Darkroom Day 38 and 39 - Finis!

Wednesday the carpet came in and the room and the hallway look fabulous. It looks so finished - my husand said it looks better than the house! Then on Thursday, Gary came back to work with Ron on putting up the final workspace area for the PC and scanner, printers, etc. The electrician showed up and put up the light fixtures, the fan, and got all the electrical outlets completed. So the only thing left is the sink to hook up to the plumbing! I'm posting some before I moved in photos so you can see the whole finished product!!

Darkroom Day 37 and More Scanning

This morning was all about putting up the FRP board (the material we are using for the back splash on the 'wet' side). Ron cut it out and then we glued it to the walls. He also cut the hole in the formica top for the sink! I didn't want to be in the room when that was happening. But it all went well - no problems. I ran into town to pick up the trim material for the back splash - picked up one wrong piece to use for the corners, but Ronnie made it work! Cleaned up the mess and tomorrow the carpet is coming at 10:00 a.m.!! We still have to put down the tile in the darkroom, hang the doors, put up the last workspace - but all this has to wait for the carpet.

This afternoon I delved into more SCANNING! I'm really getting quite good and the prints are coming out excellent. Seems a little ironic that I've finally learned the scanning business - right when I get a darkroom! But now I can do both and I love it. I have a feeling I'll be spending alot of time out in the new art room and darkroom! I'm posting a scanned photo I did today.

Historic Bodie Ghost Town

Yesterday I was able to complete putting the printed photos together - matting and framing them. They came out GREAT if I do say so myself! I am framing just five 11x14s and will have some matted 5x7s and 8 1/2 x 11s for sale as well. I also printed out 4x6s for the greeting cards of Bodie since I hadn't made any cards of the Bodie series yet. Yeah, I was busy.

I'm posting a photo to give you a preview of what to expect with the first Second Thursday Artwalk in April in Auburn at the Kerry Terese Salon & Gallery. I will also be sending out an email to all those in my mailing list and I do hope you can come out and support the local arts. Old Town Auburn has a lot of offer. Take the night off and have dinner and then come see the show.

Darkroom Day 35 and 36 and Scanning

Yesterday Ron decided he was going to paint the moulding/crown moulding in the new hallway white, to keep in sync with the artroom. We also went into town and bought the back splash material for the 'wet' side of the darkroom. We stopped by the carpet place and if all goes well and it comes in on Monday, they will be out to install on Wednesday. Today I think he may put the second coat of paint on the trim. I'm posting a photo of the new garage hallway and the actual color is that of the far wall with the door on it (putty). The digital with the flash tends to make it look green. And it's NOT green. This is quite an improvement for this area.

Yesterday while he was painting, I hunkered down and attacked the scanning of the film. I used to have a lab do it for me, but now I think I've finally (and I won't say mastered, because it's still a mystery to me and I wouldn't be able to give anyone else advice!) gotten quite good at scanning the 35mm film. The scans were so much better (scanned at 3200 pixels) and I was then able to print out some much improved 11x14 prints for the April show. Now today, I'll clean up some old stock of 'good' frames, mat them, and hopefully get them all put together so I can relax or something like that!

Darkroom Day 33 and 34

Yesterday was kind of a day off for everyone. The boys went to start another project for my step daughter. I was off gathering up supplies for my art exhibit for next month. Didn't have to buy any new frames as I still had some in stock, and I decided to buy the mats this time instead of me cutting them, as I wanted double mats and they are a real hassle to cut. I only need five so I figured I would splurge - plus I'm kind of tired. ; )

Today I ended up taping off the moulding and doing the touch up and wiping down all the walls. Touching up around the moulding, doors, and inside the darkroom. It took a couple of hours, but it really looks nice. Ron will cut in on the crown moulding as I didn't want to mess that part up. He has a steadier hand for that than I do. Hopefully we'll hear from the carpet place - it should be coming in any day now. We're READY!!

Darkroom Day 31 and 32

Yesterday Ron and I spent the day working in the art room: me - cleaning and vacuuming up all the cabinets and the floors; Ron - taping off the cabinets and ceiling and walls so they could start priming the cabinets. Ron also finished off the caulking and puttying.

Today the boys finished taping off the cabinets and it took them only two hours to prime all the cabinets and shelving! A lot less time than if we had to hand paint them. So that was a good time saver.

Today while they continue to work out there, I am working on printing out five film photos for my upcoming show in April which is just a little over a week away. Then I'll need to mat and frame them. My show will be at the Kerry Terese Salon & Gallery in Old Town Auburn. I will be showing my Bodie Ghost Town Series, as well as some of my acrylic paintings of Hawaii. Auburn holds their Art Walks on the Second Thursday of the month.

Darkroom Days 29 and 30

The last two days have been devoted to finishing up the cabinets and caulking the crown moulding and you can see both of these areas in the photo I've posted today. The room is coming to an end. The remaining items to do are: prime and paint the moulding and cabinets; install the lighting and fans; lay the tiles in the darkroom; have the carpet installed when that arrives; and after the carpet is installed, the 10' long desk area for my PC, printers and scanner, will also be installed.

After that I'm sure it's going to take another good month to move in. I keep looking at all the stuff I have in my current office, and then I still have to order the remaining darkroom items from Freestyle. This room is going to be awesome! We have so many art supplies all over the house - we can finally free up some room.

On another note, last night we adopted a rescue dog. We won't be able to pick her up for another week or so as she is going to be spayed first. We are going to name her "Chica". She is a wire hair Terrier/Daschund mix and is really affectionate, only 6 months old. So life will be changing around here in that respect too! It will definitely get us into a regular routine of exercising - like walking her -- and us!!