Woodshop, Tinting Panels, Small Easel Adapter
Woodshop, Tinting Panels, Small Easel Adapter
Super hectic time of the year. Fall arrived early this year so I have been busy with the fall, plein air, oil painting as well as making new cradled panels and a small easel adapter. The new, small, cradled panels are to create new oil paintings suitable for Christmas gift giving. I also have a new commission painting project that needs to be done by Christmas so I have been working on that as well. Not to mention cutting back large, flowering shrubs that were/are encroaching on the garden and my deer fence. Whew! Not enough hours in the day. Who else feels that way? So, I am a bit behind in the blogging.
Recent projects
Here are some quick snapshots of what I have been working on in the woodshop, prepping panels, and making some adaptions to my small easel that fits on my main easel. Updates on new paintings will come soon!
Sanding
The grain trough makes a good support for the 8′ long piece during the sanding process.
Gluing
A couple stacks of panels with the cradle already glued on.
Cutting with the miter saw
I think I need a new saw blade. One that is thinner and sharper. This blade causes a lot of splintering on the cut wood that needs to be sanded. I bought this miter saw used at the Brown County Humane Society Barn Sale in August. While it works great, a new blade would be a great improvement.
The woven wire fencing on the grain room is a great support for the long end of the 8′ wood. The tape measure hanging down from the woven wire is used to measure a horse’s girth and height.
Tape on the miter saw is used to mark the length I want to cut the pieces for 6″ x 8″ and 5″ x 7″ panels. But I think I need to replace it was masking tape with a sharper edge.
Gessoing and Tinting
When prepping new panels, I seal the front with GAC100 and then apply two coats of gesso on the front, back, and sides to completely seal the panel. Then I tint it with a Cadmium Red Medium acrylic paint.
Adapting the Small Panel Easel Holder
A couple years, ago I made a small panel easel holder that could be used on my regular floor easel so I could paint small paintings while standing up. I much prefer to paint while standing. Energy flows much better and I can stand back to see how a painting is coming along. Sitting really crimps me and the flow of the painting.
The only thing is, the easel was made for using with flat 1/8″ panels. And it has worked beautifully!
But it didn’t work so well with the cradled panels. The easel didn’t provide enough support for the wider box. I painted a couple smalls on it and, except for one fall, it did okay. But there is that unease that the painting could fall out anytime and ruin the painting.
You can see how precarious the painting rests on the narrow support.
Small Easel Adapter
I wanted to keep the narrow strips for times when I am working on uncradled panels so I set about to make a new support.
First, I cut four 20″ wide strips of hardboard and drilled holes through all four. Then I painted them white because I was using an old panel that was pink so I wanted a neutral color. Two pieces of the 1×2 cradle wood were cut 16″ long and painted white, too.
Then I glued the 1×2 support pieces to the very edge of the hardboard. I used the same wood that I used for the cradles so that the face of the painting is flush with the supports and there is no “stop” to interfere with the motion when applying paint.
Then all layers, including a small spacer in the middle of the sandwich, were screwed together.
Turned out perfectly!
Here is the small panel adapter on the floor easel. I can go back to painting the small panels, standing up, with all confidence it will not fall on it’s face on the floor.
New paintings coming soon!
That’s it for today! Stay tuned for new paintings, both plein airs and smalls. The new paintings will be released for purchase in time for Christmas!
I love you!
Happy trails,
Charlene
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