I was the general contactor for this building. The lot was purchased from a trucking company in early 1991. Then I drew the plans and hired contractors in the early Spring. Construction began in May, and the building was completed in September, 1991. Most of the contractors allowed me to work with them reducing the cost substantially. The interior height is 14', and the area is 1680 square feet. The building is heated and air-conditioned by high energy units. The floor is concrete, and there is 6" of insulation in the walls of the structure. Now we begin the cybertour. (These images were made with an Olympus D300L camera, and the resulting .tif images have been converted to jpeg images at much lower resolution.) The studio was sold in 2004, but more about that later. |
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This is an exterior view, looking to the southeast. You may notice behind the building is a grey semi-trailer. This was purchased for storage of older paintings. It has been put on blocks and vented. It is a very inexpensive storage space. |
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After entering an anteroom that is used for storage of paintings, you enter the large room that is the studio. This is a view looking to the southwest. You will see the workshop area to the right. In the center of the room are some old couches that make for a comfortable reading and studying area. Note that over the workbench there is a structure than can be lowered to make a dust collector when I am sanding. |
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This is the view looking to the northwest. You can still see the workshop area to the left. There is an old refrigerator where I keep paint and darkroom chemicals. Beyond that is the door to the john. Center right is the painting area. Directly behind the painting wall is the darkroom. |
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Looking northeast you see the painting area and the door into the room. In the far corner is most of my paint and media storage. To the right of that is paper and drawing media storage. Further to the right is the drawing area. Outside that door is the anteroom used for storage of paintings and lumber. This also serves as a buffer for noise from the street. |
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This is a view, looking west, of my workbench. I usually keep my tools in place. Some of these tools were purchased when I was in undergraduate school and are over 40 years old. I usually put my tools back immediately after using since I find it unbearable to have to search for something when I need it. |
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This is a view of the area where I mix my paints. The sink is a real convenience. I use acrylic paint, and I transfer the paint from the bottles and jars to squeeze bottles. This saves some time. You can see these squeeze bottles in the upper right of the image. I store them inverted. You might see the top of an air compressor under the table. This has been moved to the anteroom, and the air is piped in to the painting area. This keep the compressor clean or paint spray and eliminates the noise of the machine. |
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This is a view looking southeast. Here on the left is drawing tables and storage. In the corner is my "office" with its computer. In the rear of the room are bookshelves. |
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This is the "office" area where all the bookwork and computing is done. This is equipped with two computers (networked together), a laser printer, a bubble-jet printer, and color scanner. Needless to say, there is a very good alarm system in the building. Once, tripped accidentally, it had two policemen at the studio before I could phone the police department. |
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This is the darkroom. It is directly behind my painting area. There is a Durst enlarger that is out of the photo to the right. I do not do any color work here, but I do all of my own black and white film and paper processing. I have recently built a rocking tray (from surplus parts) for the darkroom bench. |
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This is the anteroom storage area where recently completed paintings are held. At the end of the room is the door to the utility room that holds the water heater, furnace, and general storage. |
In the fall of 2004 I sold the studio, and moved to Florida. There I built a somewhat smaller studio as a part of my home. It has almost the same area, but it lacks the high ceilings. However, there is easy access to the out-of-doors, and this and the very pleasant weather allow me to work outside. Following are some photos of the new studio. |
Looking
toward the painting area of the studio. This is a long room about 60' x
20'. Behind me is a large double door that looks out to a tropical
marsh. |
Here is a longer view of the studio space. |
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This an old Rosbach perforating machine. I think it was made in the 1st decade of the 1900s. It works as well today as when it was made. I use it to perforate the "artistamps" that I make. In the stamp collecting world such stamps are called "Cinderellas," but the rest of the world calls them fake stamps. Should you like to see some of these stamps, click here. |
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This is my shop area. It was a 4 car garage, but most of the space is devoted to the shop and storage. |
Looking the other way in the shop. You can see the door open to out-of-doors. I have my rip saw (a table saw) on wheels. I simply roll it outside to use it. Saves cleaning up dust. There are other tables that I take outside for my sanders, etc.. There are very few days when I am unable to work outside. |
