What's underfoot at the new space

The gallery gets a beautiful new tile floor.

Barry and Doug lay out the tile.

The finished floor.

Cool Stuff

Yes, NuSoDu is finally getting the brand new AC installed. This project had a scary start. The building inspector incorrectly identified which unit amongst 10 was ours and we nearly ripped out someone else's compressor. Then the AC at home went out, both of them, so the guys were at our house for two weeks. Now Barry, Doug and Mike will have a real cool place to work!

Prime before the Flood

NuSoDu was all primed and ready for a coat of paint, then an Easter disaster occurred. An overflowing toilet from the unit above wrecked the ceiling in the middle room. At least we hadn't painted it yet. I'm learning a lot about owning a condo, for sure!

A few more "before" photos of NuSoDu

SoDu's new home

Exciting times for me and SoDu Gallery! I bought a commercial condo space for SoDu to move into. The woman who owned it and ran the store is thrilled we are taking it over and has nothing but good wishes for us. She gave me some display stands and an antique telephone. Interestingly enough, we have three armoires in the present gallery that we bought from another shop... but they were originally in this store, so they are going home. When I went to the electric company to turn on the power, the woman said the electricity was last turned on for that store... exactly 15 years ago.
My girlfriends and I spent many happy hours browsing the vintage clothing and curios at Nannie Mixsells. It was a great favorite in Key West for many years and everyone was heartbroken when it closed, so I hope I get the good karma from that place.
I think I will. You know when something is meant to be everything goes smoothly? So far everything has fallen into place just like a dream!

Before photos

Something different

I just finished painting a sink for my new bathroom. My friend and gallery partner Janis Childs helped me with glazes, painting techniques and firing in her big kiln. The sink is filled with fanciful sea creatures of all kinds and will be in my new cat bathroom. The old cat bathroom was a dingy dark cave with litter boxes, washer, dryer and assorted junk. The new cat bathroom will feature paintings of my cats, a glass jellyfish lamp, cabinets to hide the junk and of course, the new sink.
It's good as an artist to occasionally get out of your comfort zone. For me, that means doing something completely different. It's fun do do new things and I have painted on oars, birdhouses, scraps of metal, walls and more for special projects. I did some ceramic teapots, again with Janis' help for a wedding, but this sink was a lot harder than expected. I have a renewed appreciation for all ceramics artists out there.

Art Festivals

February is Art Festival time. Last week I was at the Pigeon Key Art Festival in Marathon. Sales were slower than past years, but you'd have to live in a cave not to know the economy is not what it used to be. Still, I had fun, as I lived in Marathon for 17 years and saw tons of old friends. High school bud Debbie and her son Arthur drove all the way from Boca to see me, what a treat!
I'll be at the Old Island Days Art Festival in Key West on Whitehead Street February 21 and 22. Come by and see some exciting new paintings that aren't even on the website yet.