New Year, New Easel, New Drafting table, New Subjects ~ Raring to go!

For twenty-five years I’ve had the same old metal easel. It has served me well. It was very functional until the adjustment knobs stripped a couple of years ago. I’ve been using woodworking clamps to adjust the height of the easel. My drafting table wore-out at just about the same time as the easel. Again, I jimmy-rigged the drafting table with woodworking clamps to hold the tabletop in place.

I’ve been very practical over the years. A fold up card table is always next to my drafting table to accommodate my palette and brushes. It’s awfully cheesy looking and might be the next thing to go. My computer sits on a rolling little workstation, the white kind that you put together by following poor directions. My TV is so small it’s more of a noise box than a TV. I have a music corner that needs a major upgrade.

This, combined with our local gallery closing after many years in Colonial Williamsburg, has led to a transition in the New Year! We brought home 9 of my Maritime paintings from the gallery. I ended up hanging some of the ones I enjoy the most in my studio along two walls. The other walls feature my more recent Bird paintings. I never want to raise any dust while I’m painting, so I vacuumed and dusted my studio before the paints come back out.

So with a clean studio and my paintings featured on the wall, I thought it was about time to breakdown and upgrade my easel. I’ve always wanted the old fashioned kind, with the hand crank. Once I found that and ordered it, I knew my rickety old drafting table had to go. I happened upon an old fashioned looking drafting table too!

It all seems like a luxury, but they are changes that will help my painting time be even more enjoyable. No more jimmy-rigging all of my workstations with clamps. My studio will be much more user-friendly.

With my exhibit at the Ocean Reef Art League behind me, and my two-man exhibit coming up in June at the Greenleaf Gallery in Duck, NC, the timing is perfect to start fresh. I have five months to paint away, drawing from my recently taken 5,000 photographs of birds.

Gradually, I’ll upgrade some of the other “cheesy” workstations. It still will only be a room in our house: no north light, no vaulted ceiling and exposed wooden beams, no walk-in fireplace or wood stove burning. I’m not complaining, just dreaming! It’s good to have dreams that motivate. After all, my dream of getting a “crank easel” has come true! ☺

Thanks, as always, for your interest in my art, my photography, and for following my journal!

“One of the joys of being an artist is having the freedom to follow my passion...”

— William R. Beebe

NewsWilliam R. BeebeJanuary 5, 2015The paintings of William R. Beebe, William R Beebe2 Comments