Sunday, June 11, 2006

How to burn your house down




I have not painted in a couple or four months. My studio is packed with stuff for painting, wax painting, stained glass supplies, paint thinner, and my husbands tools which also have some flamable items, different spray varnishes, glues--- ach du liebe!!
Any way I am in there, music is blasting, the sun is out and all is good and in order! Did I mention saudering irons, turpentine, varnish and a grill for melting wax--
I am on my third painting and I smell something burning: faint at first, my daughter couldn't smell it at all, but then it got stronger and i started feeling the saudering irons and the paint griddle to see if they were hot. Nope. Did I misplace a saudering iron or an encaustic pen-leave something plugged in?? Of course the worktable is in front of the electric outlet and the cabinet which holds sheets of glass in in front of that and all the leftover tiles from the bathroom are in front of that so I begin to move stuff--calling for help from my dd and dh to come and move the flammable liquids and help me move the boxes of tiles and the books and the table. And be quick about it! Panic!!!
But the smell was coming from the other side of the room.
Now if you will direct your attention to the model peonies which are precariously perched on my husbands workbench, you will notice a mirror to the right of the mason jar. This mirror was reflecting enough sun through the window to ignite the wood (which is a piece of a cabinet whose shape I liked, and kept) in the window. This piece was actually on fire.
Now if the house had burned down and they did an investigation, they would undoubtedly blame the flammable materials and/or the heated tools that I use. I doubt any one would blame the mirror.
Well the verdict is that I am going to rearrange my studio and get a fire extingusher in there and secure the chemicals. And the mirrors.
So now I will clean the studio, which I have been wanting to do for quite a while. And I will paint more to make sure nothing burns down.

4 comments:

Sue Seibert said...

Love your painting! Do you suppose we are related...your studio sounds like mine!

Lin said...

EGADS!!!!!! What a scare! But you emerged with a beautiful painting!! Ah, the sacrifices for our art!

Linda T said...

Oh my goodness! Who would have thought a mirror could do that? I'm glad you were home to detect it.

Marilyn said...

Great painting - I laughed out loud when reading about the "burning".