Small spaces

Arty, be careful with that floor. It looks to be asphalt tiles from the 1950. They might contain asbestos.

Claude, which floor are you talking about? That's a rug on top of cement.

EDIT: Oh, maybe you meant that big studio I had to give up with the gray floor. Yes, those were asbestos tiles!
 
Last edited:
Oh my! Yes, is that electrical or water damage? I can't tell.

No electrical on this wall or on the opposite side. It could have been water damage as there is a restroom opposite...nothing recent, though. I've already primed the rest of the room with the first coat of primer (and 3 more coats over that spot). I want to get a second coat of primer tonight before tomorrow's heatwave... and then I'll try to get up early and finish it all with the semi-gloss paint.
 
Looking at the space it appears I'll be able to hang 2... maybe even 3 of the big paintings not counting space for the work in progress. There will also be enough room to hang a few small older pieces.
 
Oh my! Yes, is that electrical or water damage? I can't tell.

No electrical on this wall or on the opposite side. It could have been water damage as there is a restroom opposite...nothing recent, though. I've already primed the rest of the room with the first coat of primer (and 3 more coats over that spot). I want to get a second coat of primer tonight before tomorrow's heatwave... and then I'll try to get up early and finish it all with the semi-gloss paint.
If you are still having problems with bleed-through, try a coat of Kilz in that spot.
 
5 coats of Kilz killed that stain. It only took 3 coats to cover the dark wood on the doors. I'm done painting. Now I need to clean up the mess, mop the floor, tack down the rugs, and organize the furniture. The heat wave hasn't hit yet. It's supposed to arrive around 2 PM Eastern Time. 92-95 degrees. 🥵
 
We've been having that heat wave here for the past week until yesterday when we had the remains of Christobal all day. Cloudy, cool and wet. Back to the 90s today with storms tonight. :cautious:
 
St. Luke, will you post pics when the room is all painted and ready?

Sure. I'm completely done painting. Now I've got to clean up the mess, put the brushes away, sweep again, mop the floor, tack down the rugs, move the furniture, hang some curtains (direct sunlight could bleach out the paintings), hang the art work, and organize the art materials. What? An hour or two? 😜
 
No air conditioning for the studio. We're in an older house and the central air unit was dead when we moved in. It's not worth putting in a new central air here. We rarely break 90 degrees more than maybe 10 days a year (OK... I just looked it up... the average number of days of 90 or higher in Cleveland is 8). We might run the A/C for a total of 20 or 25 days due to the humidity (we're sitting right on Lake Erie). We have one big window unit that cools the bedroom and office. No A/C in the studio... but I'm used to that. The big studio I just left had no A/C. We just walked around with no shirts and shorts and the fans blasting.
 
Our one idiot partner... the one who's the reason we left... had a habit of inviting people to the studio a couple of times a week and then we'd have to put on our shirts and pants over our shorts and sweat it out for an hour or two. Worse yet... he'd always invite them into our spaces and put us on the spot: "Tell them about your painting" "What is the meaning of this painting?" He'd tell us later that if they bought one of our paintings he gets 40% as our dealer. 😆
 
Well... the new "studio" is all done... except that I have to run out and buy some light-bulbs for my flood lights. My idiot studio mate is still haunting me 3 weeks after I moved out. He took two of the light-bulbs out of the flood lights. He would do this on a frequent basis: easier and cheaper than buying his own. :mad:

Anyway... here's the space:

01.jpg

Here's the entrance... with my new utility cart parked in front of it. These are the two lights that still have bulbs.

02.jpg

This is the last painting I finished... Venus and Psyche... over a year ago. I started a new one last summer but couldn't finish due to continual drama. I'll need to get a door jamb so that the door knob doesn't end up damaging the painting. The space to the right of the painting is part of where I will be working.

03.jpg

The main work space. In the old studio I worked this close to finished works without any problem... and I will be working smaller.

04.jpg

There are two windows which both let in a good breeze when opened. I hung lined curtains over these to block sun damage to the works. Amazingly, all of my pastels fit in those two storage units with lime-green handles. Each unit contains 6 drawers in which I am able to organize the colors.

05.jpg

Two of my framed collages, one of the "puzzle piece" paintings, and Coppélia ... named after a French ballet by Léo Delibes ... although I think she's more of a can-can/burlesque dancer. I really do need a better title. Maybe I'll dig through Offenbach and the burlesque. Those gray pieces of cardboard/chip board (barely visible at the bottom) are what I will be working on (after priming them). They measure somewhere around 25-28" wide by maybe 36" tall. Rather small after working on the big guys.

06.jpg

Coppélia and part of the second working area.

07.jpg

A better view of the second work area... and the table before the main window (that opens to a view of the back yard). This is where I'll place the fan when the temps start getting nasty.

08.jpg

I'm going to put in a tie so I can tie the curtain off to one side. I'm using the stereo that I pulled out of the old studio maybe 3 years ago because my idiot studio partner kept using it... and the three stereos before this which he broke by jamming discs in it and the trying to pry them out. As you can guess, be never offered to chip in $1 toward buying a new player. I'm also using a Bluetooth speaker through which I can stream music from Spotify through my iPad or iPhone. I used this over the last 2 years at the studio because my idiot studio partner was techo-phobic and didn't have the least idea how to use this... so he left it alone.

09.jpg

My electric pencil sharpener (an essential tool), a stack of American Art Collector, and a a big stack of toilet paper and paper towels. I had a stockpile of this at the studio... mostly used for wiping off brushes... but I guess I was prepared when COVID-19 hit and there was a shortage on TP and Paper Towels.
 
It's small, but looks very efficient. I'm glad you have it set up now. It seemed to take me a lot longer to get my space set up. I feel like I'm always still getting it set up. It's never "right." :(

Just yesterday, I had to pull my easel, which doesn't have wheels or anything, butt up against my drawing table to the left a few feet, because I couldn't reach my palette. I was too lazy to move it with the carpet underneath it. It was already a pain to pull it over since it was clamped so well onto the easel already and I didn't want to disturb it, plus I was sore from helping to organize the garage...whatever, I'm just complaining now.

butt.jpg


But, like I said, nothing is ever just ready to go around here.

I should have also set up the table easel for the little 20 x 16 canvas I started, but I actually drew on it while it leaned up against my drafting chair because I was so impatient and lazy again. I would have had to take the table easel out of the box. I'm so lazy sometimes. Maybe I'll re-set stuff up today if I take some ibuprofen. You've inspired me to get it right.
 
I've enjoyed looking at other people's studios! I had a 350-square-foot studio in the same complex where I live for two years. It had three 12-foot windows facing north. A nice space, but so many problems: very noisy, there were rats, flooding. When they started renovating upstairs, I gave it up because it was just too loud--and because I suddenly had enough room in my loft to do my art because I gave up the shop I'd run for 20 years and so no longer had to store all the stuff for that in my loft.

My loft is 550 square feet and right now I'm in the middle of moving. When I get my new place all set up at the end of the month, I'll include photos. I'm carving out about 1/4 of it for art. There is a row of four 12-foot windows facing north along one side, and that's where I will have one setup for watercolor and one for oils, making using of a table easel for the watercolors and a regular easel for the oils, plus two carts for each area. I am really looking forward to it. Been condensing a lot of what I have, like books, so I will have max room for the art stuff. The great thing about this space besides the north windows is that it has a very long uninterrupted wall that I have hung a ton of paintings on. I really prefer that way of "storing" them.
 
My loft is 550 square feet and right now I'm in the middle of moving. When I get my new place all set up at the end of the month, I'll include photos. I'm carving out about 1/4 of it for art. There is a row of four 12-foot windows facing north along one side, and that's where I will have one setup for watercolor and one for oils, making using of a table easel for the watercolors and a regular easel for the oils, plus two carts for each area. I am really looking forward to it. Been condensing a lot of what I have, like books, so I will have max room for the art stuff. The great thing about this space besides the north windows is that it has a very long uninterrupted wall that I have hung a ton of paintings on. I really prefer that way of "storing" them.

Okay, I'm officially jealous. ;)
 
Alright, I got off my fat ass and fixed everything so I can paint easier in my office/studio-whatever you want to call it. It's all better now, see?

newstud.jpg
 
Back
Top