Two Walls Are Better Than One!

It actually looks like a building! I'm so excited... no turning back now.
I'm speed writing this as we leave in 25 minutes for Bob's opening in Danbury at Jim Felice's Trailer Box Gallery. Bob and Dave Gesualdi (whose work couldn't be more different than Bob's!) are showing, completing a week of three shows between Bob and I and working on the studio.
Joe came over today and helped finish up the second wall- and raise it. Bob and I had completed much of the framing on Thursday and then had an intermission day when we both had to do our jobs.
Today we started early and by 3:00, we had two walls.
Another view:

I even have a door hole. And a corner. And a view... and it seems to be standing.
There is a bit of a gap near the house because (funny enough) the house wall sways inwards. Bob and Joe are constructing a shim.

This is where the house and studio wall tie together. I say fll it in with silly putty and cardboard and packing tape, but Joe and Bob will do it right. Tomorrow, we do the last wall. It will really look like a studio then.

Walla-Walla Wonderful!

Last night I paid a visit to Home Depot on my way back from work. I have personally never purchased so much wood. A nice young man helped me analyze and load every piece of wood individually. I had started with my shopping list that Bob had composed. I realized that 28 2x4's (8 feet long), loads of 2x6's 10 feet long, twelve foot long 2x4's... this stuff weighed tons! And the racks were way over my head. Thank goodness that there were few shoppers at Home Depot and I had help. Look at that pile of wood!
So this morning we started bright and early to finish up the long wall. And an unexpected friend stopped by and Bob had to leave to take his mother to the eye doctor. I thought we'd never get this wall assembled, let alone erected.
Bob got home well after 3:00 and we started to wale away. We finished framing. And Joe arrived ten minutes later. The sun was casting long shadows.

Bob went next door and called on our neighbors, who were crazy enough to offer to help if we needed any assistance in raising the wall. Meagan and her son CJ came over. Between the five of us, it was easier getting that wall up than any other part of the proceedings! It literally took five minutes.

Lookee there! It stands! Bob nailed up cross pieces and nailed in the sole plate and miracles of miracles! We have a wall...

Wowee Zowie!!! I got window holes, I got a partial studio! Huzzah for good neighbors and walls that stand!

Or Would I Rather Have a Swimming Pool?

Apparently the gods that preside over such things as barn raisings and STUDIO construction misheard what I requested and decided to deliver a swimming pool instead. In case no one noticed, it pored last night and despite Bob and my best efforts to cover the nascent wall in tarps, water accumulated. It was a tough day anyway; we had to buy more 2x4's in the morning and we had just gotten underway with sawing and hammering when it started to rain.

This puddle is a foot deep! Nice soggy wood... Bob uncovered it this morning so that it could dry out but it's still pooling up between the studs.  Here's a shot that looks like a Richard Diebenkorn (an abstract painter who worked on a series of "Ocean Park" paintings that this resembles):

Well, at least it looks like art! We went to South Norwalk to an opening at a "pop up" show that both Bob and I were in last night. The rain held off until we had arrived home, which was one good thing anyway as we were very tired (as is now the norm!) We had spent some time schlepping all the wood into my present studio so that it wouldn't warp. Here's Jules inspecting the newly rearranged studio:

Yes, sort of an obstacle course but at least the wood is safe. Now I have to go back to work tomorrow so it will be Wednesday before we get to complete this wall. We had hoped to have at least that one done this weekend. No wonder it took Mommy and Daddy ten years to build our house!

No Time!

The clock in the kitchen inconveniently died this past week. Habit forced Bob and I to constantly look at the wall to see what time it was (or wasn't as there was no clock). After the fiftieth attempt at telling the time, I resorted to a studio version of a clock. It's symbolic of the fact that we have simply had no time to even go to a cheap department store and purchase a clock. (Conceptually it's great; you simply set it to whatever time you wish it was.)
And on to what everyone is really interested in : the studio project. With one thing and the next, such as a seriously ill, hospitalized co-worker, I have had to work extra hours and we have had less time to work on my studio than we had planned. And our friend Joe, whose legs are visible in the below photo with Bob's legs, has also be super busy and unable to come and help with the framing. That left Bob and I to only one day this week.

Bob and I purchased many two by fours, in various lengths, to commence the wall construction. Of course, after careful measuring and laying out of skeleton walls, Bob started up the skill saw. And noticed an odd thing: the supposedly 8 foot long 2 x 4's were all short.
Turns out the lumber yard had given us "pre-cuts" which are great if you're making a standard interior wall. But for us? We needed the extra couple of inches...
So back in the truck went all that wood and we had to return them for the correct wood! A waste of an hour or so, but at least it was a nice day weather-wise and we got to double check our math.
Bob and I feel like we accomplished quite a lot, given the vagaries of a full moon day, but I could use another solid week of working on the studio. I'm anxious (as is Bob) to get that roof up so that all our lovely wood isn't wet, or the crawlspace beneath the floor doesn't get all damp. We'll be at work tomorrow, at least until we need to leave for one of three openings that we're participating in in the upcoming week!
No time!!

Doors and Windows- Oh My!

Talk about shopping from home! I came back from work on Tuesday to discover a whole array of possible doors and windows had been magically transported by Bob from our friend Joe's storage barn. He'd always said, "When it comes to doors and windows for your studio, don't forget: I have LOADS of doors and windows." He wasn't kidding. I described to Bob what I had in mind, stressing that I was flexible and would settle for whatever Joe had available.
But the ones presented are perfect! Bob brought back a French double door that Joe had promised to me and it's so nice! It has a really cool patina of three layers of paint that we're going to try and preserve by applying  a sealer to it. You can sort of see one panel of it in the middle. The windows can be mounted horizontally or vertically, and they're thermal and brand new. (You can see the tags in the pictures).
So Bob and I went out to the studio site and Bob erected a string at the height of the studio roof line. This gave me a conceptual framework to figure the actual layout of the doors and windows. I tried drawing this stuff on paper- and approximated where I might want openings- but really it wasn't until we stood on my floor and held up tape measures and real doors that it took shape.

This is the other side door. Bob and I bought this door at the auction a year or two ago just because we both liked it. I guess we had somewhere way back in our heads that it might come in handy when we built my studio, or added onto the barn. The doors will double as windows and let in a lot of light. I can't emphasize enough how I need all the wall space I can manage- uninterrupted wall space.
I can't believe that I may have deleted the picture I took of my completed floor. I'll have to re-photograph the floor tomorrow. It looks kind of cool; like a expectant dance floor or an artist's landing pad. I'm getting psyched!

Houston, We Have A Floor

Bob and I are so tired! We carried 15 sheets of 3/4 exterior grade plywood around just for fun. That's after schlepping 12  2x6 20 foot floor beams- but I get ahead of myself. The above photo is from yesterday. We put all these metal hangers brackets (that Bob manufactured in his studio) on the aforementioned 20 foot long beams. Each one had to be measured, cut, had the bracket afixed and then get nailed in place, 16" on center. The lay at a 90 degree angle to the 4 x 6 beam (that you can sort of see) in the center of the picture.

The above is a close up of the beams and the brackets. (And a face mask.)
Today we finished up the last two beams and started in on insulation and then the plywood.
I have learned that there is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more to "simple" carpentry than I ever would have suspected. Things like making sure every step is level and putting down insulation and moisture barriers and caulking all the cracks in the insulation with spray in space foam product. It all takes time and concentration.

This picture is a bit overexposed but it shows that we were somehow able to do laundry, too! I took this at lunch time, when we'd finished up the insulation. I think. Boy, that seems like days ago. Like I said, we're both really tired.

So at 6:00, we had finished the plywood, which we had mostly covered with tarps and then I realized I hadn't even documented the finished wood deck. But here's a corner. That's Bob crouching in the upper right, trying to secure the tarp. It was neat to walk around on this flat, solid surface. Bob and I must have screwed in three million screws. (Yes, I am trusted with an electric screw gun! And believe me, it went so much faster with the two of us screwing around.)
We're hoping there is no torrential monsoon before the next stage which involves framing walls and erecting the roof rafters. More fun!

Happy Labor day!

Hahahahahaha. This is what Bob and I do to keep up spirits at the BauHaus Chicken Coop. Bob picked that bifurcated carrot in the garden and it sure seemed anatomically correct. Just wait until the guest arrive for dinner! (They loved it...)

And then later, just to show Bob that you can't have too much of a certain very odd actress, I adapted the milk carton:

Neither Bob nor I understand Tilda Swinton; she's one strange cookie. Someone must like aliens because she keeps appearing in those collage- worthy fashion magazines that I've been deconstructing. Another larger image of Ms. Swinton unexpectedly graced Bob's side of the bed last week. I think we had a bit of fun this labor day weekend despite the rain.

And I made a collage (still in process and a very rough photo) to mark Labor Day:

As an artist, I doubt that I even make minimum wage, but I suppose that's beside the point. But for actual working people, the minimum wage is a complete joke. I seriously cannot believe that there is endless debate that raising the minimum wage even $1 an hour is considered a threat to the western world and there are individuals that claim we'll all lose jobs and businesses will close. Heavens! And what is the minimum wage? Like $8.50 an hour? Who can live on that? Mitt Romney? Paul Ryan? (Remember them?) So here's a big salute to workers of the world and labor of all kinds- even the all important artistic kind!