Building My Studio

From Birth to Death

2011-09-20T18:06:00.000-07:00

This will be the last post for this blog. Our house and studio burned in the Bastrop fire 2 weeks ago. We just got out yesterday to view the site and this is what we found. The stock tank pool for Jacob was mostly untouched. There were even a few inches of water in the bottom.

This is what remains of our house.

This is what remains of my lovely studio.

And our stove.

And I found a few still life objects. I dug through the ashes to get these out. I did find one white cup intact (porcelain, from Germany), which I kept. All the rest that looked whole, crumbled in my hands. I also found a small turp can, which you can see a picture of on my blog.

It was sad to see the damage, but also much needed closure. Now instead of picturing our lovely house in our minds the way it was, we see this. And that's ok. Because this is the reality. And now - ON to the next chapter!! Oregon or bust.

Studio Party Pictures

2011-05-15T16:27:00.000-07:00

Bathroom Office

2010-08-08T18:23:00.000-07:00

This is my before office: the bathroom. Actually, it worked quite well. We had already taken out the bathtub, for other reasons, so we just installed a piece of wood for a workbench, and another for a shelf underneath. And did you notice the bubblewrap hanging from the shower curtain rod? The only problem was that my chair wasn't adjustable. : )

And below is my NEW office, in my new studio. I wanted slots for all my larger blank panels underneath, as well as my printers, paper, and boxes for shipping. Eventually I'll get something a little better for my bubble wrap - not sure what yet - maybe a shower curtain rod. I just ordered a whole slew of cork for my inspiration wall (found out the cheapest way to go for a big wall was 12x12in cork squares from Amazon pieced together), which will go above this workbench - I can't wait. Eventually my desk will have a formica top (on the solid core door top). Next ... more shelves.

small painting shelves

2010-03-23T20:16:00.000-07:00

This is my new solution for storing small paintings. My husband built and installed it today and I've very happy with it.

Before now I've just made several little stacks against a wall on top of a cabinet. It was not ideal because I could only see about 6 paintings at once. With this I can see most of what I've got at any time. I can put new stuff in front, and there's not danger of it ever slipping off because of the little lip on the front of each shelf.

More shadow box stuff

2010-03-16T19:24:00.000-07:00

A few people asked about light. I knew I wouldn't be able to rely on window light alone, so I installed a daylight balanced florescent light directly above (to avoid glare) my easel. Today was a drizzly day, so without the light I would have been working in the dark. In this photo (below) you can also see my shadow box with both lights that I mentioned yesterday.

Below is another closeup of my shadow box - in use. You can see the spotlight on the left (in a regular light fixture, attached to a long, bendy arm ordered from B&H). And the real white light attached to the pvc on the upper right.

Here is a close-up of my real white light, pointing up towards the white cloth and bouncing around a bit inside my box (no direct light). I've taped it so it stays in this UP position. And I use a "north light filter" from my buddy Qiang over the light to make it even more blue, because I like the effect on my setup.

A couple of you asked how I attach the wood to the tri-pid. (the shadow box sits on top of this wood - I don't have the box itself attached to the tripod) Hopefully the photo below explains itself. The black part came with the tripod, with holes in it, which worked perfectly to screw the wood on.

Lots of you have suggested my husband make a kit for this, but at this point he has no interest, sorry. I have suggested he make a pattern, and he may do that if I can talk him into it. I'll post about it if he does.

Close-up of shadow box

2010-03-15T18:45:00.000-07:00

We bought a worklight (green - sturdy tri-pod) from Home Depot. We removed the worklight and mounted a peice of plywood on top. Then the shadow box, made of pvc and plywood, sits on top. Every great once in a while I remove the box and put my computer up there - when I want to paint from a photo. The dimensions of the box can be just about anything, but mine is around 2' cubed. It's a little wider than it is deep, but not by much. To attach the plywood to the box we used quick ties - as seen below.

Over the box I put a white sheet (allows the light to bounce around inside, lightening up the shadows a bit) and a dark cloth over that (so the other light in the room doesn't get inside). This allows me to almost completely control the light on my setup. Some does get in from the front, but so far it's been ok.

Get Ready, Get Set ...

2010-03-13T18:09:00.000-08:00

For a while I've been dreaming of custom shelves that would be just deep enough to display all my still life stuff, but not so deep I have trouble getting things out. My husband thought I was crazy, but I asked for 8" deep. We went to Home Depot to get the wood and he forgot that dimensioned lumber is actually less wide than it says, so my shelves are 7 1/4". But it worked out fine. Here is my husband installing them. Meanwhile I was frantically moving all my stuff from the old studio and putting them temporarily on the floor (left).

And here is the moment I've been waiting for! For some it might look like a bunch of junk - to me it is a lovingly managed collection of superb still life junk. There was just enough room. Apparently I am banned from ever going to Goodwill again.

Here is my painting corner, complete with my new Sorg easel, rolling palette and paint holder (awsome!), and shadow box.

And here is where I'll be taking naps ... I mean resting and pondering my paintings. You may notice the mat on the floor - it's a "Cadillac" mat from uline.com. I got a 10' one (3' wide) so my feet don't hurt - I back up constantly to look at what I've done.

And here is my beautiful little desk with a frosted glass top. I got it from Ikea and I really love it. And the cute little rug by the door (Target). I'm very happy.

Next we'll install another row of shelves for all my other stuff (books, etc.) and build a work table for shipping, etc.

Paint and Juice

2010-03-02T07:16:00.000-08:00

While I was away in California teaching, my husband did an amazing amount of work on the studio. To start with, he primed and painted the walls. I chose an off-white because I'm going to have a ton of stuff on the walls (shelves, etc) and decided as long as it was neutral it would be ok. I've heard gray is the answer. I suppose if I have a problem I can always repaint it.

Then he dug a trench beside the house so that we could take juice from the electric box on the house and route it to the studio.

When we poured the slab we had a pipe put in that would go from the outside of the slab up into the walls inside. This allows us to get the juice inside.

Below is the box inside the workshop part of the building that will power that and my studio. See all the fancy wires and conduits? I have no idea what they do - thank goodness my husband does.

Here's a close-up of all the breakers and whatnot.

And here it is all closed up and perty.

And some of the naked outlets ...

And now wired up with switches ...

And now pertified.

And the real test ... does it work?!?

YES IT DOES!

We are keeping in mind resale and making this first a room that someone else might want to use. The main light I'll be using is a florescent above my easel, and another above my workstation. This one with the fan is just for show, though the fan might come in handy.

Now we are working on fixing a crappy stain job on the floor (long story!). Then we will put in baseboards. Then we will build some shelves and I will move in. Should be in a week or two!!!

Pretty in Pink & White

2010-02-16T18:56:00.001-08:00

My husband spent 2 days last week putting in the insulation in my studio. We decided to hire someone to do the drywall and floating/taping/texturizing because we've never done it before and figured it would take forever (where it's taking these guys 3 days!!!). We're just having it done in my studio (back part of picture below) and the workshop/garage ceiling (front part). We will do the rest ourselves.

Here are a few pictures before the sheetrock. I loved the pink insulation and the blue (tarp, outside) color combination!

Below is the wall of my studio with a hole for an a/c unit. It's illegal to build a space in Texas without one. Ok, I'm lying - my parents have lived here for many years without a/c - but they are tougher than I am.

Here are the guys today putting sheetrock on the ceiling of the workshop/garage. These guys are very good. If you need good dry wall guys in the Austin area I would highly recommend them.

Below are the 3 north light windows in my studio, with the sheetrock installed all around. You can sort of see our shed outside the window and I'm thinking it may be a problem in terms of reflected light. I'm seriously considering painting it gray.

Tomorrow they will start floating and taping. They MIGHT be done tomorrow - we're not sure yet. After that we will paint, hook up the electric, install some lights/fans/stuff, build some shelves, and I'm so in there. I can't tell you how much I am looking forward to it!!!

Juice it Up

2010-02-13T20:42:00.000-08:00

My husband has been installing all the electrical stuff for my studio. He had to drill a bunch of holes through the studs, and then string the heavy yellow wire all around, connecting the outlets. The metal plates are where we had several studs close together and couldn't drill a hole - instead we chiselled out a chanel. The plates are to prevent anyone from accidentally drilling/nailing into the wire once the wall is done. I'll have 10 outlets in my space! Apparently you can have too few, but never too many. We'll have 5 circuits between the studio and the workshop/garage, with 20 amps per circuit.

The next step is insulation for the walls, which my husband is being super safe with. He's wearing an air mask and being really careful with ventilation and not wearing the same clothes inside the house. Fiberglass is nasty stuff.

After that we've got just a few little details to attend to, then we're moving everything out before the drywall crew comes on Tuesday. Besides the slab, this is the only other thing we're paying someone else to do. Why? Because honestly we don't want to do it, and this way I can move in faster! : )

Siding - So Many Sides!

2009-12-21T17:35:00.000-08:00

Well, we've had A LOT going on the past few months, and while we sneak in studio building here and there, we've had long stretches of it languishing. Unfortunately. My husband's birth-father in Germany went into the hospital and isn't expected to get better, so my husband went to visit them right after we got home from Sedona earlier this month. He is getting home tomorrow, which I am VERY glad about. Not only because he can get back to work on my studio. : )

Before he left we had gotten pretty far on the siding. We're using hardiplank, which is fiber cement. It lasts much much longer than wood, doesn't need to be painted as often, and is way more fire resistant. The downside, it takes freakin' forever to hang!! We're using it to trim the windows and doors too - see below.

We bought our first load from McCoys then realized we could get it A LOT cheaper at Home Depot (for the exact same thing). Unfortunately the new load was ... yellow. So now we have a multi-color building. But, we always intended to paint it - the panels only have a primer on them anyway.

Here is a bonus photo of my cutie pie husband (I haven't seen him myself in 12 days!), from before he left, in his cold-weather work clothes, contemplating what to do next.

Our new estimate for completion is February. We've still got a lot of work to do on the inside.

2009-08-30T18:33:00.000-07:00

We've been doing a bunch of piddly (but necessary) things on the studio the last few weeks - I didn't want to bore you with the details. But, in the last few days we made some big moves, mostly in preparation for leaving town for a few weeks. As you can see below, we wrapped the entire studio/garage with Tyvek. Like a big present!!

Then we installed all the windows and doors. The latter took quite a bit of work because, even though they were pre-hung, our slab edge wasn't exactly level so we had to shim things quite a bit to get the doors to open/close correctly. Below is the door to my studio.

The stuff you see all around the edges of the doors/windows is called ProtectoSeal. It's a REALLY sticky rubbery stuff that will keep any water from getting inside the walls around the openings. The three windows you see below are along the back of the building, my north facing studio wall. I will stand near the nearest two windows to paint, as you'll see in future photos.

We had some roving teenagers recently in the middle of the night caught siphoning gas and stealing tools from neighbors, so we took precautions and ordered a security system for our house and our new building. Better safe than sorry. When we return from Germany we'll get started on the siding, and then the inside!

Galva - what?!

2009-07-24T18:23:00.000-07:00

As you can see we've gotten most of the sheathing done (OSB on the outside of the building). We've been cutting and storing stuff inside, out of the rain (our county is in an extreme drought but we finally got a little rain!). With all the holes we've got quite a nice breeze through most days and ... best of all, shade. It's been over 100 degrees a lot lately. My studio will be in the back - where you can see the 3 windows on the back wall. My studio will be 16x18 feet. The rest is a garage/wood shop for my husband.

Here is an overview of our progress. Today we started putting metal on the roof. We are using Galvalume, which is Aluminum-Zinc alloy coated sheet steel. It is a little more expensive than regular aluminum, but lasts a lot longer and doesn't turn as gray as fast.

Here is a stack of the Galvalume. It is difficult to move because it's relatively delicate (can't be bent or dented) so we end up moving one or two at a time. Today we pre-drilled a bunch of holes on each and then put up about 3/4 of one side of the roof.

My husband finally got brave enough to bring the camera up to the top and shoot this picture of all we've done so far. It was hard to get all the sheets perfectly square, and we kept having the adjust them.

The only sad thing is you won't be able to see our beautiful roof from the street, as the gable is pointing the wrong way. But, we are thinking about putting metal on the house as well, to match the garage/studio and for the energy savings.

Back to it

2009-07-19T19:29:00.000-07:00

We're finally getting back to the studio after a break for, among other things, putting together 40 frames!! Just in case we're ever exposed to hurricane force winds, here I am putting on hurricane ties with a nifty little pneumatic nailer thingie.

Next we're sheathing all the walls with OSB. Here's my handsome man with the oh so heavy nail gun - so heavy my arm muscles cramp just looking at this picture.

Here's a whole wall done. So far we've just got the long side walls completed - the gable ends will be more complicated, and we're waiting on more wood.

Next we cut out the holes for the windows and doors with a saws-all.

This is the side closest to the house, with the two doors - one for my studio and one for the garage/wood shop.

Here you can see the fancy framing on the front of the building ...

... and my husband is particularly proud of this boxed soffit return. : )

Next we'll get the metal for the roof up, and sheath the rest of the building.

Buff Stuff

2009-06-22T21:18:00.000-07:00

Last week my husband got the second half of the roof sheathed. The next step was to cover the entire roof in black, roofing felt. This took two of us, so I helped. It was really scary up there at first, but we got used to it. I like this photo because I look all buff and stuff. : )

It was hard to photograph this part because neither of us felt ok about taking the expensive camera up the ladder. So here's the view from below.

Next we'll cover the roof with metal. Apparently metal is much better for energy savings than shingles, but also more expensive.

More Dads than you can shake a stick at

2009-05-21T18:22:00.000-07:00

Here is a shot of all the trusses up and the framing for the roof completely finished. Whew!

Next, David's dad came over to help with the sheathing. We are VERY lucky to have such handy, generous parents in our lives - thank you guys!!! The sheathing is basically 4'x8' sheets of OSB, which is like plywood but different (as much as this girl got). Wayne had to heft it up to this little platform, climb up, then lift it up to David, perched on the roof.

Here's a close-up. I didn't want to climb the ladder with the camera, so it's from below.

Here's David up top with the nail gun:

And a final picture with much of one half done.

Trusses shmusses

2009-05-20T19:03:00.000-07:00

So, after finishing the framing for the walls, squaring them, and putting the top plates on ... top, we had the trusses delivered (below).

My parents were here for a couple of days this weekend and my dad helped my husband put up ALL the trusses while my mom and I and Jacob hung out and went to thrift stores. : ) They started by putting the first one up on top of the 9ft walls, upside down.

Then they turned it over and fixed it in place. That's my dad (below).

Here's the view from my end of the building.

Here they are putting up the second truss:

They had a whole system going.

Here's my dad securing the third one.

Like I said they got them all up ... I post more pictures later.

New recruits

2009-04-26T17:34:00.000-07:00

My parents were kind enough to come down this weekend and help us out with our garage/studio. It mostly consisted of my dad helping to frame and my mom watching Jacob while I slept. : ) Thanks guys!!! This is my dad...

While I've been out of commission these last few days (due to poison oak) David has been putting up more sections of wall every night when he gets home from work (bless him). Today the big task was to construct and raise the heavy section for the garage door (below).

Here we are leveraging the wall over the bolts that are stuck in the cement.

And here my dad is putting in the last few screws that are temporarily, along with braces everywhere, holding it all up and together.

Next we'll be putting the rest of the wall sections up and then (the hard part) getting the trusses up for the roof.

First Wall (section) Up!

2009-04-20T20:12:00.000-07:00

Well, this may not look very impressive, but it was HARD! When they poured the slab they put in some bolts along the edges that stick out a couple of inches (you can see a couple in the photo on the front part of the slab, to the right). We had to drill holes for these to fit in, along the bottom of this wall section, in exactly the right spots, and then lift all 16 feet (9 ft high) of it into place so the bolts fit into the holes. It took some manouvering, but David and I did it by ourselves. Only to realize we'd forgotten the plastic stuff that goes underneath. So we had to take it down and do it all over again. But it's up and steady and man are we proud of ourselves! On to the next section ...

Slow going

2009-04-19T19:39:00.000-07:00

My husband is a perfectionist, so of course this is going slower than we thought. I don't mind. I've been waiting this long to have my dream studio ... I can wait a little longer. It'll be the straightest, strongest, longest lasting studio on the block, you can bet! Besides, I'm getting used to the half a bedroom I'm in, and did I tell you ... my office is in the bathroom. : ) I'll take a picture of it later and post it here. It's pretty cute - kinda like this guy:

First Load Delivered

2009-04-18T20:24:00.000-07:00

Today this big ol' truck drove into our yard and unloaded all the wood we'll need to get started with the wall framing. We are going with McCoy's because of the FABULOUS service!

Because it's been raining a lot the last few days we put most of the wood on the slab so it doesn't get moldy on the ground. We're going to get buff fast from lifting all this wood!

We "stickered" this stack (below), which basically means we spaced it out so it'll get dry faster.

Below is Jacob showing me exactly how to work the measuring tape.

I kept asking if there was anything I could do and David kept saying "umm, not right now," so while I went inside and painted David laid out the first section of wall. We are going to do each 40' side in 3 sections so it's not too heavy to lift.

Here it is with one window framed in.

And here's Jacob again directing the project from his perch on the stickered wood pile.

More tomorrow...

A little slab'l do ya

2009-02-25T20:07:00.000-08:00

First this big dog pulled into our driveway:

Jacob loved it! Then they started pouring the concrete, which was much rockier than I thought it would be, and all the guys started shoveling it around and spreading it out.

Then they got a big stick and levelled it out.

Then they got a special kind of stick, called a screed, to smooth it out. This also made the big rocks sink to the bottom and the finer stuff move the top.

Then they threw some brown coloring on (for looks) and smoothed it all out some more. Once fairly dry and hard, they got on hands and knees and created some sweeping texture (for effect). They thought we were awful silly to ask for a perty slab, but there you go. : )

Now we're going to hurry up and wait for our slab to cure. Meanwhile we've got 50 billion other things to do ...

Rebar - what a word

2009-02-18T18:10:00.000-08:00

These are our slab guys, Chris and David. They are hard workers - man! This first picture is from yesterday - they worked all day in drizzle, spreading out all the dirt/sand and making it flat. They were very good about humoring Jacob who talked to them constantly from the window.

Today they put a ton of reinforcing rebar on top in preparation for the concrete tomorrow! I will be heading to the airport in the afternoon so my husband will be taking pictures for the blog. After the concrete is poured it'll have to sit for a while to cure.

Must be a boy thing

2009-02-17T18:17:00.001-08:00

Today the slab guys brought in two huge loads of dirt and sand and dumped them inside the forms. My son watched the entire thing with rapt attention.

We even put his highchair in front of the window so he could eat and watch. After this they smoothed all the dirt out and put huge sheets of plastic over it "so your floor doesn't sweat," our slab guy said. We wouldn't want that.

It starts with a misunderstanding

2009-02-16T19:01:00.000-08:00

Well, apparently I heard wrong and they aren't pouring concrete today, they're laying out the forms today. Heh heh. They'll pour toward the end of the week.

Let me explain here that the structure we are building is going to be a garage and a studio. They won't share any space - the garage will be in "front" and the studio will be in "back", where I will get more north light. The whole thing is 40'x18', and my studio will be 16'x18'.

Here is a photo of the space next to the house where the building will be.

Here it is again after the side and back forms were put in.

And here's colorful pile of wood the workers left behind that I couldn't resist photographing. : )

2009-02-15T19:42:00.001-08:00

more to come...