20 January 2015

5-day art challenge, day 5

Today is the final day of the 5-day art challenge on Facebook that I have been participating in. Here are a few of the memory pages from the Stillman & Birn sketchbook as we transitioned from our old life to a new one.

Bill was just recovering from a heart attack and surgery, during which I found it very hard to draw. This journal got me started again, as we said goodbye to the 1920 apartment building we had renovated and made a home.


I wished to remember the details we worked through as we took what had been a torn-up rat-trap and slowly demolished then rebuilt it, retaining the style of the building's history from the 1920 oil boom days. The two upstairs apartments were finished first, to allow rental income to help pay for the downstairs remodel. Here, we joined 2 one-bedroom apartments into 1 large 3-bedroom, 2-bath apartment for ourselves --- remodeling as we were living in it! I can verify that plastic sheeting does NOT keep out all plaster & lath dust!

Where we could not find doors of the same style, Bill built them himself, including those seen in the above sketch as viewed from our from our bedroom.The large cast-iron sink was there when we bought the building; I persuaded Bill to keep it in the pantry for planting herbs and washing dogs.


I love vintage tile in bathrooms and kitchen; Bill came to hate the stuff as he applied it --- it seems the tile I chose was molded after original tiles which were not uniform in shape. Very authentic looking though!

With Bill's retirement, we went ahead and put the building on the market, thinking it would take time to sell such an unusual property. It sold in SIX DAYS. Thankfully, the new owners gave us 3 months rent-free to go house-hunting in Texas. We were moving there to be closer to our four grown children, all of whom were raised in Kansas but settled in Texas. The above sketch on the right side is the first I did in our new home while sitting on the patio --- a cabin in the country between the various locations of our kids.



2 comments:

  1. I love how you tie the memories together. I've been absorbing this post for a few days and it captures the transition well. If I were ever in your position I hope that I could capture the change in the same way. The composition of the last one is neat with the cabin sketched over the plot plan. Two thumbs up.

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  2. I didn't know what to do with the 3 works in 5 days challenge. I guess I would like my sketchbooks to tell a story so that's how it turned out. I did not challenge a new artist each day like we were supposed to do --- now I wish I had sent you a challenge. I'd love to see what you'd come up with.

    You might notice a tiny scrap of paper in the lower left of the last sketch --- that is covering up our new address. I drew this as soon as our offer was accepted but 2 months before moving here. Since my sketchbook goes with me everywhere, this became my information & planning page for all that transitional stuff we had to deal with.

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