I haven’t written on here for so long, I feel like I forgot how!  I’ll try.  So I have a new place, and I have just been thrust into the role of making it suitable and functional, and seriously have spent almost every waking second that I’m not teaching at the HBAC and not working for MovieWeb, and not enjoying dinners with my beau, I have been here building sh*t.  So here is a little rundown.

Here is the new studio!  It is of course still a mess, and there is a long way to go, but so far it’s working out.  The one thing I’m at a loss for is storage in this place, so that has been what I have been focusing on.

I had to build another storage for paintings, and since I filled this one up in about five minutes, it looks like I’m heading back to Home Depot for more wood to make another one.  Definitely cheaper than IKEA to make one yourself, gets you more shelves for less money, and all I used tool wise was a jigsaw, a small nail gun, and a drill. Oh the drill.

The GORM at IKEA was my inspiration, but I sort of wanted it more tailored for my needs, so I designed one taller to utilize the fact that I have 9 foot ceilings and use the whole 8 foot 2 x 2’s.  Also wanted something not super deep as I wanted more floor space.  So I came up with this:

As you can see, it’s stuffed!  Please take the paint brush out of my hand and tell me that I can’t paint anymore until I sell some of these.  It’s seriously ridiculous.  The shop is getting an update soon!

Before I even started this I had to take care of normal everyday parts of the place, like the kitchen.  Here is a still from a video I took when I first looked at the place.  I have been so caught up in making this place functional, I really didn’t take good “Before” photos.  Thankfully Brian caught this video with his phone.

I just had to make this place more me, and also, because of the cramped space, I had to get creative with ways to store things.  Let’s just say I have pretty much moved in to Home Depot.

I made this table after measuring the right dimensions for that little space, and tried to give myself more room.  Especially for food.  It’s not so much that this place is small, as much as it is that the place has not ONE single closet.  Imagine your life with no closet space….I mean NO closet space.  My clothes you ask?  Oh that is another post…

Well now that I kind of have a leg up on this place, and am starting to feel unpacked, expect to hear more from me.  Meanwhile, Merry Christmas!

This Saturday I’ll be at the Family Fun Day event in Upland with Tomoko and Corina from Bosatsu Art Factory having a little art booth and passing out fliers and such.  Hopefully it’s not too hot….I have nearly forgotten how hot the Inland Empire gets…where I’m staying now, by the beach, it actually gets dewey by 7 p.m.  And my poor dresser that I’m refinishing keeps peeling up its finish because it’s too humid and cool to leave anything outside overnight…so I’ve learned.  I was going for a vintage look sure, but now it looks like it was recovered from the Titanic.

Well I have been out of commission for the last week and I never thought I’d disdain lounging around as much as I do now.  Being stuck (and dizzy and nauseous) indoors is no fun.  Even in the company of Dances With Wolves, Happy Feet and Mr. Mom.  (As you can see by the spitting resemblance, I think watching Mr. Mom as a child has had an extremely lasting effect).

Alas, I finally had my wisdom teeth removed.  I still have a knot in my jaw, but I’m on my last day of antibiotics, and my oral surgeon said things look good!  I feel a million times better.  I’m not sure what was worse: the oh-my-gosh it’s going to pop swollen cheek, not being able to open my mouth more than a few centimeters, or the extreme nausea the pain killer stirred up (I couldn’t even look at the Netflix menu and definitely couldn’t watch any hand-held camera sitcoms), but I’m glad to say I’ll never have to experience that again.  And I really did feel like David after Dentist: I asked many times in horror, is this feeling forever now??  Thankfully not.  First day of coffee.  First day of normal cereal and fruit.  First day of Good Old ME!  OK.  So on to other horizons, I have a lot of classes that start next week.  So here’s the run down…

Bosatsu Factory Art Studio in Upland, I have three art classes that start Monday!  Ages 4-6, 3-4 p.m.; Ages 7-9, 4-5 p.m.; Ages 10-12, 5-6 p.m.

Huntington Beach Art Center in HB, I have my Drawing for Little Tots that starts Wednesday, September 15, three time slots, Ages 4-6, PLUS I have a Water-Mixable Oil Painting class for teens/adults that starts that same day 6:30-8 p.m.  Also at the HBAC starting Saturday, September 25 I am taking over another teacher’s Mommy and Me Art Class for the Fall and there are two time slots to choose from.

In the meantime, I am ordering supplies, and getting ready for the classes.  I’m also still house hunting, and now that G-puffy is back to just G-puppy, I am beginning to make the rounds.  Gotta say, it’s hard when your loving, sweet boyfriend offers a rent-free place to live, cooks and cleans, even does my laundry! (I’m seriously spoiled here) but it’s my calling to get my own place/workspace and reunite with my 15-year-old feline companion/child Lily who has been cooling her paws at Grandma’s.  Boyfriend is allergic, what can you do?  Did I say, this was my first day of coffee?

My friend Tomoko has just opened up her own art studio, Bosatsu Factory, in Upland and has assembled a group of artists to teach various adult and children’s classes that begin in September!  I am one such lucky artist and will be teaching art to three age groups of students.  I will teach painting and drawing mostly, but maybe throw in some 3D stuff too.  Can’t wait!  I’ve always wanted to start my own studio gallery kind of thing, like a community art center with gallery and shop and classes et al, (could it possibly be because I worked at the Huntington Beach Art Center since I was 18?) but it is so cool to see someone just like me (with no heaps of money) just totally start something from scratch and go for it.  There have been a lot of people jumping in eager to help because Art is always something a community needs more of.

The disaster that is moving:

Well I never thought I could get that place empty, and I had to enlist a LOT of help because a 1444 square foot house is not easy.  In 100 degree weather.  Without a fun, new place to bring things.  (For the time being, I’m staying at the BF’s)  But really, everything went swimmingly and it did seem like the stars had been aligning for little old me.  I just need to keep positive and figure out how to be grounded in an utterly ungrounded situation.  That is where kid’s classes come in.  Kids, with all their mini melodramas and the funny things that they say, and their undeniable creativity, seem to bring a lightness and a quirkiness to the situation, especially when you only have them on loan for a few hours, and get to return to a quiet place afterwards.

These are some glimpses of the “Exquisite Corpse” project with the Huntington Beach Art Center’s Art Camp kids, which turned out amazingly awesome and I just had to take pictures.  I sure can’t wait til the day I can actually make art again!  Only the universe knows that answer.

Today, me and the BF are going to hit the OC Fair to see our friend’s band play, Hell and Half of Georgia, and also mosey on over to the Children’s Art Exhibition section where many of my students will have work on display from my “Drawing for Little Tots” drawing class.  Can’t wait to see and take pictures!!