One Down and Many To Go!

The nicest thing about having a back door to an alley is being able to sit the big trash cans next to the door and toss the garbage directly thru the doorway! Much of my first week at the "art cottage" was spent throwing things thru that door! and who would believe that bleach could eat big holes in rubber gloves!! But after five days of cleaning, sweeping, pulling down six feet long commercial flourescent lights from the ceiling, and three coats of paint on the walls and ceiling, I have ONE!! room ready for occupancy. LOL

Here's the room before I created a whirlwind of cleaning and painting....



and here's the room which I've dubbed the "living room" just because it's ready to live in...after white paint and curtains have been hung.



The furniture in the middle of the room will be in a bedroom one of these days and the blue/green outdoor chairs will reside on the screened porch where I'll have morning coffee (big grin)...



....that is, as soon as I have electricity!

First Things First

Several months ago, I discovered a blog called The Beach Cottage! A wonderful collection of ideas and daily news reports on how a broken down cottage on the coast of Australia was turned into a wonderful home for a family. Hence, I got to thinking about how I could use my daily exploits in turning a rundown 1944 building in the low country area of Georgia into an ART COTTAGE!

BUT, first here's the briefest outline of how I came to this decision and moment in time. Seven years ago, eleven other artists and myself journeyed south to an uninhabited island off the coast of Georgia to paint and sort of camp out for a week. You can read all about that trip at http://creightonisland.com! I fell in love with the vastness of the marshlands, the beautiful sunrise and sunset each day, and lushness of the live oaks with their hanging mosses! Now skip to today...seven years later, I'm moving to this paradise landscape to paint the days away...

BUT, first the building must be over hauled with much tearing out of the old and bringing in with the new. Sounds like a New Year's mantra...and it sort of is! So, 2011 is a new beginning for me in my artistic adventure. As optimistic as I am, I won't sugar coat the aches and pains, but if you choose to watch the progress and perhaps glean some inspiration along the way...HooRah!!

Here's a pic of the building as I first saw it. Only one thing has changed in the past two months....the bushes are shorter now....