The Julian Thumb Box with new hardware (the junk on the right side of the box).
That palette is way too clean...
Quick release tripod mount.Sunday, April 12, 2009
The devils tools
You know what they say about idle hands and all... Well my motivation for slinging paint has been pretty low, so rather than slip into black holes of despair, I thought I'd continue my quest for going ultra light with my gear. I picked up this Julian Thumb Box from Utrecht a while ago as it was on sale and looked even more compact than my Openbox M. My thinking is that if I make it easier to bring my paints around, I 'd be more likely to use them. Plus, I've been finding that I've been doing a heck of a lot of 6x8's with a limited palette, so I don't really need to carry around as much stuff. Anyway, the box seems to be a good size, but I needed to make some mods to be truly useful. First, I fabricated a new brass hinge lock mechanism as the old one was entirely too flimsy AND it wouldn't allow the box lid to open beyond 90 degrees. I broke out the power drill, the Dremel, and some brass stock and shamefully copied the mechanism from the Open box M. It's not pretty, but it really does work well. Next I added a tripod mounting bracket to the underside as I couldn't really see using the thumb hole. I may still add a beefier hinge to the back to supplement the two flimsy ones inside, and I'll also create a vertical panel holder adapter. Currently, the lid can only hold horizontal format 6x8s.
The Julian Thumb Box with new hardware (the junk on the right side of the box).
That palette is way too clean...
Quick release tripod mount.
The Julian Thumb Box with new hardware (the junk on the right side of the box).That palette is way too clean...Quick release tripod mount.
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4 comments:
Ah man. That looks great! Now I wanna go downstairs and tool around with the box... We should get them a little more dirty soon - I mean, did you see the sunset tonight? WOW!
JimmyG! Dont make me come out there and kick you in the but! :) This past month was usually our prime time for painting- with day light savings starting up and what not.
Anyways, I suspect your slump partly has something to do with perhaps you focusing on the painting more than focusing on how gorgeous the light is and noticing all those subtle lovely colors (they really are everywhere if you stop and look). They always say its about observing. Once you see and really take a moment to appreciate that beauty, it cant help but flow from the brush. Certainly easier said than done though. Such a great time of year- Keep swinging my man!
Thanks buddy, yeah, it's a real head game this "slump". I hear what you're sayin' about really "looking". I spent 3 or 4 hours this past weekend (gorgeous weather by the way) hiking around the East Bay hills with a backpack loaded with paint "looking" for a composition, and of course not finding one(which made me even more depressed)LOL. Who knows how many gems I walked right by. I kept thinking about an artist I read about who said he used to do the same thing, wandering endlessly in search of the perfect site, only to realize that he could find a great painting in the pile of dirty laundry in the corner of his bedroom! I guess it's about expectations really. Expectations of what I "should" paint, or how it's "supposed" to look like... thinking too much. But I have been looking at trucks and buildings more, check it out...
good one!
and always a good strategy to resolve a block by throwing your head a curve ball- in this case, in the form of a truck. and perhaps not as productive as you like, but theres nothing like a nice walk in the woods.
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