I knew it had been a while since I posted
on my blog but I was a bit surprised it has been almost 4 months! I
seemed to have fallen down a rabbit hole. The big reason I have
been absent so long is that we were finally able to buy a house! We
have moved a whopping 1 and 1/2 miles to the south which puts us in the
even smaller town of Nehalem, Oregon. The community we live in is a
combination of three small villages clustered together. We have been
living in Manzanita where the full-time population is around 750 people.
Nehalem has a population of around 300 people. However, that hardly
matters as we are all part of the same community. We have changed our
home and neighbors but not our community. We take a lot of comfort in
that!
The house is a 1973 fixer-upper with a need of a
lot of fixer-upping. Buying the house was a journey and moving in has
been quite a journey too. There was a lot that needed to be done in a
short time for safety and comfort before moving in. I had to temporarily
put down my paint brush and pick up my pipe wrench and wire strippers.
Yes, my tools. My mate has been busy
with his business and bringing in an income so I took on the task of
cleaning, painting, and repairing plumbing and electrical. I still have a
ways to go but we are all moved in and chipping away at it. I do have a
lovely room for a studio. I had to rip the carpeting out only to find
the particle board subfloor is disintegrating and will need to be
replaced. It is an old story that those who have bought fixer-uppers
will be quite familiar with.
All of it has been challenging and fun (and
sometimes not so fun) and will be continuing but, I need to get back to
my work of painting. It doesn't take long to get out of practice! With
this in mind, I am using Leslie Saeta's 30 in 30 challenge to get back
into the swing of things. I am not totally crazy though! I am going to
start small. My theme for this challenge will be 10.20.30. I want to
work on certain skills, value being one of them so I will be taking an
hour a day and painting a 10 minute painting, a 20 minute, and a 30
minute painting. The short painting time is to loosen me up and to
sharpen my observational skills. I will be painting them in black and
white or brown and white so I can focus on value or tone. If I have time
that day, I will continue on to paint a full color version of my
subject. As always, I will be painting from life.
The past four or five months have been spent
making a couple of major life changes. These have taken all my energy
and focus but I always knew I would be getting back into my painting. I
will talk more on the new house and my last painting trip to Stehekin,
WA over this next month. In the meantime, I have this wonderful
challenge, and two painting trips this coming month!
Here is another view of the house, with the giant Monkey Puzzle tree in front:
Off to get my gear ready for tomorrow,
-Renee
5 comments:
I love this idea of 10. 20 . 30 ! I won't join the challenge this year, but I love this idea and I might give this a daily try with out joining. It sounds perfect for me! I will need to think about it some, but it sounds perfect ! Glad you are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel with the home projects. Why oh why do we do this to our selves, lol. !. Its a long journey but a rewarding one……
Congratulations! And what a beautiful place to have bought a home in. Have fun with the fixing up. I don't mind cosmetic stuff, but judos to you for doing plumbing and wiring. For us that is a definite "Gene" job but the rewards in the end are so worth it. My first house was a late 1700's colonial that had originally been built as a barn, converted to a two family and then moved 150 feet onto a new foundation from the main house sometime in the early 1900's.
Congrats on your new home! I just love those Monkey puzzle trees, I often walk around the neighborhood when at our beach cottage and admire them. Eventually I will plant one after we get from working on our fixer upper inside to moving outside to the yard.
Congratulations on your new home Renee! May the satisfactions and frustrations of fixer-uppering result in a house that works perfectly for you.
Thank you all for the lovely comments! Nancy, I hope you do give it a try. When I had my workshop from Kathleen Dunphy she mentioned this practice technique. I was reminded of it again when I heard her interview on the Plein Air podcast. I thought combining it with the challenge would suit me just fine. Thanks for stopping by!
Theresa, a 1700's colonial sounds quite challenging. It probably was a lot more charming than our 1973 hybrid rambler. I am not complaining though, it is "our" house now. After 6 years of renting, that is a lovely thing.
Cindie, ours is a female Monkey Puzzle Tree. She has these huge seed balls at the moment. The tree is wicked sharp and huge. We will have to trim it up above the house. It has already bit me a few times. I know what you mean about having to work on the inside before moving to the outside. I am itching to get into the yard here. I really do need to get a small fall garden planted and cover crops to start rehabbing the much abused soil here. Then there is washing and painting the vinyl siding, which is currently pink, and washing the windows! I know you know how that is.
Dana, thank you so much for the well wishes. I skimmed through your blog to start catching up. Looking forward to seeing you latest projects. Always inspiring.
Thanks again all, you are all very inspiring and I am looking forward to catching up on my blog reading!
-Renee
Post a Comment