Time Out

I haven't posted anything here in quite a few days and that is because we are remodeling my "playroom." Sometimes it is a sewing room and sometimes it is a painting space, but it is always an art space. (Studio sounds so presumptuous, coming from me, anyway.) It is my creative haven, although to be honest, cleaning out the closet and organizing all my stuff is more than a bit scary.

My first thought is that I am really quite insane. There is so much stuff. Finished stuff I don't like, unfinished stuff I was either bored with or disappointed by, and wishful thinking stuff. Oh, and of course a lot of "what was I thinking?" stuff. I have plenty of that, too.

But, these are my outlet. My creative force. I am struck by the variety of color and texture and whimsey and delightful madness of it all. That is a good description of my personality, too.

This post isn't about art work. Not exactly. It is however about another facet of creative expression.

In sorting through the scary closet I found a doll's house I started over a decade ago. So, I am finishing it. An idea finally came to me about how it should look. For awhile, I will put the brakes on one form of creative expression and pull out all the stops on another, long neglected but not forgotten one. I once made a really cute but really rickety doll's house for my children, but really for myself. I loved minatures and experimented with various scales. 1"= 1' scale was perfect and fairly easy to do. I always wanted to explore 1/2 scale (1/2"= 1' ) and 1/4 scale (namely, really tiny), and made a few projects.

Now with grandbaby number seven on the way, I can't think of a better time to finish Grandma's Dollhouse. When I took it down from the closet shelf, it looked like it wanted to become a half-timbered, thatched-roofed, country cottage. I'm not going for authenticity here, just something evocative of that look, something really cute, and (this time) very sturdy. Something for little kids to be enchanted by. I plan to put it on a plywood disk on rolling wheels and include some landscaping. There will be some electrical -- candles, the fireplace, and whatever else strikes my fancy.

Here are the Stage One construction pictures. The pinkish tint is the spackling compound that dries white. I love this stuff. It's like frosting a very big cake and very forgiving.

As for the art room, we are getting a new industrial-strength floor, new lighting, and a remodeled closet. This was unexpected and planned by my husband as something he says he has wanted to do for me for a long time. I just love that -- he is so sweet.

I'm just wondering how long it will take me to make the closet "scary" again!