Summer Reading
Structures #97 (In Progress) ©2008
Making Art
The mornings are cool enough to turn on my iron and work on my latest textile painting. This week I finalized on the basic structure of this piece as can be seen in the photo above.
Next step is to select colors and approximate placement of my lines. It takes quite a while to do this. I cut the 7/8" wide strips freehand, using my rotary cutter (like a pizza cutter for fabric), without any rulers or guildlines. Years of practice results in pretty straight cuts, but not too perfect. They still have that hand cut feel to them.
I then pin the strips to the background shapes. Below is the current state of the piece on my design wall. It’s cool this morning so I hope to make more progress before heading to work.
Summer Reading List
In the afternoons it’s not so cool in the house. It’s been sunny and still hot so even with the swamp cooler we are moving slow. As a result we’ve been playing a lot of boardgames and doing a lot of reading. My daughter read all 5 books needed for the library’s summer reading program in a week and last night got her prize - a free pass to Elitches (a six flags amusement park here in Denver).
A couple noteworthy books I’ve read this summer (there is also long list of light summer reads that I can’t remember at the moment):
Savvy
Happy For No Reason
Eat, Pray, Love
The Appeal
A Bit of Fiction Reflects Life
Turns out the house I bought is in an area with contaminated underground water, so reading the Grisham book was quite intriguing. Fortunately we drink Denver city water from pipes and not the stuff under us.
They are in the process of cleaning up the mess left by a rifle scope manufacturer that dumped all their solvents into the ground. The affected houses have mitigation systems for the fumes from the solvents, pretty much like radon mitigation systems. From everything I read there is little to no threat the my health over this and even without mitigation I’d never be able to smell the fumes, it’s just annoying.
Before I moved in, home owners tried to sue, they lost. Supposedly the bad water does not effect real estate prices (I saw no signs of it) and when I build my addition the company responsible will pay to modify/extend my mitigation system if needed and I hear they are fairly easy to work with.
The Whole House
Add to this asbestos siding, lead paint, more electrical problems than I mentioned yesterday (the main line to the house is woven through the gorgeous crab apple in the back yard and the fuse box is faulty and built by a company that was successfully sued and now out of business), a cracked clay sewer pipe and also a nasty mold problem in the back of garage that has to be torn out. It’s fun!
It’s definitely in the fixer-upper category. It was a rental for 10 years and the owners lived in texas and ignored it. The grass looks like it hasn’t been watered in years and it’s mostly weeds and dirt. My house is definitely the ugly step child of the street at the present moment but I still love it and know when the remodel is done it’s going to be gorgeous. Plus I got it at a good price and have a big chunk of money in escrow from the sellers to pay for most of the stuff listed above.
Posted by Lisa in: Making Abstract Contemporary Textile Art
Tagged: making art, new home, reading, remodel, Textile Paintings
PaMdora said,
July 31, 2008 @ 7:24 am
Hey Lisa, I’ve been getting up very early and trying to work in my studio while it’s cooler too. I put on my lightest clothes, and found that big fan blowing up my back helps, and blows the heat from my iron away from my body. It’s amazing how much heat the overhead lights generate though, there’s a lot of them and I have no way to switch off some (hmm, maybe I could take the bulbs out though, hadn’t thought of that!)
k said,
July 31, 2008 @ 8:13 am
If you’ve read my adventures with the repurchase of our old lakehouse you know I can feel your excitement about the possibilities in a ‘good bones’ fixer-upper. Your upbeat attitude makes good things happen.
Lisa Call said,
July 31, 2008 @ 9:36 am
Yes Pam - the lights - they are little heaters - I find myself with a fairly dark house in the evening - anything to keep the heat down.
KJ - yes - I love reading about your remodeling of the lake house. It’s really quite fun to do these house projects.
Ruth said,
July 31, 2008 @ 5:30 pm
Way to go Lisa,
I admire your efforts. I’ve been dealing with 2 consecutive days of 2 separate car problems on my own wondering why does everything seem to happen to me when my husband is away and I have to deal with it. My issues seem minor to what you have achieved.
Patty said,
August 1, 2008 @ 5:00 am
Thanks for posting your newest pieces as it progresses. It is very interesting to see how someone else works. The stories about your house - wow! And I thought I had a fixer upper! The problems you are tackling are something else! I had to replace the furnace, AC, roof, gutter, downspouts, all the windows and doors, and the electrical panel before I moved into my place, but didn’t have the evnironmental issues like you do. I still have gobs of painting to do, woodwork to install, get my brothers to replace my deck, and I am in the process of ripping out both bathrooms to the studs. The electrician and plumbing will be coming in October to do their rough-ins and I can spend the winter doing the finish work. So I do feel your pain! But it will be so nice when it is all done! Please keep us posted so we can cheer you on!
Tracy said,
August 1, 2008 @ 5:09 am
Hi Lisa,
Oh my, my house was a cosmetic fixer-upper, but not that much.
I’ve been finding relief by eating a lot of Popsicles and putting an ice pack on my head. Hang in there this weekend as more high temp records fall, but there’s relief on the way next week!
Sheila said,
August 3, 2008 @ 8:39 pm
Lisa, did you realize that you are working with a mostly cool color palette? Intentional or subconscious do you think with your hot weather sans air conditioning? I’ve been able to keep the house fairly cool during the day since I can open it up at night and let the really cool night air in, much better than last summer. There’s only been a few days when I needed to turn on a fan. Such a relief. I finally finished up two darker pieces, one in fall colors, while starting work on something with brighter colors. All of a sudden, I realized I was starting a string of tropical colored projects! I think that extra long hard winter is what’s driving this color palette - it’s not one I usually work in.