final sketches

  Ready for the moving van to arrive (tomorrow morning) . . . and I did a couple of last sketches of this apartment we are leaving. I love this bathroom with all that subway tile, the original 1920 claw-foot tub, and the reproduction lavatory. Bill hated all that subway tile by the time he finished putting it in! The individual tiles are molded from originals and are irregular in shape. Drove him a bit nuts!

 This kitchen sink from the 1940s was here when we bought the building. Loving those huge drainboards, I tried to talk Bill into using it as our new kitchen sink but he didn't like the idea. He did leave it in the pantry for me though --- great for potting plants and washing dogs! And he installed an instant-hot tap for me. Keeps hot water at the perfect temperature for a cup of tea. I'll miss that when I go back to using a tea kettle at the cabin.

doors

While renovating this building, we wished to keep as much as possible to the original style of woodwork. But 1920-style doors are not sold today unless they are custom-made.

So where ever Bill needed to add doors, he made them himself . . . even including a transom window to match others in the apartment.

This is looking from our bedroom, through the small office / studio area, through French doors leading to the kitchen.

part of our apartment's kitchen

We are still dealing with the craziness that comes with relocating . . . and I'm still sketching bits of our old home when I find time.

This is the west wall of the kitchen Bill made; additional built-ins and a gas range are on the north and east walls. I have loved this vintage-style kitchen and will miss it!

Our new home's kitchen is from Ikea. First house we bought that will not have a custom-built kitchen by Bill. Still needs tweaking --- I want to replace the dishwasher with more drawers.

We moved all my paints and inks to Texas last week when we went to close on purchasing the cabin. So I just have this simple "warms and cools" palette with me. The travel brush is a #8 from Daniel Smith. If I remember right, the pigments are as follows:

cadmium scarlet  /  permanent rose
hansa yellow med.  /  hansa yellow light
serpentine genuine  /  sap green (not really a cool)
ultramarine blue  /  phthalo blue
quin. burnt orange  /  burnt umber
quin. gold  /  payne's gray

moving right along . . .

The 12 days of Christmas are drawing to a close and so is our time in Kansas. Again we have run out of boxes to put things in, but almost everything is now boxed up. This wee nativity and the family stockings were the only decorations we had out this year . . . plus a couple of containers of toys for grandkids to play with. While packing, I came across this tiny micro-machine vehicle that missed being packed with the toys. So I sketched it with the nativity and packed both in the Christmas box.

Christmas boys

Four of our five grandchildren were able to visit us for Christmas. These two youngest grandsons are about 1 1/2 years apart in age but act more like twins. Whatever Josiah can do, Judah is sure he can too. Usually they are given two versions of the same gift to avoid trouble. This year, it was a Legos fire engine set and a Legos Duplo fire engine set. 

Josiah is seldom found without his green tiger (who has lost his stripes but Jo-Jo doesn't seem to mind). Over Christmas, he added a wee Webkinz alley cat he is rocking with here. The child's rocker has been in the family 4 generations.