Out with the Old Easels, In with a New System

When I lived in Phoenix, I had a small studio. Jim built me a wall easel, an ingenious device which allowed me to paint large without taking up much space. The wall system was designed so that the spacing could be adjusted to allow for different sized paintings.

When we moved to Ajo, the wall system no longer worked, because of the very high ceilings in our apartment. Since we were renters, we couldn't do damage to the walls. I ended up buying an easel. It was okay, but took up a lot of space, and was never as stable as I would have liked, being as I get pretty aggressive with canvas/panels as I paint.

Now that I have a good sized studio of my own, and messing up walls isn't an issue, I asked Jim if he would reconstruct my beloved Phoenix system. Well, he did and then some!


Here's Jim, making sure the holes are drilled in the right places. Off holes mean crooked paintings. Can't have that or else it would drive me crazy.


Here are the painting holder thingies. They're made of dowel with ladder hooks screwed into them. The dowels fit into the holes. There are four, because the new system has four vertical boards so that I can work on two paintings at a time.


The horizontal board at floor level is actually kind of a runner. There's a groove behind it for the vertical boards to go into. Holes are drilled every 6 inches. The vertical board is placed into position and secured with a short dowel.


Here's Jim, putting the top railing up. A flat board goes over the front of this (see bottom photo). The verticals sit between the groove and the front board. Some very clever items allow the vertical boards to slide in the grooves to the position I want them in. There are casters (little wheels) on the bottom of each vertical board. On the top are gliders. I slide the boards along, get them into position and secure them with dowels. I adjust the painting holder thingies to the right height. And I'm in business!


Here are two paintings in progress, all set up on the new system. If you look at the lower bar, you can see that I have plenty of room to increase the width. I can paint huge. I'm getting ready to stretch a 48" x 60" canvas. The first time I've been able to paint this large in a long time. And I could go even bigger. If you look closely, you can see the painting holders hooked around the bottom of the paintings.


And here I am, ready to get to work. This new system is way better than any easel. It's sturdy. It's adjustable. It doesn't take up floor space.

Thank you, Jim. My hero!

Something Stinks, or There's a Foul Odor in My New Studio

So here it is. My new studio. I'm partially moved in, and have 2 paintings I'm ready to dive into. The one on the left is almost done. The one on the right has just barely been started.

Two things are stopping me from getting to work. Well, maybe three. Actually, maybe four.

Excuse #1
In the foreground, you see buckets of paint. I'm deep into painting walls and floors in our new home. I keep thinking, I'll just do one more project. That one leads to another. The domino effect.

Excuse #2
My son Mat is coming home from college tomorrow. I'm very excited. Since we're brand new to the area and have been deep into house renovation, we really haven't explored Oracle, much less the surrounding area. There are all kinds of possibilities out there, and I'd love to spend time with Mat and his Dad checking things out.

Excuse #3
The Odor. Several weeks ago, it came to my attention that something was living in the wall and ceiling of my studio bathroom. I could hear activity–scuttling about with scritchy-scratchy little feet. Upon examination, I discovered numerous fecal offerings. Too large for a mouse.

We got a trap. The nice kind, kind. You trap the critter and take it far away and let it go. Our friend tripped the trap, got the food and got away. While Jim was on the ladder retrieving the empty trap, he looked down, and guess what was at the foot of the ladder? Yes, our friend the pack rat. Jim captured him (her) and took it on a ride out to some open land, where he let it go.

End of story?

Well, I haven't heard any noises. But I thought I was beginning to detect a bit of an odor in the studio. Every day it's gotten a little worse. This morning when I opened the door, I was bowled over by the smell. It literally made my eyes water. Even with the doors and windows open, the smell prevails.

Now what to do? Do I have dead baby Pack Rats in my wall? An unexpected dilemma.

Is this just an excuse? Maybe. Perhaps I should acquire some sort of gas mask to wear while working in my brand new studio. Or tear out the wall and see what's inside. A kind of CSI for the art studio.

Excuse #4

This is the real reason. Whenever I have a period of time when I'm not working, it's really difficult to get back into it. When I paint on a daily basis, I'm happy. I'm fulfilled. When I'm not working regularly, I get nasty. But somehow, it's devilishly hard to get started again. It doesn't make sense, but, there it is.