Today I have worked a lot on the faces. Up close they look very nice, at a distance… hmmm? Keep working. I have worked on the baby girl’s dress, as well as the mother’s blouse. Hours are passing by. Tomorrow I will work on the children’s clothes and do some more work on their faces. It is extremely subtle stuff that changes a lot. That makes it so hard.
Today I have arrived at an important conclusion: it is not easy to paint! Even though I have my technique and I am painting from a photo, it is still really, really hard. And as I never quite know how to approach a painting and never do it in the exact same way – and certainly not according to conventional methods (whatever they are?) – I am left hanging in the air, despairing and wondering how this is going to turn out. And on an ambitious piece like the one I am working on now, it will take a while until I feel that it is going to be ok… In any case, I love working in my studio!
I am spending a lot of time in my new amazing studio. It is a pleasure to work in it and I am starting on a new, larger piece, while also finishing a few small pieces I started on in the summer.
I have been very focused and have completed the kitchen cabinets. In any case, it is a pretty unique kitchen, like it or not.
So today I focused totally on making curtains for the guest room/office. It took a long day, but I got it done!
Outside it is pretty much done, at least for now. We have planted some more trees and in the spring we will seed desert grass, probably plant some cholla cactus, etc.
Yesterday we had our last inspection and got our CO! Very nice. A few things remain to be done, though. I am working hard painting the doors for the kitchen, I am almost done. Pictures will come soon.
What a joy and pleasure to work in the studio! My loudspeakers are great, the acoustics as well, the day swiftly passes by! Here I am painting the last doors for the kitchen.
Swedish Santa Fe based artist Thomas Roth and his love Carol Coates came by a few weeks ago with a nice bouquet of flowers, they survived until yesterday!
My friend Ben Wheelan, business owner of a landscaping company, has a great team of Mexican workers. They are always happy, always doing a good job. Great guys!
It is a bit frustrating to get the last little things finished and to get the final inspections. But we are making progress. Last Friday we got the driveway finished. We have planted some trees and a few more will be planted soon. Meanwhile I am painting and working on the crazy cabinet doors. The door and drawer pulls are delayed but will hopefully arrive soon. I am starting to really enjoy working in the studio!
One thing I would like to mention here is that I seriously doubt it would have been possible to build this beautiful and well built house without our Mexican workers! They have been diligent, humble, thankful for the work, and they have done really good work. Some American workers have been good, some ok and a few not so ok…
