was a LOT of water going in the cess pool simply from the rain)
i think i am going to pull some of the paper that is strewn around out
and i am going to see about moving my winter clothes storage container ( i didn't finish filling it, i got side tracked)
i may also make another file box as the three i have now are getting full

in looking around i realized that i still have the sorting boxes in the studio from trying to sort out the paper work i been sitting on for years, i started right before trish died, and haven't been able to go back to it
i need to move it out of the studio
and when the studio is done
GO BACK AND DO IT
only instead of shredding
i think we are going to have a bonfire

with those boxes out i can reach the rest of the doll dressing supplies
and that will go a LONG way to making headway in that end

of course there is still the porcelain end of the studio

optimally if i could move that out of the main studio, it would be good
i would like it in an attached outbuilding but it needs to be kept from freezing
putting the kilns in there would be good as well


well anyway
the ultimate goal is, getting everything up on wheels, organized and workable
so that when we finally get to do the windows/walls in here
it's a simple matter of moving everything to the center of the room to work on the walls without too much major disruption of our life (or as little disruption as possible during renovations)

ok well there you have it
i am thinking out loud

it is of course subject to change
if we figure something that works better

vi

today is still monday but this should post tomorrow

i pulled that shelf out of the studio that i cleared off
and made another magazine file

i found a stash of soon to be recycled priority mail boxes so instead of ending in recycling
they are now covered in wrinkled brown paper and have a pretty label on their spine
i want to make some other that coordinate maybe with fabric?
i cleared a couple of small drawers, washed them and replaced them in the little chest (they are still empty, but they won't be for long

bernie thinks i need to do the porcelain end of the room, and while i agree it would help
i don't have the dolly i need for the cases of clay, porcelain, plaster, etc
what do i do with all that until i get dollys?
they have got to roll out from under the bench or i can't REACH THEM

oh man
anyway


today i think i got a small amount finished
but any amount is still more then yesterday right?

it is now tuesday morning, after we didn't sleep all night, someone called us a bit after midnight. I *69 and found out it was a friend of ours that was attempting to retrieve messages from her new computer phone. thankfully it wasn't an emergency.

today i am going to pull the tower of green shelves out of the corner i think, those are the shelves i want to spray paint cream (did one, and it looks great, so much better then that icky puke green that is partly turning brownish yellow in spots)

but i am really thinking i need to get into the 7' bench, as that has a ton of stuff i think i can get up on the new shelves. i also need to do a bonfire of old stuff that normal folks would shred.

if i get too wrapped up, it's going to be egg or chicken salad suppers, but i am hoping not to get too wrapped up.

i am also hoping to get at least one more file box completed today, with luck.

it's supposed to be in the low 90's today, and humid and muggy, and well............like jersey, so i am going to try to hibernate in the studio with the AC on

til later gator

vi

i got a shelf cleaned off in the studio

which doesn't sound huge ( and the shelf is the smallest one i have)
but for me it's huge

see i am finding a place for stuff as i clear
sounds nuts but see i have no room
it's either find a place or don't clean
there isn't anywhere to put anything

there is no place to put all the stuff out of a room and start with the room empty
which would be great
and with the rain we've been having again
even a tent would not work

so it's
'take a box out, empty one thing at a time and find it's spot, then go back for the next thing'

ok so it isn't the fastest but it is working (abet slowly) for me

now that this shelf is cleared
i am in to the porcelain workbench area
i am not really happy about having to do that area
but there you have it

meanwhile
over the weekend, due to the shitty weather,
we did nothing much
i did the studio and finished some drawings
bernie did dishes and baked himself brownies
he also did the cooking sunday
(i did saturday)
the laundry apparently is going to spend the week on the clothes line getting rerinsed hourly.......

lillianna is still totally bitchy
like you haven't SEEN before
we haven't anyway
bernie is even getting annoyed with her
and dulcette is running around on the basement floor as SHE is broody
(soon to be WAS broody........she'll come out of it soon)

so now
i think next after the porcelain area is the back 7' workbench
which actually is partly done already!!!

oh and i found my glassine bags i use for product packaging for soaps and that
and boxed them, labeled them,...........and without even REALIZING IT, stuck them under the box of plastic bags i package the miniature ouija boards and tarot cards in!
oh man

and it turns out
BERNIE CAN ORGANIZE
now how he somehow hid this from me actually isn't hard to understand
i want pretty and organized
he wants HIDDEN

i need to see it
or i don't know i have it

he needs to hide it and he keeps the map in his head ( no wonder he forgets everything but work and his models)

oye

ok up shortly
i need ideas for a computer desk and office in a sort of box
i think we are going to build something

that's it for now, unless i remember something else

vi

rustoleum shell white is the right cream

i picked up two cans of rustoleum for plastic today at home depot
in color 211364 - Shell White 4.99 per can--- i got two cans to start
(primer 5.19 per can)
outlet strip for desk and drafting table 19.97 ( edited to keep a running total)

it's a cream color and the RIGHT cream for what i was thinking of
so i did the one poor little arco box
and i am going to start the plastic drawers as soon as i can
this week i also have to put seasonal clothing away which means wash and dry and bag etc
as well as try and plant my beans

however i am going to start studio updates here on the blog......so i remember when i finish (i hope i finish)

i priced stuff at staples and saw some really cute things at TJ MAXX, which i can't afford i think
so i will keep looking
i will try big lots and office depot and kmart and probably walmart (when colleen comes as she loves walmart.......)

but anyway, i started with the plastic painting

now while in the shower this morning, i was thinking of beidemier china
it had a sort of stripe of black/white then rose garlands
(at least i seem to think it was beidemier china, i could be wrong)
that may be a solution to one of my problems
i could ALWAYS paint the stripes and then cut out wallpaper borders
or even paint the whole thing!

so there is a fast studio update