Author: -N-

Flexilette

 

A couple of weeks ago, in the midst of all the destruction-construction going on in the house, a moment on eBay, and this little camera caught my attention:  a twin lens reflex 35mm camera.  It is an Agfa Flexilette, made only for one year (1960-61 I think).  It was a bit of a bidding war and I was really happy to get it.  Unfortunately, I haven’t had much time to play with it, but it is loaded up with Lomo 100 and I hope, as the domestic chaos winds down, I can get it out to see how it does photographically.  Mechanically, it’s smooth as silk, with large knobs and dials, which make it work very nicely.

Oh, BTW, I took this picture with my new tablet – an iPad 2018 (I had to replace my dying Samsung) on my new floors in my still-empty studio!

Now We Need A Door!

How incredibly silly, perhaps, to write about a shower stall.  But here it is, in all its just-finished glory!  Our tile setter did a great job, so impressive in fact that when the shower door came out, he asked for the tile setter’s name.  We plan on using him in the guest bathroom, which has a bathtub, when we re-tile it in the hopefully not too distant future!

The tile setter has a hard job to do, I think.  I sure couldn’t do it – not as patiently or as well as he did.  Paying him was worth every penny.  I am looking forward to the house repairs being done – let’s just hope there isn’t an earthquake any time soon, as we won’t recover that loss as easily as we did from the flood.

The agenda for the repairs moves forward.  Flooring tomorrow.  Painter starts Thursday.  Pick up vanities Saturday, and buy some new toilets, too!  (I am excited about new toilets!  Ours are not the most “effective” you might say.)  Vanities go in after the painter is done.  Tops are cut and placed.  Shower door placed last.

Maybe it will all be done by our wedding anniversary mid-May – that would be cool!

Hidden

This may be the last post for a few days as our house is torn apart and put together.  The bathrooms, closets, laundry room, hallway, and bedrooms are getting new floors on Tuesday.  The studio is bare.  I have a small box filled with a few brushes, some paper, some paint, but who knows if I’ll be able to touch it for several days!

Because of this, I decided to end my weekend with a small ink and watercolor painting, derived from a photo I took last year of a barn in the hills nearby.  I started by laying in pencil, then color, knowing I planned to deliberately finish with ink.  I’m rather torn about the bright white of the roof – but it was in brilliant sunshine the day I took the photo.  The windows are rather awful – looks like the barn has an eye infection!

Maybe I will tone the roof down later and fix the windows, but for now, it will remain as is.  After I post this, it’s time to finish clearing out the studio, the closet, and put together little boxes so things like soap and toothpaste are available for kitchen use – we will have no bathroom sinks for a few weeks!

In Betwixt and In Between

The house is torn up.  The studio is empty.  The living room is filled with boxes, one corner for Josh, the other for me.  The shower stall will be done Monday.  The shower door will be measured and ordered on Monday, too.  The dogs will be boarded out Monday through Tuesday night because of the fact the flooring is going in on Tuesday day, starting at 730 a.m.  Thursday the painter starts.  Saturday the vanities arrive.  Wednesday next the painter finishes and the new toilets are installed.  Then the vanities are installed and the template made for the counter tops.  We will have a shower that works – finally!  hooray! – but we will not be able to use it until the door is installed.  We will be brushing our teeth in the kitchen sink (ewwwww!).  I go back to the doc on Tuesday to have my wrist and finger checked 3 weeks after my fall.

And . . . we have been packing, eating junk food, brewing beer, trying to have a life, and painting in between – pictures and samples of paint on the wall.

I will post photos of the new house stuff sometime later, but today, here are the things – little things, no bigger than 7×10 at the most – I’ve been painting and drawing, just to stay sane.  The painting of the barn needs a bit of help – the roof is too white, and it looks like the windows are some strange eye infection.  The meadowlark needs more contrast.  I could go on, but I need to go to work on my other stuff.

Click on a picture to start a slide show, and to see them larger.

Meadowlark

No, I haven’t forgotten my “Somewhere in Wyoming” picture, but as we are installing new floors in the back half of the house, my studio and supplies are packed up.  All I have left are a few paints and brushes, and a couple of smallish sketch books.  So, small things, done without the need for too much planning.  And, truthfully, with the whole house in chaos, it’s probably for the best.

That said, this morning I was listening to the birds singing.  The springtime songs are everywhere.  When I was a child, I lived in rural Illinois, surrounded by huge oaks and wide open fields.  In the fields were the meadowlarks, brilliantly colored and beautiful singers.  The notes of the meadowlark are memorable and unmistakable.  I found some photos, and hodge-podged one together.  I am not really good at drawing animals, so birds are always a bit of a challenge.

The watercolor, without lines.

And with some inking done, for contrast and a bit of structure.  I’m not sure if either really works well, or if there should be more color above the meadowlark instead of plain white paper.  What do you think?