a work in progress

I’ve been working too hard. My arms are no longer cooperating and I have had to slow down quite a bit, but I still see some progress and it is exciting to know I am almost done with the wiring work. I am installing 6 recessed lights and one track light fixture, you can see those ceiling boxes in this picture. I have put in a new subpanel and wired the studio on four circuits. The outlet in the far left corner is on its own circuit to allow for future addition of a bathroom off that end of the building. Won’t that be nice! Yesterday my exhaust fan arrived and I will install it after my friend cuts the circular opening for it. I will finish wiring the last circuit after the front door is installed. It will support the two exterior lights, the two front lights, and the receptacles on the left and front walls. In this picture you can see the subpanel, as well as the box  for the switches.

Today the ceiling panels will arrive and I will prime and paint them. I will call the building inspector again and try to get added to her busy schedule.  I will also go to the electrical supply for more cable and for the conduit and cable to connect the subpanel to the main panel. The trench awaits. I may get to work on the trellis made of old window screens that will separate the yard and parking areas and I will try to collect some trumpet vine to plant there. Somewhere in there I will care for my godson, although I must say he is doing a very fine job of learning how to care for himself and a home. I’m so proud of that boy.

The rock work is done for now and I am deep into putting the electrical wiring in the new studio.  I just wanted to share this pretty little stone mosaic my friend Eileen created for the new step to the patio. It’s so nice to have friends who like to make things. We both like to make things while we visit and she is so much fun to create with. Once Eileen and I worked together to create a nature/flower girl tree topper for a big tree that went up after Christmas. The tree turned out so pretty it became a true holiday tree and was decorated again for Valentine’s Day!

This afternoon, I will have the pleasure of working with a group of students at the Eureka Springs School of the Arts. I wish it were not due to an unfortunate event in the  teacher’s family that I am to be there, but I am excited to be back in the classroom and to be doing something new. I’m a great substitute since I love doing new things as much as I enjoy creating art with others. The last time I taught art wasin the fall, working with the students at Clear Spring School to create plaster castings of found natural objects, such as acorns. That was fun. Leading workshops is another thing the new studio will give me the space to do and I am developing a series of one day, project-oriented classes that just about anyone can fit into their schedule. I also plan to continue the polymer clay classes because that is such a fun and accessible medium.

The sunken patio is almost completed. The walls are not as pretty as I would have liked, but they are very stable and perfect bench height for a table, which I love. I’m making all sorts of fun plans for the yard, but I need to get back to work on the studio. The big rains of the past few days have put the patio/drain to the test and it’s working quite nicely, the studio will stay dry. I’m going to wait to see what stones I can collect before I finish the patio.

Another part of the drainage solution was to build this little retaining wall at the top of the yard to slow the water. Having a pleasant places to sit outdoors is a nice bonus to taking care of the drainage. The house will also stay cleaner now the drive and walkways are covered with rocks. Not that there’s  much time to sit, I need to get the wiring done now.

Here are a couple pictures of the big hole that will be prepared as a patio at the front of the garage that will soon be my new studio. You can see the natural style french drain at the top of the picture. It is 22 feet long and about a foot wide. I laid two overlapping sheets of landscape fabric in the ditch, filled with progressively smaller rocks, and folded the landscape fabric over before covering with dirt. That will be the slow drain. There will also be a fast drain at a little bit higher level which will handle the freakishly heavy rains like we had the night before last. That will be a drain pipe with both ends accessible for cleaning and the ditch for it will be dug tomorrow by the same wonderful boys.

I have been lucky to have a couple different landscapers stop by and take a look at the work. Both said it looks like a good solution for drainage. One took a look at the other sides of the house and listen to my plans for the drainage there and it seems that waiting to do this work was the right thing because it gave me an opportunity to observe the ways the water moves across the property and work with it. The man I spoke with today helped me envision a way to incorporate the drain pipe which I had chosen not to include beacuse of concerns of being unable to access it to clean it out.

One bonus to clearing so many limbs and leaves and mulch is the creation of a new area of nearly flat land. A couple friends came by to collect some of the wonderful mulch we dug up and suggested the lawn extension. It was pretty easy to get established, especially with the dirt coming out of the area for the sunken patio, but grading it to flow down the mountain rather than into the patio is turning out to be a slow process. I’m considering planting it with grass or clover and I’d like to use the space for my old show canopy with some mosquito netting. That will make a nice overflow area during open studio events and parties and will make a nice picnic spot the rest of the time.

The retaining walls on the patio are coming along nicely. I took a day off the big stone work. It was quite a feat for me to move them all down to the site! The first course is all dug in and level and firm. Tomorrow I plan to complete  them, fill the patio area with rocks,cover it with limestone base and move the landscaping rocks into the pathway behind the patio. The trench for the electrical cable is ready for me and the 2×4s are here. I am very eager to get this drainage work finished and move back to working on the studio itself. Not to mention IN the studio! I’ll post more pictures soon.

In order to keep the new studio from flooding, I have been working on the property”s drainage system. The old concrete was holding water at the entrance and had to be cut away and then a large rectanglular area was dug along with a deep and long trench for a french drain.  I’m so grateful for the help of two fantastically hardworking young men. I could not not have dug this myself.  I have been moving huge rocks around, I  pay for it later, but I’m thriilled I can do it. I’ll post a picture of the big hole with the rocks later. Today’s photos show the river gravel being dumped at the top of the yard. These form a sort of dry creek along the sidewalk that leads to the studio. The sound of them pouring off the truck was second only to the sound of the waves crashing down and dragging the rocks backward along the sea wall in Puerto Villarta. I’ll be ordering more as the work progresses and a friend says he has equipment to record it so I can hear it over and over. That’ll make it even more fun. I love rocks. Good thing, too, since today I must build a retaining wall around the sunken patio.