Remodeling Project

I was left with a fishing boat, a nice red-and-white Lund, and a boat trailer and no idea how to hook the lights up to the pick-up truck. I gave the Honda Ridgeline to my son. Sold the trailer and boat back to the dealer. Gave away another car, and ended up with a detached garage full of old skis, poles, boots, a weed whacker, a wheel-barrow, bags of lawn fertilizer, old paint, and field mice.

So I decided that it was time I created a real studio for myself, rather than working out of a bedroom. It took about a month to get the proposal through the local architectural review board. Another month to get it cleared out and then the fun of remodeling began.
Studs went in, thick pink blankets of insulation were wrapped around the new bay windows. Replaced the garage door with a set of french doors so that large projects or sculptures can be made and still make it out the door. Sky lights toward the north end shunt the weak northern rays deep into the room. A row of cabinets along the back will hold art supplies--the never ending collections of found things and colorful paints and pastels. There will be a deep sink for cleaning brushes, and a bath. The space that will be my desk has a view of pine trees and blue sky. One wall holds a Walker system to display finished work. There will be a mirror to check the painting in reverse. Laundry lines that pull across like you find in some hotels, will be a place to hang prints or works on paper. The electrician has pulled the wires across from the house and promises me power on Monday. Soon the walls will blush into a warm ivory; and the fanlight will stir the air. Light wooden planks will march across an expanse that was only concrete...The easels will go into place under the skylights. I will load up my brush and start a new work in this new space. I hope to dedicate this space--as I have everything I own, to the LORD who has given me the gift of seeing and the opportunity to learn art. Mainly, I hope to create work here as long as the Lord allows me strength. I hope it will be a place to lodge the weary; to teach young artists and to learn from the experienced; to encourage and display the work of my friends who are artists or photographers; and to be a part of the Jesus House experience. (more about that in another blog.) Now that we are nearly done, this team of craftsmen and workers, I celebrate the wonder that what is old can become new. It makes me smile, to stand in what was a dirty, disordered garage and see such beauty and serenity. Makes me wonder what else needs attention?