This is my easel. In our family we name our cars, our computers and other inanimate objects that we adore, so her name is Dorothy. If you look a little closer, you will see a palette knife hanging on a string. I like to work in sight size for drawings I want to be extremely accurate on, so this is my plumbline. When I am not working in sight size, I often loop that string on a belt loop or around my wrist so I don't have to look for it to mix paint. You can't see in this picture, but I also have a pair of wooden skewers (usually used for shish kabobs) for measuring and finding angles. I discovered that if I put a recipe box under my clipboard, those small postcards are at just the right height and it stays pretty secure for painting. The box itself is great for holding small stuff like erasers and spare bulldog clips.
This is quite honestly one of my favorite pieces of equipment. This tacklebox will hold a lot of stuff! My nephew put it in a garage sale and I gladly paid the $1.00 for it. Each of those slots will hold 2 - 37ml tubes of paint. If I ever start using lots of colors, I might have to come up with a different set-up, but for what I do now, this is awesome. When I am not on the go, I keep my paintbrushes in jars, but I usually pick my favorite handful and put them in that top long slot. In the bottom you cannot see, but I have a couple rolled up baggies and used plastic bags to hold garbage and whatever else I need. I do not do a lot of outdoor painting, but I have found that I am free to roam any room of my house with my portable set up. In the summer time I love to hang out on my North facing front porch and sketch/draw/paint. This makes it easy to pack a studio in and out.
This is my charcoal box I pulled out of my tackle box. Remember when AOL was sending everyone those unsolicited free CD's once a week? The CD made a nice coffee coaster and the box became my charcoal holder. I taped a strip of sandpaper to the middle to sharpen and create loose charcoal. Any loose charcoal I don't use goes inside and the make up wedges I have inside get nice and coated for toning paper later. I don't know if it means I am smart or cheap. I will let you decide.
My daughters boyfriend recently gave me this beautiful red box for storing things. I believe the original purpose of this box was supposed to be photos or postcards. I have discovered it works great for those 6x6 panels I use for small studies. The lid doesn't fit on it, but it will When all is said and done, I can pack myself into a square corner that is the width of my easel. By keeping my "studio" small, I can move to the south facing back deck, the north facing front porch, the computer room or the living room within minutes. Since my main corner is in the dining room, I have the table at my disposal for spreading out and getting comfortable.
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