Alaskan Artist - Elise Tomlinson
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01/17/2006: "Problems with Panel"


Well, one of the down sides of being very productive and taking time off from exhibiting is that I'm building up a rather large stock-pile of "in progress" paintings. On top of that, I'm painting with panel now, which means I can't just hang them from a thumb tack like I used to do with my wet canvases and I can't lean them against the wall because I have carpeting and two little hairballs names Lemoni and Osiris. So, I am running out of places to put these things while they're drying.

Does anyone else have this problem and if so, what have you done about it? I was thinking of installing some kind of rail along the wall, but since my studio is also my livingroom and the only things I found at the lumber store were horribly ugly and would be a bitch to install.

Any suggestions would be welcome. I think I'm up to about 25 paintings in progress, currently around 10 have seriously wet paint.


Replies: 14 Comments

on Tuesday, January 17th, Dio said

Not that I've given it much thought, but a rack that looks like this magazine rack springs to mind - holding the boards at a diagonal, stacked upwards.

It could be something you knock up youself for a few quid. They would be held at the front only, unlike the one in the picture that has support at the sides also. :)

on Tuesday, January 17th, Elise said

I hadn't thought of a rack, that's a good idea. The problem with the one pictured is that it's not big enough. I work mostly under 24" x 30" (60 x 76 centimeters) but still, I'm sure other sized racks might exist in art supply stores.

One other thing though, I like to be able to see all the work at once when I'm working on a series, so using a rack would make that tougher...still, I'll look into it. Thanks for the suggestion!

on Tuesday, January 17th, robroys@robroys.com">Rob Roys said

I use shleving for mine.

Costco has some very affordable units with wheels. I have gorilla racks. wich you can get extra shelves for and which are very easy to take down and put up.

You could alwys drop some bucks on an open face flat file...

on Tuesday, January 17th, robroys@robroys.com">Rob Roys said

me spell bad

on Tuesday, January 17th, Elise said

I had a friend offer to sell me an open face flat file this past summer, rediculously cheap too, but it was big and would have taken up a lot of room and at the time I was still working with canvas. Maybe they still have it?

I'm not familiar with gorilla racks but I'll pop by Costco and check it out...that might work if the shelving heights are adjustable ... thanks for the suggestion.

on Tuesday, January 17th, Howard said

could you wire them across the back and hang them on a nail? or would that mess up the wall too much?

on Tuesday, January 17th, Elise said

No, that wouldn't mess up the wall too much, but since it's just thin flat panel, how do I afix the wire on the back? I guess I could try duct tape. We Alaskans always have a large supply of duct tape.

on Tuesday, January 17th, Elise said

Oh wait Howard, you just gave me the perfect idea... there are plenty of these adhesive hooks you can stick on the back of foam core to hang things but I'm sure they'd be heavy duty enough to carry the weight of a wood panel and it wouldn't even get in the way when I frame them.

Cool, thanks everyone for pitching in with ideas...the hooks will work great and I can continue to use clear thumb tacks like I used to use for canvas.

Joy!
:laugh:

on Wednesday, January 18th, Howard said

Sorry, I was thinking cradled panel. I have the same problem with some of my work. I've been leaning them against the windows. I've got nice wide window ledges, but now they are blocking most of the windows. I really need to move the work into storage.

on Wednesday, January 18th, Elise said

I suppose those adhesive hooks wouldn't support your pieces with all the clay built up etc...but putting them in storage seems so wrong. Don't you like having things out where you can look at them?

on Wednesday, January 18th, Howard said

I have a lot of stuff out, but I'm running out of room and it's getting very crowded in here. It seems work that's laying around and not hanging properly will sooner or later be broken so storage is a better idea.

on Wednesday, January 18th, Elise said

That makes sense. Rob sent me this link, maybe something like this would work for you?
http://www.crystalizations.com/painting.html

Maybe you could fashion something like it yourself as I can only imagine what they're charging for it. I agree that you don't want to break anything...remember that show where something broke on the way to the gallery...eeks!

on Wednesday, January 18th, Howard said

yes that would be perfect. If only I had room for it.

on Thursday, January 19th, Elise said

Same goes for me. I ran into the girl with the upright drying rack tonight and her boyfriend offered it to me for free! Only problem now is finding space for it. My studio is growing into every nook and crevis of my home.
:cry: