A little over six weeks ago I rented a studio at 400 West Rich, an artist enclave. That first Friday, I opened my doors as part of the Franklinton Fridays (FF) happenings and got to meet some of the tenants in the building and lots of people passing-by. The next Tuesday, I got up early and went to The Ohio State University’s OSU Surplus Store that opens the 3rd Tuesday of every month. I got two rolling chairs (one for the rolling computer desk I got, and one for the work table I was building), a large trash can with a step-on pedal to open it – perfect for every artist – and a dorm-room sized fridge-freezer-microwave combo. I think all of that cost me $65 before tax. If you look carefully, you’ll see the chair and stool in the photo above, the mini-fridge-micro combo and my new table complete with snacks for FF visitors in the photo on the left below. Also in the photo below, two wood and white rotating stools which I got at Restore for $30 and the lovely kitchen-type base-cabinet under my worktable. The cabinet has two pull-out drawers and middle shelves that pull out too; it also came from Restore and was $55.
All too soon, Roy and I were in the car driving to the Outerbanks of North Carolina for a wonderful, if very wet, week with family and friends; sixteen of us in a 7-bedroom house on the beach. The house was VERY close to the beach as you can see in the middle photo below (that’s the wall around the pool abutting the dune). The dune had been partially destroyed the year before and at high-tide, the waves look scarily close. Back from the beach, the metal base for my work table arrived and I went to Wood Werks where they cut my 13-ply Baltic Birch plywood into a 3.5′ x 7′ table top. I bought the recommended polyurethane varnish and listened carefully to the 6-day regimen of lightly sand and apply the next coat. I was done just in time for July’s Franklinton Friday; see the left photo below. If you look carefully, you will see a gray bucket on the top of my shelving unit in the right side of the photo. It’s there because I have a leak. Weeks later, I still have a leak. It’s not as bad but for the past two weeks things have been piled on my worktable and covered with plastic as first, they worked on my leak and then, on the ceiling in general as they prepare for a new roof coming in September. The rumor is that the roof will have insulation, good since there is no A/C.
This past 3rd Tuesday, I was at the OSU Surplus Store again and my new, beautiful, very strong couch is in the photo on the right ($45). The rick-rack cactus has replaced the bucket (which is on the floor behind my couch). The carpet will stay rolled up until the new roof is on or the rains stop, which ever comes first. In the picture above, the blue tape outlines the space my encaustics will fill for my show in October when I am Artist-of-the-Month at Dick Blick’s in the Short North. Luckily, I’m still working on my encaustics in my home studio. I guess that’s stuff for another blog. Talk to you then.
