Fast forward several months on Laughing Crow progress

When the decision was made to turn the tool shed into a studio I decided to have the ceiling raised to give it a feeling of more space. Since it also housed the water storage tank for a well on the property this entailed moving pipes that were up there. After a minor deconstruction hiccup and lots of water, repeat lots of water, flooding into the little space, quite a bit more sheetrock work than I expected ensued. But in the end I feel like it was worth the effort.

In marches one of the coldest winters on record for the Houston area in 20 years. Paint does not dry very well under these conditions, so slow going on the walls and even slower for the floors since the concrete needed to be at least 50 degrees or so to accept paint.

Debbie is having her share of set backs and delays with the weather as well for the workshop facility. She also discovered some drainage issues after a few heavy rains.  My initial goal was to be moved in by the end of February so I could get back to painting things that weren't on sheetrock. Then it was March.....then April.....hey I made the April goal!!

Victor, Debbie's all round construction guy put the stained glass in, it added a third source of light and made a huge difference. I cut a stencil with crows and a leaf motif and used it on four closet doors to make a folding screen that covers the holding tank for the well. Added a stencil to the ceiling too, so that it brings the eye up when you step through those pretty garden doors. I went to a lot of trouble to get the ceiling raised, might as well flaunt it I thought.

In the mean time Debbie is moving at the speed of light getting The Purple Elephant Gallery stocked and The Iron Butterfly Studio ready for classes and workshops and the clean up station plumbed and a ton of other things done for the May 1st grand opening. This is the fabulous clean up station.

And here's the front of Laughing Crow just a couple weeks before opening day.

I still have to put the plants in the pots, but I finished painting the sign and got it hung, the veranda is wonderful and the cleaning station is just to the right of the door.

A few more pics of everything all fluffed and puffed for opening day:

The grand opening was yesterday, May 1st and I was one of the featured artists in the main gallery. It was a wonderful day, the weather was perfect and there was a huge turn out.

One last image of a painting I finished literally just before the opening. I titled it Moonlight Bath.