JOSHUA ELEK: WATERCOLORS

Where’d you go?

I know, the four people who check this thing wasn’t to know why I haven’t posted a painting in a while.

Well, a few weeks ago, our bathroom started raining into the basement whenever someone took a shower, so I had to rip it down to the studs.

Working full time, and remodeling in the evenings leaves little time for painting. I have had a few evenings where I had time, but decided to use this as an opportunity to take a little hiatus. I was starting to feel very burned out earlier, and I wasn’t able to get anything close to the results I’m after, which was demoralizing.

At the same time, my depression has deepened, which makes it hard to get up, let alone work full time, and fix a bathroom. Thankfully, my wife is ok with the bathroom taking FOREVER, so I’m not rushing. I’ll be back to the water colors soon.

In the meantime, here’s that bathroom…

Free help!
Walls are out.
We ripped out the floor, then I put down roofing felt for an isolation membrane and vapor barrier.
We used Hardibacker cement board over the roofing felt and used non-alkaline screws to fasten it down. I used thinset on the seams, but not over the screws. I don’t want to create a waterproof barrier between the cement board and the subfloor because I’ll be waterproofing on top of the cement board.
The old shower needed to go, so I had to measure carefully to make sure the new hardware would fit in the gaps I have (see how close the hot water is to that stud?)
New plumbing and hardware. I used shark bite fittings so I wouldn’t have to sweat copper, and wait for the pipes to dry etc… this also allowed me to put all the plumbing together without disassembling the mixer valve. I later had to shift the mixing valve the straighten out the plumbing.
Cement board over the walls, thinset on the seams and all screws. I do want a waterproof barrier here.
This electric box was nuts. And it was a new work box, so it wasn’t attached to any studs.
That’s better.
I couldn’t find my hole saw for a while… Rachel said “are you sure it’s not in the wall?”
Derp.
Green board hung on all the walls outside of the tub surround.
Ceiling is painted
First coat of Redgard waterproofing and crack isolation membrane.
Second coat.
Walls are primed.

That’s where I’m at today… I really want to paint some watercolor, but now I’m holding back. I don’t want to paint again until I’m done with the bathroom – I’m forcing myself to take a break. I was feeling burned out earlier, and this break is making me want to get back to it. I think if I keep holding off, my passion will steadily ratchet up.

That, or I’m just being lazy.

Oh! I also built a Plein air easel. I’ll write about it later, I still have a bit of work to do. Basically, I liked my old one, but I wanted a left-handed set up. At first I was just going to switch the French easel on the top… but that turned into this…

The flat top slides between the bottom and some aluminum bars. The painting supplies fit in the box, and I made room for a bunch of 1/4 sheets in the box as well – that way I can have everything in one place.

I added a brass bar to the back of the desk top, and the bar is attached to the easel arms. That way, I can tilt the top like that while painting. This will help me control the water because I plan on taping directly to the easel top instead of using a separate board. Oh, and the little wood thing on the right side is a slide with some holes to hold brushes.

Joshua

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