4″ of unreinforced concrete on top of a wooden floor deck.
So that’s why the ink, presses, paper and my feet were so cold! A 625 sq. ft. cold air plenum.
4 old guys, 6 hours.
Move over youth of today and watch how it’s done…
Rembrandt paint from Royal Talens
Studio Study
View from the new addition into the old (soon to be demolished) printmaking studio. 
This Winter will be warm and dry in the Print studio and we won’t be heating the crawl space for vermin this year. This is a photo of the forming for the heated floor slab which will continue into the rest of the studio.
Last Summer was actually my Summer for Painting but the printing projects at Sharptown Press consumed vast amounts of my time and energy. Now I get to settle into a routine (such as it is) and paint. I’m limiting myself to things I see every day on my track to and from the studio.
I arranged for 2 other master carpenters to show up (Dan Glover and Don Witt – Don is actually an accomplished woodworker as well) and plied them with real Florentine biscotti and some espresso …
…the end result being that we got the roof framed in 7 1/2 hours! You go girls! My son Phil and I were “ground men.” Another friend, Dan Bopp came by late afternoon and BBQ’d marinated shrimp and steak. That, dear friends, is living!
I can’t wait to be have my printing crew in there this winter and have them actually be comfortable.
A B.L.T. inspired treat that I made for some friends that invited us over for dinner. A seasoned crouton topped with a tomato and chopped tomatillo aspic, lettuce, tomato, bacon, seasoned mayo and chopped sea salt and almond chocolate. Regular and vegetarian versions available.
I can’t help myself. I am endeavoring to get more adept at CADD (computer aided drafting and design) and decided that having a specific project in mind would be helpful. I am lucky enough to have access to an amazing collection of antique wood type and the use of a fantastic Clymer and Dixon “Columbia” press. I took some proofs of a nice typeface and will be using the scans of these proofs to make drawings for an as yet unnamed printmaking project. Since I will soon be dismantling the printmaking studio, don’t hold your breath.
My two “Matrix” annuals arrived from Whittington Press in England. (http://www.whittingtonpress.com) I brought them to my friend Sandy Connors’ (http://www.sandyconnorshoneybeepress.com) house and we opened the package. The Matrix annuals are the result of the efforts of Rosalind and John Randle and what must be a slew of assistants. Thumbing through the books gives sense of the amount of design, art and craft that goes into their stunning letterpress work.
I have some landscape paintings in the landscape show at Thompson Giroux Gallery in Chatham. The show closes this weekend. Ellsworth Kelly up next.
http://thompsongirouxgallery.com
I’m not going to freeze my ass off this winter in the printing studio! One last hurrah! ought to do it. I’m scheduled to break ground this weekend on a small addition/weatherization project at the print studio. By this winter I should be standing on a heated floor slab (not the cold-ass cracked concrete one with rats and woodchucks and the occasional skunk under it) cranking out the editions. Another benefit will be some well insulated North walls! Oh yeah!
There will also be some general “fixing up” of exterior trouble spots.
