At last my enforced absence is over. As regular readers will know, my personal life has been somewhat chaotic of late and I've taken some time out to sort a lot of stuff out in the real world and to process stuff in my own head. I'm incredibly grateful of the help I've had from my family during this time. I hadn't realised what a strain thins had become until a lot of the weight had been lifted off me.
One of the more pressing physical issues I had was, with my dad going into a care home, was that I was going to lose my workshop (up until then located in the back of his garage.) The original plan for this eventuality had been to move into a shed, that had been bought for me a year and a half ago by my good friend Shiva, but I was worried that this wasn't going to be big enough so I began searching for alternatives.
As a few promising leads fell through it was increasingly becoming clear that adequate space was either not available or too expensive so the shed became my only option. If it meant some downsizing was in order, then so be it.
With the help of my brother David and nephew Michael (and some favourable weather), we got the shed built and fitted out and, after a brief but exciting adventure with expanding foam I was ready to move my stuff in. Now, I'm pretty good at making good use of small spaces but, with the floor area of the shed being roughly one third of my old workshop, I really did wonder if everything was going to fit.
I needn't have worried. With a few days of moving stuff, and a few more of shifting stuff around, and a few more still of final fineagling and fettling, it's all in! It's amazing what you can fit into 7'x6'...
It's snug but by no means cramped and everything is accessible, with plenty of space for me to work. And it's just at the bottom of the garden, so my penchant for working at odd times of the day are not going to be a problem.
I couldn't be happier but, again, I have to say how grateful I am to my family for helping me get this all set up.
So, here's the new home of Sublime Brushwork, in all it's aluminium glory...
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| She might not look like much, but she's got it where it counts, kid... |
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| Magazines, books and boxes full of miniatures, the cursed hoard of any miniature painter... |
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| The WIP shelves, both my own stuff and commissions I'm working on... |
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| The desk, including homemade computer shelf! (I dun diy..!) |
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| The obligatory workspace shot. The tidiest it will ever be... |
Oh, and one final word of thanks to my wonderfully patient and understanding clients for putting up with my constant delays, particularly over the last few months. While I can't guarantee that I'm going to become Superpainter overnight, I'm really hoping (nay, confident) that my new situation is going to result in me being a better, more reliable and more efficient operator.
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