Creating My Own Painters Studio

Fitting the tools to the artist

Built My Own Painting Table

I started out painting on an easel but it never felt right to me. When I begin to experiment with acrylics that were thinned down to water color consistency, I had to lay my paintings flat. It didn’t take long for me to realize there wasn’t anything ready made that would allow me to create larger paintings lying flat.

So I built my own painting table. The table is made of thick plywood with side troughs primed then coated three times with heavy duty exterior gloss paint. It is mounted over a small cabinet with wheels. This allows me to turn the table in any direction while I paint. My first table which is shown in the pictures was 54″ x 54″ That worked fine as long as I was only working on 36″ x 48″ canvases.

Now I am working on 60″ x 72″ canvases so I built a larger table that is 72″ x 80″.  Yes, it’s big. Now I just need a bigger room to work in!

Paint & Brushes

I exclusively use Golden acrylic paints. Golden is the best there is. I have a large selection of thick tube paints, liquid paints and special additives to extend the volume of paint without diluting the color. When I started, I had a typical assortment of brushes. Over time, I have added larger and larger brushes to now include ones used for house painting as well as rollers. The bigger the canvas, the bigger the tools.

Anchor-Hocking Small Glass Storage Dishes!

Everything I do technique wise I discovered myself thourgh trial and error. Since I often work with liquid paints that are thinned down or mixed with other liquids, the typcial artist palette doesn’t work for me. I quickly learned that the plastic mixing containers carried by art stories didn’t work well either. Then I discovered Anchor-Hocking small glass storage dishes! I love them. I can mix in them, paint from them and cover them with an airtight plastic lid. And when I clean them, they end up crystal clear. You can’t permanently stain glass with acrylics.

Studio photos taken by my stepson Ryan G. Kendle.