Sunday, July 17, 2011

Carrying paintings onto location

I was asked in the comments:
...so I've wondered this a few times from other posts, but this post where you disclose that you never take a carrier into the field with you really begs the question: How DO you transport your supports to and from your auto? Going in I imagine is easier, but coming out with a wet painting(s)? You have your gargantuan Stape Kearns Signature Gloucester-tower easel, your plywood Deadhead painting box, a case of Moxie and who knows what. I realize you are nine feet tall, 300 lbs and eat Modernists for breakfast, but...
...after painting all day on your favorite Metcalf 26 x 29, and perhaps starting the Masterpiece of your lifetime, how DO you get it and all your other gear back to the car? I can't imagine you carry it in your hands unprotected and risk tripping over an errant root.
Do you employ a Sherpa?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No. I carry my canvas in my left hand. Here I am in Provincetown carrying my kit. So many great painters have walked that street with their easels. I don't often paint small so little canvas carriers are out. I can also take a couple of panels in a slot device on my paint box. Below is a picture of that. It holds 11 by 14's or 14 by 18's. I seldom paint more than a few hundred yards from my car. I can always walk back to that and trade canvases if I need to. I made that like the box, on my cheapo Sears table saw. I should do a post on that.


I also have the leather attache case in my car. It holds extra paint. brushes, batteries for my i-pod etc.

Here is a peek inside.



32 comments:

willek said...

What the Outside Painter needs is a device to carry a wet panel (as opposed to a canvas) easily. I am envisioning straps and corner hooks with a handle on top. Seems simple enough...

Clem Robins said...

your acolyte misused one of the great phrases of the english language, "begs the question". to "beg the question" means to use circular logic, i.e., to "prove" your assertion by using your assertion as proof. like, "the world is flat because the world is flat." that's what it is to "beg the question".

a good alternative would be, "invites the question".

let's all take a stand for our wonderful language, and use it precisely, just as we use paint precisely.

Lucy said...

In 1985 I bought a sturdy rolling New York City shopping cart on Canal street for ten dollars. This is the kind that NYC homeless people use to schlepp all their belongings.
It has a few different wire sections that accommodate panels and canvas as well as Julian easel, umbrella, bags of extra paint, paper towel rolls etc. Opened up, with a blank panel laid on top it serves as an extra shelf for say, a glass of iced tea.

I'll use incorrect English and say I still got it and it works great!

Lucy said...

By the way, I think that correcting Stape's use of language is a tad inappropriate since the man spends such a huge part of his professional life writing this blog, often eloquently and with great style and wit. And you are missing the point if you think painting precisely is such a good idea. I would pay more attention to the content of the message of the blog and less to the small details of the grammar.

Anonymous said...

Thank you Stape.

Lucy, I should clear up that Clem Robins is not addressing Stape, he is addressing me. He is "putting me in my place", I am the "acolyte" referenced.

Clem is absolutely correct that I misused "petitio principii". Often in commentary humor and jest are lost, but this was not the case here, it was carelessness. I am always happy to be corrected, or enlightened, as that is how knowledge is expanded.

I'd add Clem, that characterizing me as an "acolyte" was a needless and demeaning insult. I am not any persons acolyte, and "participant" would have been more accurate, and kinder. Participation is useful, also. Don't worry about it though, I forgive you.

barbara b. land of boz said...

Thank you Stape for your time and efforts. Hope and pray all is well with you and yours.
I'm in Rolla Mo. today waiting to pick up two of the grandkids. I have been so busy that I have to do some catch-up on the blog.
So may you just "Keep on keeping on". I thinking of baby animals right now instead of "grammer".

I Bleed Ink said...

Cubans !
Keep on the good work !
ZeD
www.zed.art.br

Pam Holnback said...

Love the peek inside!

Lucy said...

I see

stapeliad said...

How many Cubans fit in that case? How many do you smoke per painting? Are they a business write-off?
:)

Sergio Lopez said...

but how do you carry it under your arm without getting paint all over the inside of your sleeve?

Clem Robins said...

michael, you are totally right in upbraiding me for my pointless use of the word "acolyte". i didn't mean it, i had no evidence for it, i don't believe it, and i should not have used it. it was just me being lazy, and i apologize sincerely for it.

Anonymous said...

We're cool Clem! :]
Thank you.

Anonymous said...

great practical approach to painting and i liked the fact that your priorities for focused painting require an ipod and ... your cigars :))) and i also like that rather than use the pavement, you walk in the middle of the road;)

mariandioguardi.com said...

Canvases are tricky enough to transport but at least the stretcher bar gives one a clean enough grip...for the left or right hand.

The real problem for me is transporting a wet, thick, paint knife painting on panel. Any brilliant ideas out there dear Participants? I am begging an answer to this question.

Anonymous said...

so do you hand out the cigars at the completion of each painting?
I really enjoy your blog, I always save it for last.

T Arthur Smith said...

I'm coming to Wellfleet Wednesday night and staying three weeks. Will you still be painting in PTown? I'd love to see you work.

ccreed50 said...

Crikey Stape! That's a lot of stogies...er, what brand?

Stapleton Kearns said...

willek;
Invent one, show us.No string please.
................Stape

Stapleton Kearns said...

Clem Robins
Clem throws a match!
................Stape

Stapleton Kearns said...

Lucy;
Not so good on a goat path though. Poor off road handling in general.
...........Stape

Stapleton Kearns said...

MCGuilmet;
I am sure you are not an acolyte. I was an acolyte once.An episcopal acolyte at that.
.............Stape

Stapleton Kearns said...

barbara b. land of boz;
I do my best on grammer. I try to slide by on content.
..........Stape

Stapleton Kearns said...

I Bleed Ink ;
Hondurans!
.............Stape

Stapleton Kearns said...

Pam Holnback;
Thanks.
.....Stape

Stapleton Kearns said...

Stapeliad;
I don't smoke Cubans as they are hard to buy and I am cheap.

I migt smoke several cigars in over the course of a day painting.

They should be a write off, they are not.
.........Stape

Stapleton Kearns said...

Main Loop ;
I guess when it is wet I hold it by a corner or against my hip or on my hand like a waiters tray. It is not a problem.
......Stape

Stapleton Kearns said...

rahina q.h.;
The proper mental state is important.
.........Stape

Stapleton Kearns said...

mimitabby;
Very few cigars are "handed" out.
.............Stape

Stapleton Kearns said...

T Arthur Smith;
E-mail me you dates, maybe I will be on the cape.
..Stape

Stapleton Kearns said...

ccreed50;
They are house brand smokes from my local cigar superstore ( New Hampshire sees a lot of visitors from high tax states around us) so we have a few big tobacco stores on the Massachusetts border. I sometimes smoke fancy cigars but these are a work day smoke. They are real handrolled long filler cigars from Honduras and very tasty.I buy bundles of them.
....................Stape
..................Stape

E Minzner said...

Wow. Your Ipod takes cigar shaped batteries... Need to get me one of those.