Revisiting the Cupboard Under the Stairs

Yesterday I took Kate and Andy and drove out to Port Orchard to see Sylvia and the Cupboard Under the Stairs, which I painted over the course of about fourteen months, off and on. I hadn't been out there since I finished it, almost four years ago. (The finishing-up pictures are here, or if you want to see more you can click here and then scroll down past this post.)



It was fun to see Sylvia again. She said they often have people (friends of friends) knocking on the door and saying, "Can we see your closet?"



I borrowed Larry Golden's wide-angle lens to get some pictures. The closet is small and the hall is narrow, so with my 50mm lens I can't get far enough away to get the whole thing in at once. It was a bit of a trade-off, though--that lens only goes to f/4, so I had the ISO all the way up to 1600 to get enough light. (I didn't have my flash-bouncer with me.) Hence the grainy photos.




The halogen light in the ceiling, pointed at the moon, is what makes it glow like that. It does look pretty cool in person, but for some reason it's even more impressive in photos.



Here's what they did in bottom end of the closet. I hadn't seen this part at all. (Had to use my flash for this one.) Sylvia said they did have all the Harry Potter books in here, too, but she relocated them recently when there was a bit of rambunctiousness going on in the closet and she didn't want them to get damaged.



Doesn't this look like a fun place to play?




I got some great pictures of Kate on Sylvia's window seat, so I wanted to try some with both kids. We were losing light by then, though, and I only got one kid in focus.



Kate enjoyed playing with this gear toy for a while.



Andy thought it was pretty cool, too!

It's a forty-minute (ish) drive out there. Quite a long way to go back and forth. I still remembered the way!

Mural pictures!

I finished up the Cupboard Under the Stairs on April 12th. Doug went out with me and helped me take pictures and get everything packed up.



Sylvia's husband is going to put a little bookshelf back in the bottom corner, where the ceiling slopes down to the floor. They'll have a small TV in there and all the Harry Potter books and movies. Sylvia's also got some quilts that she made with Harry Potter fabric, and bean bags.

Signing the mural and taking all the tape off is always an exciting moment. It looks so different without the blue tape outlines.



Sylvia's daughter Wendy found some glow-in-the-dark paint, and we thought about putting it on the moon and all the windows, but I tested out a little area and thought it wouldn't look very good. I did put little dabs on all the lamp posts, which is kind of a neat effect.






Kate was just six weeks old when I started painting. If I had known this was going to take so long, I would have taken regular pictures of Kate in front of the mural, so we could see them grow up together.


This last picture is stitched together from a few photos. If I get a wide-angle lens for my camera I'll have to go back and take more.

Almost done!

Work on the Cupboard Under the Stairs has been progressing very slowly. I've only been out to Port Orchard to work on it a few times since Christmas. I was working on rocks for a while, then got sick of that and spent a day putting bars on windows. This picture was taken back in February. Those little floating white things are lamp posts. Or rather, they're lamps with no posts. I've since put in the posts so they are no longer floating. (The perspective on that building looks really weird--I think it's just the angle of the wall. I hope!)

Last Wednesday Kate and I went painting again. I've been saying for quite a while now that I only had "just a little bit more" to do, but this time I finally felt like I was really almost done. There's a bit of water along the bottom that needs to be put in--that won't take long--and the part where the water meets the rocks. Other than that, well, I could spend weeks fiddling with rock shading, but I'm not going to. (Just say no!) So, Doug is going to go out with me tomorrow, and I'm going to finish up and sign it, and get eveything packed up. It's been a long, long project.

Here's Kate out at Sylvia's house last week. Awww!

Painting progress

I wasn't able to do any painting last week because Sylvia was sick. (This did not mean that I got much else done at home, sadly.) So this week I went out Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. I started working on the rocks, finally. I'm planning to keep the rocks kind of loose and low-contrast so that they (A) don't take me forever, and (B) don't distract from the rest of the painting. The rocks, after all, are not the important part. I still have to finish up that building down at the bottom that looks like a chapel, and add a few little details like bars on some of the windows, and more lamp posts. I'm so close to being done, but I probably won't be able to go out again till after Christmas.

Return to Hogwarts

Doug's mom arrived on Monday, and then we went out to Port Orchard four days in a row (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday--whew!). Kate had a good time playing with Grandma Mary while I worked on the Cupboard Under the Stairs. Most of that time was spent working on this bridge. I was hoping I could just concentrate on painting for a few days and get a lot done, but it's still slow going. There's a lot of exacting work in that bridge, with all the straight lines and the arches that all have to be about the same size.



Getting back to Hogwarts now seems timely, with the fourth movie opening this week. I mentioned to Doug that if we go see it he could wear his Ravenclaw robe. That would be fun. We did go see Serenity in the theater, and left Kate with a babysitter for the first time ever. She did great, so I'm sure we could do it again, but we haven't decided yet.

I've looked at clouds from both sides now

This is the other painting project that I've been working on--clouds for a family out in Gig Harbor. They are expecting a baby girl (any day now), so they are moving their two-year-old boy out of the nursery and into his own airplane-themed room. The clouds were a nice change from some of the more exacting work that I've been doing recently.

The plan was for me to paint some airplanes as well (like WWI era biplanes) but because of the set painting for the play, and various people getting sick at inconvenient times, I wasn't able to devote the time to this project that I would have liked. I went out yesterday and finished up the clouds. The plan at this point is that they'll decide whether they do want airplanes or if they'll stick with just the clouds, and they'll get back to me after Christmas. That sounds good. In the meantime I can focus on the Hogwarts mural again, and this drawing for my sister-in-law's uncle, which I still haven't started.



Overall I'm pleased with how it turned out. It was a quick job, anyway. Quick for me. The hardest part was doing some of the clouds on the ceiling. Aside from the fact that painting above your head is tiring work, the undersides of clouds are often pretty featureless, so it was hard to make them interesting but realistic.


This is the ceiling fan that started it all. Isn't it cool?

Painting again...sort of

I haven't been painting for a few weeks, since we were in Ohio and then busy moving. Sylvia has started radiation treatments and has to go to Bremerton every day. We didn't have anyone to watch Kate today, but I went ahead and took her out with me. She's gotten better at amusing herself now, so I thought I might be able to get some work done while she played nearby. That didn't go so well. I'm going to be working on some other projects for a while, and then we'll have to see what we can do for finishing up Hogwarts. Maybe I can get volunteers to go out with me for a day, or something.

A couple of months ago I agreed to do some set painting for a multi-stake musical production at church ("Savior of the World"), thinking that I would be heading the painting committee. Well, turns out I am the painting committee. I'm going to be painting some big plywood arches to look like stone. Fortunately they only have to look like stone from a distance.

I also got a call from some friends of Ross and Cathryn's (owners of the Jerusalem mural), asking if I could paint some clouds and airplanes on their son's bedroom walls. I haven't been out to see the room yet, but should be starting that soon. I'm going to try to keep it really quick and be done in a week or so, and not have it drag on (and on and on and on....) I love clouds. The great thing about clouds is that they're so free-form and non-exacting. The airplanes might require a little more precision.

And on top of that I'm also going to be doing a pencil portrait for my brother's wife's uncle, that has to be done before Christmas. I haven't done any drawing since Kate was born, so I'm not sure how tricky that's going to be.

So, today I went out to Port Orchard, hoping that I would be able to get at least a little painting done, but also to pick up some of my supplies for these other projects. Sylvia had put everything in the closet while I was away. (Having the mural in a closet makes it very handy for storage.) I did what I could today, picked out some paints and brushes to take home with me, and put everything back in the closet. I'm not sure when I'll be back out there.

Here's Kate playing with my hanging spoon. It's a spoon on a string, taped to the wall. Whenever people come to see the mural they always ask, "Why is there a spoon hanging on the wall?" I use it as a plumbline for getting my vertical lines straight. I had a piece of string, and I just needed some kind of weight on the end. The spoon was handy.

(I did a spell-check on this post, and it wanted to change Bremerton to "premarital." Hmmmm....)

Yep, still painting

Went painting twice last week and again yesterday. That's the last I'll be doing for a couple of weeks, since we're going to Ohio and then moving apartments. I was hoping to get that wall all finished (except for the rocks) before we left, but it didn't happen. I spent way too long on those windows.

Yet more painting (and camera stuff!)

We went out painting three times this week. Doug has been a big huge help. I'm getting so close to finishing that wall. I've still got that building on the right with all the windows, and I need to go back and put the bars on some of the other windows. And then there are the rocks below, but I'm planning on doing a real quick job on those. (I hope....) The left-hand wall is maybe 75% done already, so it shouldn't take too much longer.

Sylvia's surgery went well, and they think they got everything. Great news!

I'm getting the Canon 100mm macro lens! I was planning on getting it with the money from the mural, and I would have been happy to wait (I'm good at delayed gratification), but I kept thinking it would be nice to have when we go to Ohio in a couple of weeks. So I talked to my mom and she said she would lend me the money till I get the mural done. The lens has been ordered and should be here this next week. Woo hoo! Thanks Mom!

Still painting, and other stuff

We went painting three times this week. Work continues slowly. This image is stitched together (not very well) from two pictures. What I really need is a wide-angle lens.

Sylvia was diagnosed with breast cancer. Scary. She is tired but optimistic, and she has lots of people praying for her. I'm thinking I should try to get as much painting done as possible while Doug is still available to help out.



Kate is eight months old today! How time flies. She is getting so big. She just recently started putting weight on her legs when we hold her up (she's an odd child--I know most babies love to stand, but she just hasn't been interested), and she's also developed a serious aversion to being laid back in the bathtub. She loves sitting up and playing in the water, but if we try to get her to lie back so we can wash her--hoo boy! Maybe she's decided lying down is for little babies. She's making more and more sounds, and she told off Doug in baby language when he took away the nectarine slice she was sucking on at the ward picnic yesterday.

It looks like we're moving! We've been thinking for a while that we should try to get into a two-bedroom apartment, and I especially wanted one with a washer and dryer. We looked at one earlier this week, put in an application, and everything's looking good. The apartment is currently being rented by a family in our ward at church, so we got to see the place in good detail, and stand in the living room and try to imagine where we'll put everything. It's 1,000 square feet, with two bedrooms, two bathrooms (nice if we have company), a huge closet in the master bedroom, a washer and dryer, and a cute little lawn outside with a picturesque rock wall. (That'll be a great place to take pictures. Oooh.) We're going to Ohio in mid-September, so we'll probably do the moving once we get back. The rent is considerably higher than what we're paying now, but Doug will be teaching four classes this next quarter, instead of his usual three, and that should be enough to make up the difference. We feel fortunate and blessed to have the resources to do this.

I finally finshed reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (I'm reading very slowly these days). On the whole I liked it better than the last one. There sure was a lot of kissing going on. Don't they have any school rules about that sort of thing?

More Painting

This is the bit that I've been working on this week. Doug finished up summer quarter and doesn't have any more classes for about a month, so he's been going painting with me. It's a great help, and Kate enjoys playing with her daddy. We went three times this week, and while I didn't really get a lot of area covered, I got some good fiddly detail done.

The tower on the right seems to be missing something. That's how it looks in the picture, but I think I might add another corner tower bit and make it symmetrical. Shouldn't be too hard.

Painting, again

I went painting three times this week, and I feel like I've gotten a good amount done (I could have gotten more done if I didn't have this tendency to re-work the same spot over and over). I took this picture at the end of the day today. That area is really complicated and I've been wondering how tricky it would be, but I like the way it turned out. I still have to put the bars on the windows.

I have no clue what that thing is that looks like a big blue bowler hat on the roof. But hey, it's in the picture, so I put it in. If anyone has any idea what it might be, let me know!

Doug went out with us today and kept Kate entertained while I worked. I love to hear the sound of Doug laughing at "Who's Line is it Anyway?"

(And I'm happy to report that even though we stayed late and Kate fell asleep in the car, she went back to sleep again fairly quickly after we got home. Hooray!)

Painting progress (and a bee)

Doug went out painting with me today. He doesn't have classes on Friday this quarter, so he gets to play with Kate and watch satellite TV on the big screen, and I (hopefully) get lots of painting done. I've been working on that tower too long. The lighting is a bit tricky but I've almost got it. There are a few more windows that I need to add, too. I haven't been painting this week because Sylvia had company. Next week should be better.

On the way out to Port Orchard, a bumble bee flew in our car window. I felt something tickle my hand and just brushed it off, and then I looked down and there was this bee crawling on me. (!!!) I was glad it was just a bumble bee and not a hornet or something. It was a few minutes before Doug could pull over (during which time it was crawling up my shoulder), and then I coaxed the bee out of the car. Poor thing looked a bit stunned. I've always kind of liked bumble bees, but have never really been forced into close acquaintance with one. (I tried to rescue a honey bee from a swimming pool once and the ungrateful thing stung me--see if I ever do that again!)

We left there at 8:00, and of course Kate fell asleep in the car, so her bedtime schedule got all messed up. We try to avoid that.

The camera

This is what Kate sees when she looks at me. Ha! No, I don't really have this thing stuck to my face all the time, it just seems like it.

The camera is a Canon EOS 20D. Some time last summer I decided that we needed a digital camera (probably soon after finding out I was pregnant), so I started researching. I had almost decided on the Canon G6, and then I ran across a review that convinced me that if I wanted something with a quick response time that would work in low light levels, I really needed a digital SLR. (Doug has a manual film SLR, a Pentax K1000, so I was at least a little familiar with the concept.) Of course that led to more research, and before I knew it I was drooling over lens reviews and reading the forum on dpreview, and bookmarking stunning photo galleries. I got my heart set on the 20D, but had no idea where I would come up with the money.

Then one day I was at a meeting of the Stake Emergency Management Team. (It's a church thing.) Our friend Scott is the president, so he got me to be the secretary. So we were at this meeting, and Ross, one of the counselors, had recently seen the mural that I painted in Scott's apartment, and asked me if I would like to come paint a wall for him. I said I thought I could probably do that. He asked how much I would charge, and I said, "Well, there's this camera that I've been lusting after..."

We arranged that Ross would get me a 20D in exchange for a mural. I started painting around the end of October. I was very pregnant by this point, which made things interesting, but I finished about two weeks before my due date and had the camera in my hands before Kate was born. I've gotten much better at using it now (though I've still got a lot to learn, of course!) so some of those early shots weren't as good as they could have been, but I'm happy to have them.

The trouble with having a camera like this is that it makes you want more. More memory cards, more lenses... (oooh, the lenses...) I only have the 50mm f/1.4 lens right now, but there are a couple more that I've got my eye on. Soon. Hopefully. (If I ever get the Cupboard Under the Stairs finished.)

We took Kate out to see Ross's family a few weeks ago, since they'd never actually met her. It was fun to see the mural again, and of course I took my camera along.



While I was painting we were having car trouble, so I used one of Ross's cars to get back and forth. About halfway through the project he asked if perhaps I would like the car instead of the camera. We tossed the idea around for a while (car, camera, car, camera...) and decided to go with the camera. I was so happy that Doug supported me in that. He knew it was something that was important to me, and he's mentioned several times since then that he's glad we got the camera. And we were able to find another car when we needed one, so everything worked out all right.

Now we have a sweet little baby girl and a great camera to take lots and lots of pictures of her.

The Cupboard Under the Stairs

I'm painting Hogwarts castle in a closet. The closet belongs to my friend Wendy's mother, Sylvia. (Well, it belongs to her husband, too, but it's definitely Sylvia's project.) They built a house out in Port Orchard and designed it with a Cupboard Under the Stairs to be a Harry Potter room for the grandkids. I take Kate out with me, and Sylvia plays with her while I'm working.



Here's the bit I worked on today. You can compare it with the above picture (taken today before I started painting) and see that it doesn't look that much different. That's about the amount of work that I can expect to get done in a day.



I started painting when Kate was about six weeks old. These were taken on February 16. The closet was too small to use an opaque projector, so I did a graphite transfer. I've never had to do it with anything that big before, and it was really a pain, but I made it work. I had to enlarge the photo and print it out on many sheets of paper, which I then taped together and scribbled all over the back with pencil. It took a lot of pencil. I also had to get help taping it up on the wall to trace, because it was so big and awkward.



These were taken March 22. Lots of progress, but so far from finished.

Scott's mural took 135 hours over six weeks. The Jerusalem mural took 140 hours, also over six weeks. I figured this one would probably take longer, with a baby and all, but I was thinking maybe two, three months tops. Nope, still working on it. And I'm not sure how much longer it's going to take.



(April 20)  I think this is my favorite picture so far.

I know it doesn't need to be perfect. It's in a closet, and it's just for the grandkids. But I just can't bring myself to slap some paint on the wall and call it good. There's all this tricky lighting and shading, and the architecture with its straight lines and perspective, and windows that have to be lined up with each other. Hogwarts is complicated. Sylvia loves it, though, and she doesn't seem to mind that it's taking much, much longer than we anticipated.

Doug went out with me today (he doesn't have class on Fridays) and played with Kate while I worked. What a great guy. Kate sure loves her daddy. They have a good time together.

On a lighter note, I have gotten over my need for a complicated banner and settled on something more simple. Perhaps there's hope for me yet.