Sad Angel

This painting was inspired by a cemetery angel that caught my eye while visiting family at the North Arlington Cemetery.

There’s something about cemetery angels, they give me the feeling of peace and hope, like someone is watching over our lost love ones.

It seems wherever I go these days I’m looking for something to paint. I must have painted a thousand paintings in my head, the hard part is getting them onto the canvas.

After a resent visit to the Arlington Cemetery in Washing DC. I reflected on the endless sea of white tomb stones for the service men and women who gave there lives for our country and freedom.

I couldn’t help but feel that the angels are suffering also. And that’s what I’m trying to express in this painting.

I don’t usually paint as expressive, contemporary and I guess sloppy as this, but it felt good getting the emotion onto the canvas.

Still Life Practice

Here is a still life of some old garden tools I rounded up.

Still Life Practice

Here’s an old bottle I found at a flea market with some flowers from the yard. I used a limited palette while painting loose and quickly.

Painting from Life Practice

After building the easel, I started using my old drawing desk as a still life table. I simply added a back to the table with a piece of plywood and threw a table cloth over it.
After setting up my subject, I turn off the light in the room and use a clamp on light with a 100 watt bulb to add strong shadow drama to the subject. I clamp the light to the back of the easel and move it around till I get just the right shadow I’m looking for.

Easel Building, Lighting

I needed more light so I got a few 5.5" clamp lights from Home Depot. I used General Electric 100 watt Halogen bulbs. There suppose to enhance the full color spectrum.

Easel building, anti-skid pads

I also installed 1 inch heavy duty rubber anti-skid pads to better secure the canvas when it is locked into the easel.

Easel building, counter weight system

I added a few more things to the easel that will make it more user friendly. With the shelf being so heavy it was necessary to add a counter balancing system to prevent it from dropping to the ground during adjustment. All that was needed for this job were 6 eye hooks, two 1-1/4 utility rope pulleys, two 1/8 quick links, parachute cord, and 20 lbs of weight.

Easel Building HOMEMADE

Easel Building , Oak

Ok it's just about complete. I sanded the whole easel to a smooth finish and softened all the edges with sandpaper. Then I rubbed the whole thing down with olive oil. I read this on line somewhere and it works great. The oak absorbs the olive oil and when dried leaves an elegant and professional finish.

Building an Easel

Here is a picture of the brass knobs installed.

Easel Project

I got these solid brass knobs from Lowe’s. All the knobs they had were machined for small screws so I looked for a solid type that could easily be drilled and tapped out to support a larger, stronger screw to hold up that big shelf. So to make these knobs work , I first wrapped the knob in a rag so I didn’t scratch the finish, I then locked it into a vise and simply drilled a larger hole and retreaded the new hole with the proper tap. It worked out really well.

Easel Construction

This is a picture of the back of the shelf, the heavy steel plates on the left and right fit into the cut grove in the side of the easel. This will guide the shelf up and down the easel. While the knobs toward the center will draw in angled steel pieces which will act as a brake locking the shelf into position. Considering the heavy weight of the shelf I can see I’m going to need a counter weight system or a marine crank system to make adjusting the shelf and easy task.

Easel How to Build One

I wanted a large work area so I constructed a 49" x 8" adjustable shelf. I cut a hole in the left side for the paint brush canister and drilled the holes for the locking knobs. It was so big that I needed straps and clamps to hold it to the easel for installation.

Building an Easel

The mast was made with three planks cut at 30 degree angles sandwiched together. The two outer pieces are screwed to the easel while the center plank floats in the center. The mast will adjust high to accommodate a very large canvas, much higher then my eight foot ceilings will allow. I drilled a finger hole in the center of the mast to make adjustments easy and I rubbed the angle cuts with candle wax to allow the mast to glide up and down easily.

Easel Building

Here's a shot of the lower front hinge. I added the casters for mobility because this thing is starting to get big and heavy.

Easel design

Here you can see how the lower hinges are holding the back to the bottom.

How to build an easel

There are three sets of door hinges that hold the front, back and bottom together. Here you can see how the top hinge holds the back and the front together.

Behind the easel

Here is a picture of the rear structural support of the easel. It is constructed of two opposing u-shaped frames overlapping with a slot cut through on center. I used a table saw for this but a router may work better. The other ends are fixed together with door hinges. A bolt through the center slot secures the two pieces together while allowing the easel to be tilted backward and forward as needed.

Dewalt screw gun

Here are the different size screws I used for the project and just in case your wondering, yes the Dewalt gun is worth every penny! So go get one!

Building an Easel

I used wood glue and biscuits to hold the structural components together while using a variety of wood screws to attach the mast , hinges, casters and guides.

Building an Easel

After assembling the base of the easel I picked up some stainless steel utensil containers at Bed Bath & Beyond. I’ll use these for paint brush holders.

Oak easel project

I glued the front section together using biscuits to hold it all together. The front section of an easel is similar to a ladder, with only three steps spaced far apart.

How to Easel

Home Depot sells pipe clamp ends, so if you need a longer clamp all you have to do is go buy a longer pipe.

EASEL STEP # 1

I started out by cutting the main structural pieces and the base to size then I glued them together with wood clamps. Home Depot doesn’t sell oak in 2x4's so doubling up on 1x 4's or 2x2's is kind of like making your own 2x4.

Easel Building, an idea

Long time no blog!....Sorry ....vacation then jury duty ..... some times life just gets in the way of art.
With so much going on lately the art room was becoming a messy distraction, so I decided to give the room a make over. I got rid of all the clutter, painted the room then while rearranging things I realized my antique desk just wasn’t cutting it for oil painting any more. So I decided to shop around for an easel.

Well..... after looking at hundreds of easels on line I figured how hard could it be to make one of these things? Its just a bunch of wood right ? I’m a handy guy....I could do it.

So off I went to Home Depot to get some wood.