Week Sixty-seven

Week begining 11th September 2023.

It’s the begining of another important week as we move into the finishing stages of our build. We still have lots to do but the realisation of our vision is coming ever closer.

Jef is up bright and early and is hard at it alreaady at eight. He has largely finished the west vaulted ceiling and the plastering around the mezzanine there and is making a start on the east vaulted ceiling.

It’s a messy business this plastering lark but it is beautiful and we admire the quality of his craft and his attention to detail.

Innes and his colleague Jack are here finishing the last few bits of the first fix electrics in the house such as fitting the housings for the led strips in the hall and cutting out the plasterboard for the plugs and switches where we hadn’t been ready for them on their last visit.

They are also doing more of the first fix in the mega-shed, fitting the trunking and plug points.

Innes who has been in charge of our first fix electrics is heading off to New Zealand next week for some extended travelling. He has been a great asset to us and we have enjoyed working with him. Innes, we thank you for your input and wish you all the best for your new adventure.

While all this is going on we are tackling the areas under the stairs that we have been putting off while we work out how to deal with them. We are having to put in some reinforcing timbers so the plasterboard doesn’t sag in the middle. We are trying to use up as much of the leftover timber as possible so in this case we are using some of the sarking left over from when we put up the trusses. These planks were used to hold the trusses in place as we reinforced them with OSB.

Cristi is hard at work developing her ideas while all this is going on, and at lunchtime she has a surprise for us. Jef gave her a tomato from his garden and suggested she used it in her art but she doesn’t use food in her art so she has made us a beautiful food platter with edible plants that she has found in our garden. These include nasturtium leaves and flowers, dandelion leaves and brambles.

Now that we have had lunch and the reinforcement is fixed in place, we can screwgun the plasterboard under each of the stairs. We aren’t fixing the vertical panels at the back because we still have some work to do making storage under the stairs. We will need access to build the superstructures for the shelves later.

Our last task of the day is to finish boarding the bootroom around the window. We are taking care with our measurements so that we can use a full sheet in the area around the window rather than making it up with off cuts.

That huge pile of plasterboard is now reduced to just one sheet, a few half sheets and some long strips. At one point we thought we were going to have lots left over but Andrew, our guru, got it pretty much spot on when he placed the order.

We have invited Jef and Kirsty to join us for dinner so we are setting up table in the house.

We’ve had a lovely time with loads of good chat over dinner but it is getting a bit cold so we are off to bed now.

______________________________

It’s Tuesday so it’s Pete’s work day and he’s off to the central belt. Jef is hard at work and Molly and Cristi are taking a load of plasterboard off-cuts to the dump and to do a shop in Oban.

Molly and Cristi are back in time for a visit from Molly’s cousin Cat. We have an impromptu gift for her and Martin who both have a big birthday this week.

__________________________________________

Pete is working and so is Jef, and Molly and Cristi are going to go and visit the local artist, Fiona MacRae.

Fiona and Cristi hit it off and are finding lots to talk about. Fiona is passionate about collecting things she finds washed up on the shores around the Scottish isles and her home in Argyll and is keen to share some stories.

These seed pods float across the Atlantic fom South America on the Gulf Stream. Fiona says that they have been collected for centuries and were often crafted into little boxes as can be seen above. They are considered good luck and folklore says that being in possession of one can save you from drowning. Fiona gifts one of the seeds to Cristi who will take it back to South America with her. A lovely connection between two artists and two lands separated by the vast Atlantic.

Molly and Cristi are back and Pete has finished work for the day. Jef is making us dinner tonight, a perfect end to another exciting day here at Gar Bothan.

We are so happy about Gar Bothan having a history of sociability before it is even finished. We had our first meal on the foundation slab before there were even walls and then later with Pete’s mum, Ursula and Wendy when the trusses were open to the sky and of course all the other meals with our family and friends that have happened in Gar Bothan since then.

____________________________

It’s seven in the morning on Thursday and we are heading to Edinburgh for Pete’s training and Molly has a dental appointment. We are joined for the journey by Pete’s colleague Ali who is a great storyteller and will keep us entertained on the journey.

Cristi is getting on developing and creating her work while we are away. She mostly focuses her practice on working with vegetation and in particular plants that people don’t love. In this case Pete had mentioned how he disliked the dock leaves that seem to be taking over the garden and the reeds that grow everywhere around here so she is using them as some of the materials to create her work.

Jef is busy finishing off the vaulted ceiling above the east mezzanine and will be gone by the time we get back.

We are back and it’s already seven-thirty but luckily for us Cristi has prepared dinner so we are settling down to a hearty meal and a catch-up on the day’s events.

______________________________

It’s Friday again already and Pete can help with the build. While Cristi gets on creating we are working on the reveals around the windows and doors.

We are expecting visitors later so we need to get on with it. It’s all about measuring and cutting and making sure things are nice and square and level, ready for Jef to do his magic.

Carolyn has brought her mum, Carol, for a visit so she can see what we’ve been up to and so Carolyn can share some of what she has learned when she has been working with us on the build.

We have a delicious lunch of rice salad and noodle salad finished off with some cakes that Carolyn has brought from Portobello.

We’re just about to have our coffee and cake and Damiana has arrived to join us on her way home to Edinburgh from Lewis.

It’s so nice to have family and friends visit and it gives us a good excuse to take a break from working.

______________________________

We have had a slow start to the day but are now ready to do some work. We have invited some of our family, new friends and neighbours to our ‘Meet the Artist’ event so Cristi is busy getting set up and we are going to tackle a tricky bit of our design.

In our bedroom, under the stair, we are going to fit some drawers from our old sideboard in Portobello, into the wall. We have had many attempts at working out how to do this and have co-opted Ross into the problem solving. Based on this prep work we are giving it a go because the time is now and we can’t put it off any longer.

We’ve made good progress on building the superstructure for the drawers but we have to stop now and start tidying up because our guests are due soon.

Cristi is all set up so she is going with Pete for a quick dip in the river because it’s a lovely sunny day.

The ‘Meet the Artist’ event is in full swing and we have a good turn-out. People are unexpectedly bringing home baking, apples and a bottle of bubbly.

They are all very interested in Cristi’s work and she is enjoying sharing her thoughts and ideas with them.

We are also getting a lot of interest in how the build is going and also lots of encouragement.

Everyone has gone now but they all seem to have enjoyed their visit and we have enjoyed it too. Cristi is happy with the response to her work and the interesting conversations she has been able to have with the locals.

We are settling down to some porcini mushroom risotto and wine and we plan to get an early night because we have another adventure tomorrow.

______________________________

It’s Sunday morning and we are heading to Oban to catch the ferry to Mull. We are taking Cristi to an exhibition at An Tobar called Quavering Tongues, where, hopefully, she can meet the Dutch artists from KNOCKvologan Studio, Miek Zwamborn and Rutger Emmelkamp.

We then have to go to another gallery to deliver some of Fiona MacRae’s paintings at Calgary and finally onto the Tin Shed Gallery at Larach Mhor, south of Calgary.

The ferry crossing is nice because the sea is calm even though it’s raining. It doesn’t take long, about 45 minutes, to cross the water and we are now heading for Tobermory.

Unfortunately, when we were at the ferry terminal the driver’s window came down but wouldn’t go up again and Pete is having to drive with the window wide open and the rain is coming in. We’ve got the heating on full blast to keep us warm but it isn’t too comfortable driving through the rain like this. Pete keeps trying to close the window as he drives us but it is still open and we are at Tobermory.

We’ve left the car window open in the car park and are looking in the shops for a solution.

We’re heading back to the car now with a rain poncho and a roll of sellotape, not feeling too optimistic that this will do the trick. We’re approaching the car and Molly says that she thinks the window will close when we get to the car and try it again. Wow! Molly is spot on and the window closes almost first time. Happy days!

We are in the An Tobar Gallery and Cristi is deep in conversation with KNOCKvologan Studio‘s Rutger. He is very friendly and interested in Cristi’s work and talking about their work but he’s also interested in our house build and telling us about the ‘Artist in Residence’ opportunities they offer. He also tells us about the ancient woodland near where they live and the beautiful beach so we are keen to go and visit them sometime next year. We seem to have quite a lot in common and it’s nice for us to extend our network of people in the west of Scotland.

We are heading to Calgary now to deliver Fiona’s paintings, comfortable in our cosy car with the closed windows!

The Calgary Art Gallery has a sculpture park in the woods and even though it’s raining pretty heavily we are enjoying walking round and finding some interesting artworks in the beautiful woods.

We got a right soaking but we are warm and dry in the car heading for The Tin Shed Gallery at Larach Mhor on the west of the island. It’s been a long but beautiful drive and we have found the diminutive gallery with Fiona MacCrae’s exhibition, Found, and Charlotte Mellis’s exhibition of ceramic sculptures of tin sheds.

It’s a beautiful little gallery with wonderful natural light illuminating the work, we’ve come a long way but it’s certainly worth it.

We are back in Tobermory for a bite to eat and will be heading for the ferry back to the mainland soon. We’ve had a really interesting last full day with Cristi here on the beautiful Isle of Mull, before she leaves for Sweden on the last leg of her European art odyssey.