Tray for tubes of paint

Trays for tubes of paint

This tray and one other replaces a keyboard tray that I have been using for almost two years. I was having trouble in a "loose" tube arrangement with all of the tubes of a color sort of piled up in an open area of the keyboard tray.

Melissa (my wife) and I were browsing through an "antique" store and I saw a tray that printer used to store their letters (upper case and lower case?). The store wanted over $100.00 and wouldn't lower their price AT ALL!

So, when I thought about the idea for a while I decided to make my own. The photo is my second tray - better than the first. Isn't that the way?  Anyhow, the tray is approximately 29 inches wide and approximately 15 inches deep. It has three dividers 5 inches apart across the width and 14 dividers front to back.that are 1 5/8 inches apart. Except for the left-most "bay" which is about two inches wide.

The side rails are 20 inches so that the tray doesn't come out (if I'm careful) but will support the tray when it's extended as you see it in the photo.

Why I need to have a clean the @#$%^& studio day/week/month

These images of the interior of my @#$%^& studio is why I need to do a clean-up time - whatever it takes.

My paintings are stacked, leaning, lying and some even hung on walls! No kidding, on walls!

In self defense, I AM getting ready for (hopefully) two art shows - one is certain while the other show is juried. There's the nail biter!

I also have "promised" that I'd make two of my paintings available to the Arkansas Lt Governor's office but I need to deliver them to Little Rock, AR which (according to Google) is about 4 hours or a little over 200 miles one way. An ALL DAY drive?

AND I'm going to submit a painting to a benefit auction in Hot Springs, AR. Which (according to Google) is about 4 hours and a little over 200 miles one way.  Sound familiar?

BUT if we make it an over-nighter stopping in Little Rock, hob nob with the Lt Governor a while, then go to Hot Springs.the next day it's doable.  IF ONLY I can get the other parites' calendars to agree with mine.

These are freshly varnished (GAMVAR - really good stuff) and are very likely going into the art show.










This is simplay - THE MESS! ahhhhhhh!

My "NEW" Porch seat

We had an old futon that we bought when we moved here and before we bought our "real" bed. One day about two years ago, the dogs thought that the futon matress was tasty and carried it out to the yard and destroyed it.

I took the frame apart as far as it would disassemble and "stored" the pieces in and around my studio. Yesterday was the beginning of "clean this @#$%^ studio up" week/day/month and I took out my ever faithful screw driver drill bit, some sheet-rock screws, my power saw an built this, this, uh, ummmm SEAT!.  It doesn't look like very much, but it IS comfortable AND it was (relatively) inexpensive!

Not that I'd say such a thing but it fits the stereotype Arkansas porch theme. All I need is one o them jugs o squeezins! (As IF THAT could happen)

Making the canvas for our 36"x36" Cherry Blossom painting

I'm making the canvas for our 36"x36+ Cherry Blossom painting.  Yesterday I applied two coats of hot - not boiling -  Rabbit Skin Glue from Gamblin (other companies sell it also) to the bare canvas to seal it and to shrink the cotton fabric.

Here I have begun applying the first coat of tinted Gesso. It's tinted with several colors of acrylic paint (whatever I had at the time) so that I can easily see what's covered and what isn't. This Gesso is white in the bucket. I'll probably apply four coats of Gesso lightly sanding between each coat.

The roller is a "cabinet roller" made of foam rubber available in most stores that sell paint.  It is about 6 inches across and 1 inch in diameter.  The rollers last a long time if I give it a thorough washing. After MANY uses the rollers will start coming apart

Showing the (gallon) bucket of Gesso, the paint roller and the 2 inch bristle brush. I usually don't apply the Gesso out of the bucket because it tends to dry and form clumps. But this bucket is virtually empty with JUST enough left to give this canvas one good coat. The Gesso is also thin for the first coat. Each successive coat of Gesso is thicker.

Another view of the canvas and my studio work bench.  Finished paintings behind and "good stuff" beneath.

I apply Gesso to the sides of the canvas and to the back side (bottom?)  The 11x14 study of this painting is behind the canvas.

This is the little heater I use to blow warm air on the canvas to help dry the Gesso.  It's on the lowest heat setting. It's raining and cool = humid and without this "boost" the Gesso takes a very long time (overnight) to dry enough for a light sanding and the next coat of Gesso. The next coat of Gesso will be tinted a different color - easier to see and correct the areas that I have missed or didn't cover well.

Making a 36" x 36" Canvas with home-made stretchers

I'm preparing a canvas to paint a picture for my daughter of Cherry trees in full bloom. I ripped a 2x4 length wise at an angle. The angle was set at whatever angle would split the 2x4 in half lengthwise.  No precision here!  Don't need no stinkin' rulers!  :-)

The  bottom dimension is 1 1/2 inches (the thickness of the 2x4). 

The left vertical dimension is (approx.) 1 3/4 inches

The right vertical dimension is (approx.) 7/8 inch

The "lip" at the top is MAYBE 1/8 inch - the width of my table saw blade kerf.

I used corner clamps to hold the corners square while I put two (2) three (3) inch screws in each side of each corner. Sorry I didn't think of making photos until I had the canvas stapled to the stretchers. My bad!

I have wrapped the canvas over the stretchers and stapled on the inside surface of the stretchers. Gallery wrapped?

My Boxer, Simon, inspecting my progress. Being a dog of the male persuasion I had a fleeting concern that he might want to "mark" it. But he's a really smart guy and only sniffed it really well!

Casey (our other boxer) and Bella (our miniature schnauzer) were NOT interested at all!

The canvas in my studio. The first "study" painting (11x14) is behind the top middle of the top edge of the canvas.

Wow, it's COLD-ER!

NW Arkansas is having the coldest temperatures (we're told) in 20 years! This morning the temperature was 6F - -14C - ("feels like" -13F) with a thin coat of ice on everything and anything horizontal. Last night we had a dusting of snow/sleet which has frozen on the ground. Just enough that we really can not go anywhere on a smooth surface. We can walk OK, if we stay in the areas that have grass beneath the snow/ice. With the wind blowing the wind-chill is below zero fahrenheit.

It's supposed to be COLDER this weekend! I need to train our dogs to pull a sled - if only I had a sled for them to pull.

A few pictures of the icing:

Our front sidewalk, our driveway and the street. The gray sidewalk in the lower right is "clear" and dry. The rest of the paved areas is ice-covered.

Our street. Notice the reflection of the stop sign in the icy street. That's "black ice" and not black top.

Our backyard deck covered with a film of ice/snow. I can't get to my studio - yet. I'm hoping that the sun will melt the ice enough. But I don't think that will happen anytime soon with the temperature being 10F.

Melissa, our dogs and I are warm and comfy in our house. Melissa & I are coming down with a BAD case of cabin fever, but I guess we'll play Monopoly or something. Daytime TV doesn't interest either of us - unless MAYBE there's a good movie on one of the cable movie channels. I can wish in one hand and c**p in the other and see which hand is filled first!  :-)

Home-made painting supports

I had to use Google for the proper term for painting panel, painting canvas and etc. I found this definition at http://www.goldenpaints.com/technicaldata/prepsupp.php "The term "support" refers to any material onto which paint is applied. Canvas, wood, and paper are common painting supports, but the types of supports used for artwork are very extensive". . . . .

So, OK, I make my own supports and have for as long as I've been painting. Oh, I do buy the prepared supports but there is only one (1) source within thrty miles of where I live.  The prepared supports (in my opinion are overpriced for the poor quality) PLUS, I enjoy the diversion of doing it myself.  Most of the time I just cut Masonite into the size of support(s) that I want. Then I tried gluing fabric to the Masonite. Just gluing the fabric to the raw support doesn't work well because the fabric shrinks and leaves funky edges. I have glued fabric to plywood, but GOOD plywood is much more expensive than Masonite. I'm a really CHEAP so-and-so. Ask my daughters! :-)

This is how I do it now. I will probably make changes to this process to improve the "product" - or make it easier. I wear disposable vinyl gloves whenever I use Rabbit Skin Glue, apply Gesso to my supports and/or I paint my home-made picture frames.

• With my power table saw I cut square strips from the pine lumber. (The same pine lumber that I use to make my picture frames)
  
• I cut my masonite about an eighth of an inch larger than necessary - a 16x20 finished support will be cut to about 16 1/8 x 20 1/8.  If I'm feeling good, I cut it to the correct size.
  
• I cut wood pieces to make a frame upon which I nail and glue the masonite.  After all is dry, I sand all of the edges of the new panel - top and edges.
• I use my table saw again to trim the support to the accurate measurements - as accurate as I get.  Sometimes my accuracy is only in my mind.
• I cut cotton duck canvas (from the fabric store) about 2 - 3 inches larger than the Masonite panel support.  
• I stretch (with my fingers) and staple the canvas to the  back edges of the wood frame. 
• I use RABBIT SKIN GLUE (RSG) to glue the canvas to the panel top and sides.. The RSG shrinks the cotton duck canvas very tight. (I think any warm wet will shrink the cotton.) You can google "make your own supports" and see that many types of glue are used.  For whatever reasons (unknown to me) I like to use RSG.
• When the RSG is dry I sand all of the surfaces and give the support one more coat of RSG.
• When this is dry I give it another light sanding just to knock off any bumps.
  
• I paint the support with three (3) coats of gesso, lightly sanding between coats.  I like to tint my gesso - white supports inhibit me for some reason.
  

A finished support showing the back. The canvas is stapled on the back and the staples do not show if you paint the edges. The back edges have been trimmed flush to the wood frame with a razor knife.

One of the drawbacks that I haven't resolved. The canvas "curls" away from the wood frame. Maybe more staples?  Does it matter?   I don't know.

The staples are barely visible under the tinted (gray) gesso.

The finished support with three (3) coats of tinted acrylic gesso, sanded between coats.

Table Easels

I use some of the scrap from my home-made picture frames to make table easels.  They aren't much to look at, but they work!  They're about 30 inches tall and about 9 inches wide.  I glue and nail them together but I (usually) don't paint them. I modeled my plain-jane table easels after a "store bought" fancy table easel. We bought the "fancy" table easel at the thrift store for $3.00, woo hoo!

An empty table easel with some in the background holding "wet" paintings

The back side of the table ease. There is a piece of wire from the front painting support to the back leg. This keeps the back leg from opening too far.

The "hinge" for the back leg. This is the weakest part of these little easels. I made the hinge from scrap framing molding and the little brackets break easily when the back leg is not handled gently.

 

I made a couple dozen for our Art Guild show so that people could put smaller paintings on table tops.

Picture Frames

I make most of my own picture frames from pine boards bought at the "lumber yard".  I buy pine 1 inch by 8 inch by 8 foot boards (with the least number of large knots) and rip (with my table saw) them into strips. (I buy 8 foot boards because they fit into the back of our Subaru Outback car.) Then I make two cuts in the strips leaving the picture frame "molding".  I make two size "moldings" - i call them "deep" and "shallow".  The deep frames hold stretched canvas or my canvas/masonite panels. The shallow frames are for the smaller (16x20 and smaller) Masointe paintings.

I make each frame to fit a particular painting - sometimes my paintings aren't quite the "correct" measurement.I glue and with the mitered corners held in frame-corner clamps, nail the mitered corners then use wood putty to fill any nail-holes or nicks in the wood. Then I give the frame one coat of latex satin paint - usually black.  I give the frame another sanding in (about) 24 hours, when the first coat of paint is dry and another coat of paint.  Another sanding then another coat of paint and the frame is ready for the painting.  And I DO wear disposable latex gloves when I paint my frames!


I usually make a dozen or more frames when I make frames - sort of an assembly line process. cut the frames wood strips, measure and miter the frame sides, assemble the four sides of the frames, then sand and paint.

I have a Bostitch air powered "brad nailer" that was a present from Melissa. The same compressor powered the framing nailer we used to assemble the studio.  Very handy tool!

Shallow molding on top, with the deep molding on the bottom.

The front side of a deep frame assembled and painted satin black. The line in the corner is a reflection and isn't that obvious without a flash from the camera.

The back side of the deep frame pictured above. Most of the time I don't paint the "inside" or back of the frame.

My studio - no particular dates

Earlier this year my hard-drive "crashed" and I learned that my regularly scheduled file backup system was irregular (to be kind) and some photos weren't backed up (saved).  Then this month photos from my first blog (Avocaken) vanished into internet la-la land.  So, to have photos of my studio, I went out the other day and took photos of the stuff that I had blogged about in my other blog.  I"m including pictures of the stuff that I THINK folks might find interesting and/or useful.

I'm using the "new" Blogger editor and I'm not accustomed to how it works. So the photos will happen more or less where the editor wants them to be.

The stained glass window is one of two that Melissa bought for me. They're on the south wall.

The pegboard panels of paintings are how I display some of my "small" paintings. The panels turn like pages in a book with paintings hung on both sides of the pegboard. The panels are hinged on wooden pins held in place by holes in the overhead shelf and in the floor mounts. Presently I have four (4)  2ft x 6ft panels with room for several  more panels when I need them. (NOW?)  :-)

The "rug" is one of two faux rugs we painted on the bare floor. The white thing on the faux rug is my little space heater.

Before The Beginning - May 2008

This is our back yard with Simon, our "small" (60 lbs) Boxer busy doing dog things. The studio will go in the back left corner, straight back from the hanging basket. The house is newly built (2008) and the ground near where Simon is standing is either very rocky and firm soil or the ground is very soft and muddy soil. As a rule of thumb, the grass grows on the firm (relatively dry) soil.

This view is from the North facing South.

My Art Studio - a new blog for Ken Barclay (Avocaken)

In 2008 Melissa and I began to build my art studio, something I thought would never happen.

The posts in this blog "document" the progress of our efforts as my studio matures. I'll keep my first blog (Avocaken) to display the art that I create.  Newer postings to this blog will attempt to show how I do the things that enable me to create my art. The studio building is 16 feet wide and 20 feet long with a 4 foot by 8 foot "front porch" in the Northeast corner. The "front" (North) side of the building is almost at ground level while the back (South) side is about 20 inches off the ground. DUH! The lot slopes!  :-) DUH????

Hopefully the readers of the blog posts will take time to comment to let me know how I'm doing!

Thanks,

Ken B.