New in 2016

For some reason I am completely excited about the changes I am making in my life and specifically my aRt life, even though it is an insane amount of work that has nothing to do with actual art. I think it is a very good time for me, which is counter-balanced with the tragedy that we have ongoing in our personal world.

While down at my mom's house before the snow storm I met my brother at his storage unit. He has had it since our dad passed 11+ years ago and filled it when he inherited Dad's workshop. It has sat mostly untouched since then. As a tool girl and mixed media artist I see this cache as treasure and I am so excited to get a couple of pieces. My brother gave me half of a set of drawers pictured here.

New-to-me storage drawers

 

And he is also giving me a workbench that our grandfather made. It is legend in our family that these 2 workbenches were made so perfectly that the drawers needed to have holes drilled in the back of them. The drawers were so air tight that they couldn't be pushed in without the drilled holes. I have yet to confirm that this is the case. They have sat so long in variable temperature and humidity they might need to be shaved. I am to get the shorter of the 2 benches. And I am beyond excited.

At one point I made fun of my dad for painting everything poop brown. Matte poop flat brown. He defended it because his architect brother-in-law wanted the inside of the house to reflect all the surrounding pine trees. I could see that, but it almost seemed EVERY SINGLE THING Dad painted was this same blah brown color. Then...he showed us! He painted everything wild colors. The benches now sport a baby blue and rich lilac color. The laundry room floor was sky blue. It was refreshing as I remember it, but still funny after all the brown.

I also found in one of the drawers of my new-to-me workbench a set of metal stamps. They need some love, but my hands will be stamping into metal with our Grandad's tools. 3 generations of tools, and being a woman using them delights me.

Metal stamps that were my dad's dad

 

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