studio workshops starting in february/march

After the holiday un-decorating, the studio suddenly feels so empty.
Luckily, there is exciting news for the new year!

The studio workshop schedule is starting up again in February

with an array of local photography experts from the VA/DC/MD area.
These ladies are bringing together so much talent and excitement!
Two of the workshops are already open for registration!

♥

On Sunday, February 22, the studio will host
Matoli Keely Photography & Kristen Lynne Photography
"For the Love of Film, An Introduction to Film Photography" 
a full-day workshop celebrating the exciting revival of film photography,
especially in the wedding industry, including ALL the basics of shooting film,
a beautifully styled photo shoot and working lunch.
Among the sponsors are  Alex Meyer Events,  Sareh Nouri  New York,
Violet Gardens Floral Designs,  Jordan K Winn & Co, 
and Suz Sumersall Jewelry.
Early-bird registration is open through January.

♥

And on Friday and Saturday, March 13-14, the studio will debut
Sarah Bradshaw Photography 
"The Intentional Photographer"
 a 2-day workshop combining passion and purpose with business and art.
This workshop is for photographers looking to grow as business owners,
establish a community of likeminded photographers,
and hone their message to create a more cohesive brand and defined body of work,
with over 12 hours of instruction, a styled mini photo shoot on Saturday,
a Friday dinner and Saturday breakfast and lunch.
Sponsors include  Alex Meyer Events,  Align Album Design,
Blogstomp,  Showit,  Madera Books, and  Tonic Site Shop.
Workshop registration is now open.

♥

If you are a wedding or event photographer,
or you want to improve your personal photography and styling skills,
these are the ladies you want to know on the East coast!
Come join us!
Happy New Year!

2014 holiday recap

Doodling for this year's family card

Blue winter night settling in over the studio

Granddaughter Eliää practicing her twirls after The Nutcracker,

Kennedy Center Opera House

Studio holiday decor

Christmas lights on Guernsey

Westminster Abbey at dusk

Stage set for The Phantom of the Opera,

Her Majesty's Theatre, London

Have yourself a merry little Christmas!

Hope your holidays are filled with family, friends, and the fullness of good spirit, 

and that your new year will be equally blessed!  

♥

studio workshop calendar in progress

Besides gathering stuff like tables and chairs for workshops in my new studio, 

I'm working on building a new website 

to host the calendar of upcoming workshops as they get scheduled.  

But just in case you're interested, here's an advance notice!

The first workshop will be Intro to Modern Calligraphy,
on Saturday, November 15, from 10 am to 1:30 pm.

Taught by Lindsay Ponta (@shrimpsaladcircus) 

and co-hosted by Rebecca Gallop (@dailysomething),
it will include several fabulous contributing sponsors,
such as Rifle Paper Co, Haley Tobias Events,
Anna Clair Photography, Laite Jewelry, Knot and Bow,
and Le Pain Quotidien.

I'm so excited to have these two energetic creative ladies 

christen my new studio in Fairfax Station!
Registration is already open.

(You may go to adailygathering.bigcartel.com to register). 

There are more dates to come in 2015, including 

a weekend painting class with Kate Thompson on May 16-17.

I hope I've whetted your appetite!

Please check back for further announcements.

prepping for creative workshops

Today the delightful Rebecca Gallop from A Daily Something

visited my new studio space to start planning

a creative workshop here in November.

Details coming in the next few weeks.

new painting studio in august ♥

Photo:  contemplating a day of quiet gratitude

This year I have been totally consumed with building my new painting studio from scratch.  

When the studio passed its final county inspection just over a week ago, 

after a year of record-winter weather delays, local county inspection delays, 

delivery delays, and general custom construction hiccups,

I was deliriously happy, or maybe just plain delirious ...

and more than a little exhausted.

But also so grateful to have a space all my own.

Photo:  early morning after hanging the chandelier crystals

Although there are still things on order, like track lighting and the remaining window screens, 

I am so happy to share with you a few photos of the blissfully quiet and empty

mostly-finished studio -- before the storm of moving in my supplies.

Photo:  back wall of windows facing the forest

Yes, there are a lot of windows in this painting studio!

After raising 4 children during 27+ household moves within and out of the US, 

and living in all kinds of houses and climates on several continents,

I knew I needed elegant simplicity, lots of light, and serene green views.

Photo:  studio powder room

The bead board walls in the small bathroom are made from the same wood planks 

as the raised wood ceiling in the studio.  Before the ceiling was whitewashed and the 

bathroom painted white, the wood planks looked very much like a Finnish church and sauna.

Over the small back balcony that allows me to step out among the old trees

hangs a huge old brass lantern, now rewired, found in Phoenix.

Old theatre lights from Ohio were rewired to light up the entry landing.

The side entry stairs look like a runway with the county-mandated lighting on each step.

The 1920's Deco farmhouse sink sat in its shipping crate in the middle 

of the floor while it waited installation as my work sink.

To match the wide-plank white oak floor and keep the look from being too heavy,

the library nook has sturdy white oak shelving.

Finally the protective film and shipping labels were removed from the windows,

allowing the sunlight to shine through.

After months of delays, it was an all-out push to finish the studio by the end of July.

We didn't quite make the deadline, but here we were late one night,

hanging crystals on the chandeliers that drift down the middle of the raised ceiling peak.

We figured out the formula, in case you want to try:

One studio chandelier, two hundred+ crystals, two people, two hours. :)

As my friends tell me, it will take its own good time to feel moved in.

The contractor will be back a few more times with back-ordered items.

I've been pushing and shoving my old green drawers and the drafting table 

and cupboards here and there to test what works.

Meanwhile, my middle son and his young family have been living with us

while he finishes his hospital rotations.

And my youngest son is getting married at the end of August, 

holding the ceremony at my oldest son's jazz bistro, The Beehive, in Boston.

Maybe I should have had the "studio opening" while it was still

completely empty, because I love it so much that way. :)

 However, the "studio opening" as such is not yet ready to be announced.

Plus, stay tuned for local classes and guest artists teaching in the studio soon.

And may you all have the blessing of a dream coming true!

studio restart button

Around here, the big news today is that I finally pushed the restart button on my "new studio" construction project.  The contractor has been fired (not a simple thing to do) and the head of the company, who remembers my original vision from almost a year ago, has taken over the endlessly-lingering schedule.  With grace and energy, he acknowledged the problems and has promised speedy solutions.  Finally, I can stop butting heads on every single design and materials decision!  It's been tough trying not to be pushed into a conformist square hole at every step, first by the county, then by the weather, and then by the exigencies of standard modern construction.

Until today, progress has been mostly one step forward and two steps back for months.  The contractor made several arbitrary decisions that couldn't afford to be undone.  Fortunately, others have been resolved.  For example, ugly lighting boxes built out from the wood ceiling have been removed, recessed and hidden; boxy cladding has been removed from the beams; standard fake-wood molding has been removed from around the windows and the windows smoothed into the walls as originally requested.  The real-wood baseboard-molding battle has gone on for weeks as I insist on my simple but not standard stacking idea.

But I'm persevering with my thinking-in-three-dimensions exercise, even as I try to relax and unclench my jaw.  Maybe the "only-three-more-weeks" refrain I've heard since January will now be true.  Here's a little photo update:

Front south-facing wall with Palladian-style windows and west-side entry

Raised wooden ceiling (a little like a Finnish church) and exposed beams

Back north-facing wall of windows

Back wall opened to the spring forest

Another view of the forest from the back doors

Vintage deco sink for my painting work space

Books waiting to be transferred to my new space

Let's hope this is the end of being tied up by delays and steps backward.  If my studio is really finished and ready to start moving in by the promised three weeks, you'll be the first to know! 

studio windows in late february

Yesterday a few friends came over to walk around inside my studio in its current construction phase and to feel the possibilities of the space.  It felt great!

The windows still have their plastic protective coating on all the panes.  But sunlight still streamed in the front Palladian windows, and we opened the doors for a fine breeze and a long view of the forest out the back window wall, all welcome and hopeful signs of how the space will nurture me and my guests.  Sadly, today it is empty again, since none of the expected deliveries arrived and no one came to work.  It's another day of dreaming of what's to come.

studio construction update

Just checking in to say there is progress, however slow, on construction of 

my new studio.

Besides battling the intemperate winter weather here,

we've been bearing the brunt of delivery delays all along the line.

Construction has already taken twice as long as predicted,

and we still have a ways to go.

My son is building his latest huge tall commercial building in Boston,

and it seems my small enterprise will take almost as long (only half joking).

But I'm finally able to get a sense of the space and atmosphere

that will soon be a reality.

Now that the scaffolding is removed from all but a short side section,

here's the front wall in the late afternoon wintry sun

after the rainstorm passed through.

studio window progress

By late this afternoon, most of the studio windows have been delivered, 

just in time for the next snow storm that starts in this area tonight.
Progress, however slow.

In the morning came the skylights in the right number but in the wrong size.  

Because of the continuing cold weather,
the crew was here for the first time this week to install the skylights, 

but since they had to be returned, 

the crew braved the cold to work on the back stairs instead.

After noon came the tall center Palladian window and two sets of French doors 

by pick-up truck.  

Apparently, they were too tall or wide for the main delivery truck.

Finally, late in the afternoon, the main delivery truck lumbered down our driveway 

with the rest of the fun window shapes.  

Unfortunately, two of those Palladian windows are fixed instead of opening, 

so they will also be exchanged.

But in the remaining hours of daylight, 

our crew began installing the center window.
Below you can see the sequence.  

The window snapped into place sort of like a Lego window, 

except that it was very heavy and entailed a lot of hammering to secure.  

One down.

With the heavy snow expected here tonight, 

it may be next week before they can get back to work.  

That's the way it's been going.

studio construction update

When construction of my new studio finally passed all the county hurdles
just before Thanksgiving

(after more than six months of submitting drawings, electrical plans,
and manufacturers' signature guarantees to meet/surpass the newest codes), 

our long driveway soon filled up with piles of lumber, scaffolding, 

work trucks, workmen, tools, stacks of bricks,
and a huge dumpster.

The first step was deconstruction, taking down the roof and attic area 

over our garage and family room.

Then it was a juggling act to enclose the new space
while snow and sleet and icy weather (and the holidays)
allowed only one or two days of work per week over the past two months.
The giant blue tarps covered the emerging structure between work days.

It's been grindingly slow progress, but now with four walls, a roof,
and most of the electrical wiring in place, I can share a few photos with you.

The south-facing front wall went up first, 

with its openings for three large Palladian-style windows.

For weeks, the only entry into the space was by climbing up a ladder

and clambering through the center front window.

The workmen and I followed the same route. :)

Above is a view of the front windows from the inside as the walls and roof came together.

Along one long exterior wall are openings for another Palladian window, 

the French-door entry, and clerestory windows on either side of the chimney.

Across my back work area is a glorious full wall of segmented windows 

facing north, with a center set of French doors

that open onto a narrow balcony overlooking the forest.

The cathedral ceiling will remain raised, exposing the beams.

Unfortunately, no forest view yet, since everything is still covered 

in Tyvek to keep out the visiting arctic snow and rain.

But the workmen are liking the interior view and proudly sharing

their photos as the space takes on its own atmosphere.

Our puppy, Bogie, likes all the attention from the workmen

but doesn't like the scaffolding they built.

The old brick work was removed and new brick is partly in place.

But the below-freezing temperatures of the last two weeks

have temporarily put construction on hold.

Every stage of this project has been a challenge,

with decisions being delayed, altered or upgraded on a regular basis.

Luckily, northern VA is having a relative 'heat wave' this weekend,

and maybe the windows will arrive this week.

But all the frustrating delays will be worth it when,

after some 27 household moves in and out of the country,

I'll have a place of my own design where I can paint

and continue dreaming. :)