My Paintbox

A painter friend was looking at my paintbox and asked if I would give him the specs on it. I photographed it and sent him the dimensions. I thought you might like to see the box also.

I am a very messy painter and my box is covered with paint, I also wear old painting garb so that I don't have to worry about getting paint on that.

The paintboxes sold at the art supply store are flimsy and made of light weight pine and the fittings are made of such thin metal that they quickly become bent and unserviceable. After chewing up way too many of these I decided I would make my own box. Here it is.

The box is 18 inches by 21 inches wide, closed it is 43/4 inch's deep. I made the sides of the box from oak picture frame moulding the sort the use on modern art the is sort of L shaped.

The top and bottom are luan plywood glued and then screwed to the square frame made from the oak moldings. The dividers keep things from flopping about when I haul it around. The center divided are holds my palette knives and a collapsible mahl stick.There is a little box shaped area up at the top to hold the pegs for my easel. You can see I carry nothing but the large tubes which I fill myself. This rig is heavy but I have everything I need in it and it opens out on my Gloucester easel to the size of a small card table. If you look closely at the sides you can see the rabbet that holds my palette. Here is the box with the palette in place.

The palette I made from a sheet of luan that I pumped liquin and linseed oil into until it would absorb no more. Its important to do that, as a thirsty palette will suck the oil right out of your paint. Notice the amount of paint I have on that palette. If I make another palette I don't think I will put a thumbhole in it . I thought I would use hold it on my arm, or at least want that capability, but in practice I never do, and I lose mixing space to the hole. I will put in some kind of a notch at the side so I can lift it out of the box easily. If you go to my sidebar you can hunt back and find posts on what colors I use on my palette. I also don't have the brass arm shaped devices on the sides of my box that they usually come from the art supply store with, so I can open it out flat.


Here is the rear view showing the piano hinge that runs all the way across the box. It is a simple hardware store item, cut to the right length with a hack saw. The wooden device on the top of the box is made to allow two panels having one dimension of 14 inches to slide in for transport wet or dry. I carry 11 by 14s or, 14 by 18s in there. All of the fittings on the box are commonly available but far beefier than those you get on a store bought unit. The Grateful Dead sticker on the top has a protective layer of wide plastic packing tape over it to protect it from the elements and abrasion. This is the second box it has been on. I think it is really handsome and provides a degree of attitude that might be obtained in no other way I can think of. Tomorrow I will start a whole series of posts on passages in painting and the elements they contain.