Tango

Tango is growing like a weed, or like sweet corn in high summer. As of Sunday, he weighed just under 24 pounds.

Today I noticed that he has reached a new stage in life: he is now big enough that Anya can lock arms with him in dog chest-to-chest wrestling. She puts her front paws on his back, and he returns the embrace, while they writhe and jump around, trying to bite each other on the neck.

Yesterday I found Tango lurking in the snow-free space under the bump-out in the kitchen. He likes dens, caves. He has, alas, discovered the huge (for a puppy) cave between the desks, the printers and the wall in the library. A maze of wires and controllers. NOT a puppy place!

Life with puppy is proceeding nicely! He is lovely and Anya is training him well!

Paper covers Rock and Pink before Purple

Have puppy, will travel -- with lots of towels!

Yesterday, somehow, Tango got into some wet red oil paint during painting class. We have no idea how. No one was using red paint, there was none on the floor, and the only places we found paint were on the dog, primarily his left rear leg and, of course, his chin!

Baby wipes didn't work. A wet, soapy corner of a towel didn't work. So Carol and I (thank you, Carol!) put him in the bathtub and did a leg bath. Now he's only slightly pink.

Tango must have known about Chuck's plan to dye him purple and decided to take matters into his own teeth. Paper covers rock, and pink before purple!

I'm sorry we didn't take photos of Tango before the bath. It looked like blood was gushing from his leg. That's probably why we didn't think immediately of cameras... it really did look like blood. Thank goodness, just paint.

Who? What? Where? When? How? and Why?

I must remember this list of interrogatives from grammar school: they are the elements they taught us to include in the first paragraph of a newspaper article. As I type this, I wonder how one could possibly know why something happened, but there speaks the person who naturally asks Why? three times...

For Tango, each of these interrogatives has a special meaning.

• Who is that white puppy in the fireplace?
• What is this thing I'm sitting in? It moves around and makes funny, shaky noises, and people keep cooing at me because I'm cute.
• Where did the person inside go?
• When will Anya get home?
• How should I know that that scary puppy is a stuffed animal?
• Why did Mom snatch that cigarette out of my mouth? It had an interesting smell and taste!

Tango tests the world.

He is really confused by the white puppy in the fireplace, ("Who is it?") which is, of course, his reflection in the glass. He dances with it the way he dances with Anya, but a whole lot more tentatively.

I took him on a long socialization outing today to Pittsford Plaza. He had his first ride in a shopping cart, and was cooperative and well-behaved, but confused. What is this thing?

He ran up to a display outside Snow Country: ski clothing, looking from puppy's eye level like a complete person... until he got close enough to paw it, when it gave way. Confusion! Looks like a person but, well, there's nothing there! Where did the person inside go? No smell, either. The second time we passed this display, he ignored it: boring.

"When will Anya get home? I've been sleeping and storing up energy so I can pounce on her, bite her ears, chase her tail, steal her bones, and all. I have an edge tonight, since she is tired after spending the day at Kirkhaven! Can't wait!" says Tango.

Snow Country must be in the business of teaching young dogs because they had a second display, this one with three mannequins and a stuffed animal. I told Tango that the stuffed animal looked a lot like him. ("Well, Mom, how should I know that that scary puppy is a stuffed animal?") It took Tango quite a while to get close enough (advance, sniff, scamper backwards, repeat) to the stuffed animal to discover that it couldn't threaten him.

Meanwhile, he attracted the attention of two salespeople, both dog people, who came out to tell him how lovely and soft he was.

And then there is that awful moment when a parent first sees her child put a cigarette in his mouth! Open up! Give! ("Why did Mom snatch that cigarette out of my mouth? It had an interesting smell and taste!") I know you can't do this with a human child, but it still works with puppies. Apparently the smoking ban in buildings results in people discarding mostly unsmoked cigarettes, and Tango found one. White cigarette coming out of both sides of his mouth, the paper dissolved in the middle, and tobacco on the little tongue. YUCK! I hope he hated the taste!

Anya the Nanny

Tango is growing. Two weeks ago he weighed 12 pounds; yesterday he was up to 16 pounds. And his ribs still feel like a washboard. I think he might be 2 or 3 inches taller.

Here are two photos, for comparison.

Tango and Anya, Day 2


Tango and Anya, Day 21


This morning when I went to the back door to let them inside, Anya was sitting patiently, just like in the photo above. A little distance behind Anya, Tango was also sitting patiently, also like the photo above. I don't know whether I believed that one dog could teach another, but I'm pretty sure that Tango did not teach himself to sit patiently like this!

Last night, after our long walk in Webster Park, Anya, Tango and I were really tired. (It's not clear whether exercise EVER makes Chuck tired.)

Eventually I gave up trying to do anything useful, and went into my recliner. For a while, I was reading, but the next thing I knew, Chuck was removing the book from my hands and saying, "Tango really wants to be on your lap." So he put Tango on my lap and Tango and I dozed there while Chuck worked on his mother's bills.

In the park, it was fun and interesting watching Anya with Tango. For one thing, she only runs as fast as he can run. She keeps him (mostly) about 6 inches from her tail. Once, when she misjudged, he got hold of her tail with his teeth and held on fiercely. Sometimes he get hold of her collar or her leash and tugs. It's cute, but Anya didn't like Tango's teeth holding onto her tail. I can't imagine why not!

Anyhow, Anya runs and runs, but just fast enough to challenge him. Then a larger dog comes along, in this case a 4 month old English Springer Spaniel, and Anya does two things: she guards Tango from the larger dog AND she turns on a bit more speed, to challenge the larger dog.

She still hasn't started to lope.

When she's going full out, I think she may cover 6 or 8 feet of ground between her feet touching down, and she looks like this long black dancer, much the way I imagine a panther running. A black streak that barely touches the ground.


Elaine is rearing one of Tango's cousins, without the benefit of a nanny-dog, and I think she is finding Pierre more work because she doesn't have a full-time Anya to watch over everything.

Names

Anyone who ever tried to read a Russian novel knows that keeping track of Russian names is tricky. Well, that's an understatement.

Russians name their children by a formula that results in a large number of absolutely identical names. For instance, we have two Natalia Sergeevnas in our close circle. (BTW, congratulations to the taller NS and her fiance Joe! The предложение was made and accepted last night!)

So, what are they called? Nicknames, among friends and family.

To make things simpler for us, one NS (Soboleva / Perfilyeva) is called Natasha except in a hurry, when she is Nata, or Natashka when she has been cross or difficult (rare).

The other, taller, NS is usually called Tasha, a name she adopted when she moved to the US, but her mother calls her 'Natasha.' As far as I can remember, I have not invented any other names for Tasha. That's Joe's job.

Now, Anya comes with the full complement, already put together by generations of Russian speakers: Anna, Anya, Anyushka, Anyuta, Anka.

But what about Tango? Well, of course: Tango, Tangushka, Tangulya, Tangle, and 'TANG!'. What would you expect? And that is the list so far.

(Right about now, I expect Carol to chime in and say that we would have a standard set of nicknames for Tango if I'd taken her advice and named him Ivan: Vanya, Vanushka, Vanka, etc. So if you ever see me refer to 'Anya and Vanya,' 'Vanya' is really Tango. Confusing, no?)

Sasha had remarkably few names: Aleksandra, Sasha, Sashka, Sashenka... Also, of course, Tsaritsa (Empress).

And Pippin had QUITE a name: Philip George Henley, Earl of Overshot and Duke of Thatchbottom, commonly known as Pip or Pippin, but also known as Pipkin, and Pipsky-pupsky.

My favorite pair of dog names belongs to 'the boys': Mishek (aka Sharkey) and Brutus (aka DiggerDog). The nicknames tell you much more about the temperaments of those two than their given names do.

And then there was the dog who was headed for the name 'Tasha,' lo, these many years ago. A weekend with the puppy convinced Al and Lynn to rethink that name, and 'Tasha' became 'Taz,' short, of course, for Tasmanian Devil Dog!

Back in the good old days before computer-generated mailing lists, I often included our dog and cat on the list of members of the household: T. M. Watson (retired) and Philip Henley, Security Guard. When mail arrived for T. M. Watson or Philip Henley, I knew that Toi Ming, the cat, and Pippin, the dog, had been mistaken for humans by the data gathers, and that someone had sold our names!

Full Circle

Yesterday I 'discovered' a great blog on the Democrat & Chronicle website. I've been staring at the name of the blog for a LONG time, but yesterday I clicked on it... finally.

Bob Marcotte writes The Word on Birds. Unfortunately, it doesn't have an RSS feed, at least not yet!

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I started sketching because I have seen, and admired, the field notebook of a man we encounter occasionally at Island Cottage Woods. He sits down and sketches the birds that come to him. Then he goes home and colors in the sketches... and has a great journal of his time in the woods!

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Life at our house has its amusing points. This essay is about birders and optics, and marriage.

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Every article on optics for birding recommends buying the best-quality optics straight-away. Usually the writers also concede that almost no one is capable of taking that advice, and that most birders buy three pairs of binoculars to end up with the expensive -- and right -- pair...

Chuck and I are no exception. We own three high-end binocs, plus several mid- and low-end models, and one Spacemaster telescope.

I remember two amusing observations by Thomas Connor, in his book "A Season at the Point":
Rule 1: "Real birders don't share binoculars."
Rule 2: "If you don't want to spend the better part of a month's mortgage payment, try not to have this experience [ie: don't look through someone else's high-quality optics]."

I didn't believe this second statement, until I looked through a pair of Zeiss binocs at Ramsay Canyon one evening. I lifted the binocs to my eyes, whereupon God turned the light back on in the canyon, and I went quietly crazy in front of my poor husband's eyes. Worse, the woman who owned the Zeiss binocs said that her husband's B&L Elites were even BETTER...

A few weeks later, I spent an hour trying to show a friend a Great Blue Heron. The bird was in an open marsh, not too far away from us, on a scrag, with a Flicker pointing at it! She didn't see it until I handed her my Nikons...

We went home and ordered the B&L Elites...

Until the B&L Elites arrived, Chuck didn't understand why I had gone crazy that evening in Ramsey Canyon, he just suffered my moaning.

Before the new binocs arrived I warned him: "Refuse to hand them over ONCE, just ONCE, and a second pair will be in the mail within 24 hours."

Obviously, within a month, a second pair arrived, (he ordered them himself) because, well, rules 1 and 2 are TRUE. If you have the passion for birding and can get your hands on the cash, the general outcome is assured.

However, starting with good-quality, moderate-cost optics helps you figure out what you really need in optics before you spend lots of money.

For example, I have a very small interpupilary distance. My husband's car binocs, Swifts, serve him very well, but for me they are monoculars. OTOH my car binocs, my trusty Nikon Travelers, work great for my interpupilary distance.

Our Rule 3 (or corollary to Rule 1): "Real shore-birders do not share telescopes."

Our Spacemaster has served us well for > 20 years! But we have looked through the Kowas and the Swarowskis... We really need a second, better, telescope. Or maybe two excellent scopes and another Bogen tripod... I suppose this means that I need a job.

How to get onto a bed, and other mysteries of life

Before we found Sasha, our first poodle, the people who gave Chuck the name and phone number of the breeder said, "Make sure you get a small Standard: they take up a lot of room in bed!"

True.

Sasha had her own unique way of joining us in bed. She waited until we were sound asleep, and then she began the process of pouring herself onto the bed. First one paw, then a second. Then slowly inching forward, between our feet, until she could put her hind feet up on the bed. Then carve out room for herself, constantly putting light pressure on us so we made way for her (similar to tightening the wires on braces!)... and in the morning, we woke up with her head between us on the pillows. We never caught her in the act.

Anya's approach is more straightforward: Step up, preferably turn around a couple of times, and then FLUMFP! down into a curl, with her head facing the door. At least, we like to tell ourselves that she's facing the door rather than facing away from us.

We have tried to teach her to shnuggle, which specifically requires that her head be on one of our shoulders and that we get her soft back against us, not the pointy feet... It works, sometimes, and then it turns into the next story, from our friend Al, about his Schipperke, Ike.

"I remember Ike trying to make the jump, it took him awhile. He has a rather odd sleep pattern now. Every night he jumps up on the bed and checks in with us. Shortly after turning out the light he jumps down and goes to sleep in his favorite corner of the master bathroom (tile floor). Then sometime during the night he comes back on the bed, and that's where we find him every morning curled up between us."

And now, we have Tango. He has mastered the art of throwing himself headlong into the challenge, and he makes it up onto the bed almost every time he tries. Sleeping is the last thing on his mind, although sometimes he will cuddle for a few minutes. But this morning, for instance, my head was under the covers when Chuck let him back into the bedroom after his morning outing. This would not do! and Tango set to work sniffing and digging to find me, following up with a few exploratory nips at my ears and cheeks. Fairly soft teeth, but still teeth.

Then off the bed to tussle with Anya...

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I was reading a blog (Living Fragance) and found this citation for a site where you can spell words using all sorts of letters: http://metaatem.net/words/. Give it a try.
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Then there is the latest painting obsession.

I am only posting the original photo and the latest false-color attempt to capture value changes.

Not so satisfied. I did a nice charcoal of the photo, but need to try again with the paint!

Chuck has posted a nice little video of Anya and Vanya (aka Tango) playing in the library. Doggy exercise x2! http://fdsailor.blogspot.com/

Strange Pleasures

Around 3:30 this morning, the motion detector, aka Chuck, alerted me that Tango was restive and probably needed to go out. So, out we went, Tango and I.

I turned on the spotlight on the deck, but even so I cannot see anything once I get into the side yard, which borders the designated dog 'spot.'

So, I'm standing out there in the dark, trying to see a small white bundle, and listening to and feeling the wind. The wind at night is more mysterious than the wind during the day, when you can see the leaves moving. At night, it's even more like music.

I stood there for a bit, enjoying the cool wind, the fresh air, the darkness, and then we went back indoors, upstairs, to sleep, each in his (or her) own bed.

Another day, another goal

This is day 16 of our life with Tango.

Each of us has goals for Tango, including Tango himself. For the last week, Tango has been watching Anya get onto our bed and has repeatedly hurled himself at the bed and blankets, trying to get up there with the big folks.

(Click on the thumbnail above to go to our blog and see all Tango photos so far.)

Today he succeeded. It was, after all, only a matter of time.

Fortunately, he succeeded in this goal after meeting one of our goals for him: he slept through the night without needing to go out and without any accidents!

So everyone except Anya is satisfied. She is waiting for him to grow up into a respectably behaved Poodle. Right now, she spends a lot of time telling him that he's out of line!

It's a Dog's Life

Today is Halloween. In honor of that, I post the photos of my only trick-or-treaters, as of 7:52 PM. We get so few trick-or-treaters on Halloween that I always buy BIG bars of candy, which was noted and appreciated by one of the kids this year. He tried to get his mother to take one! ("Mom, she has big candy bars! What kind do you want?") His mother, my friend Denise, refused. I don't know why. Maybe because she wasn't in costume and also because she had Rocky (one BIG dog) in tow.

I have a complete life-cycle of photos for these three kids on Halloween. They keep growing! And I always love it when they visit!

Now, apart from it being Halloween, today is also the day of my painting class. Everyone in the class has at least one dog, so they are reasonably cool with Anya and Tango joining us. However, they are less comfortable with me training the dogs. ;-) Apparently I make too much noise.

Tango was determined to eat his pop-up crate today, and I had to add a clip to keep the zippers locked together so he couldn't escape. (He proved, of course, that he was capable of it!)

Anya has agreed to pose for gestural drawing practice next week!

After class, we went to get my car inspected. The last day, 3 PM... and while we waited, I took the beasts over to the canal by Talbots & Forsythe Jewelers. We ate lunch -- they helped me with my minestrone, which I kept spilling -- and they ran around a lot!

Look at those ears fly!

We saw a train, up close. Then, when I was trying to socialize Tango by introducing him to a fountain, Anya made an executive decision: clearly I meant her to go into the business that owned the fountain. So this middle-sized black dog wandered into Forsythe Jewelers.

Fortunately everybody was enchanted with her and no one was afraid. Then her person showed up with yet another poodle in her arms, and tried to shepherd the bigger one out of the store. Of course, I didn't really get much help from the salespeople and the customers. Anya is way too cute and well-behaved for that; they wanted to pet her.

My car failed inspection. Bummer.

On the way home, I had to pull over once to tell Tango that the seat belt was not a chew toy. I gave him one of the chew toys Al & Lynn gave us last week. That helped. Chew toys everywhere!

I bought gasoline and the candy bars.

Since then, all three of us have been really tired and have taken naps. Tango is so tired that he doesn't care that he's captive in the kiddie play fence.

And Chuck arrives home in an hour... to a tired family, and a lot of mail and filing that I'm trying to sort out, but realistically not doing too well at.

Well, the kitchen timer tells me that it's time to take Tango outside again. "Do your stuff, Tango! Do your stuff!"

Never say 'never'

Well, just about the first thing I saw this morning was proof that I was wrong yesterday when I said that Tango had mastered the location of his peeing and pooping area. Apparently the pooping area is between the sewing machine and the piano! I'm puzzled: when did he have a chance (actually, several chances) to visit there without my knowing?

Zipper pulls

In my earlier post about Tango, I forgot the all-important zipper pulls! He really likes zipper pulls.

For one thing, they have lots of hand oils etc. There is one especially enticing zipper pull, on my bathrobe. It is pewter-colored and shaped like a snowflake, about 1.25" in diameter. I have a hard time convincing Tango that the designer didn't put it there especially for his licking and chewing pleasure. Licking I don't mind, but chewing it is verboten.

And puppy makes 4

If you are a puppy, everything is an opportunity, everything is potentially a toy.

Take, for example, the leaves on the back deck that litter Tango's path as he comes in from outdoors. Every outing brings another leaf into the house.

Or maybe you think a hemlock is just a tree, but NO! it's a den, it's a merry-go-round, it's 'pop goes the weasel!' Today Tango figured out that he fits under the hemlock and Anya doesn't. In their play, he used it both to rest and to tease Anya.

Then there are shoelaces, socks, sandals: all obviously great toys, and comforting, to boot, since they smell like the humans in the family. But off limits. I now have a considerable number of acceptable-for-chewing dog toys spread throughout the house so I can follow the advice of the Monks of New Skete and substitute an acceptable object for dealing with those itchy teeth!

Kathy thinks we got a dog in a designer color; Chuck thinks we got a doggy canvas and threatens to go to the 6Ts shop and buy bright hair dyes -- purple first! -- to make Tango more colorful.

I took them on a fairly long walk just now. We walked down to Nam's house and then came back through the woods. I'm tired, Tango is tired, and Anya isn't giving any reports. The hills let me know that I am out of condition.

Tango came in and immediately drank and ate (that order) and now is using his favorite 'cave' to rest. He gets under my desk, between my feet and the desk, and lies there for hours. I must remember not to step on him or roll over him with the wheels of the chair.



In the kitchen, Tango matches the white floor rather too well, so I have given him a bright blue kerchief as a flag that says, "Don't tread on me." It almost works.

We have a cute video of small puppy (12 lb) coming downstairs in a very puppy fashion. Also one of two dogs playing merry-go-round with Chuck. (Desk chair dog exercise.) When I figure out where to post them, I shall.

He is warm and soft and trusting. When I wake him up to go outside to 'do his stuff,' he makes sweet little sounds that make me imagine a baby looking for a place to nurse. I call them 'sweet milk-sounds,' which amuses Chuck. Surprisingly (to me) he has already mastered the concept of his peeing and pooping place. Not to say that we haven't had accidents in the house. We have. But when he is outdoors and needs to go, he heads there, and when I put him down there and say, "Do your stuff!" he squats and does it!

Right now I am using the kitchen timer to keep myself on a regular schedule: every two hours I get a reminder that it's time to take Tango out. It works pretty well.

So far -- 10 days -- we're doing well and enjoying the new puppy and he seems to be enjoying us!

Testing Google Documents with Photographs...

Today's note pertains to my frustration viewing Carol's most recent blog entries (watchmepaint.blogspot.com): I cannot see the pictures as clearly as I would like.

I know, from experience, that putting full-sized pictures onto a blog brings with it a lot of problems, so I use PicSizer to shrink mine to 320 pixels x whatever ...

Here is a small photograph of my most recent painting of Jensen's Hill:

If Google is kind to me (doubtful) and my husband is correct (usual), you should be able to click on the photograph above and open another window or tab with a more detailed view of the photo, which I've stored as a Google Document.

It turns out that, using either computer screen (laptop or monitor), 1024 pixels x 768 pixels high wide works pretty well. Comments?

Instructions for doing this

First size the pictures correctly. (I use 320 pixels wide for my blog and 1024 pixels wide for the larger photo.)

Insert the smaller photo in your blog.

Upload the larger photo to Google Documents. (Upload the photo you want to come up when someone clicks on the 'thumbnail' in your blog.)

PUBLISH the photo as a Google document. Once it is published, right click onthe URL they provide, select "Copy shortcut" and move to your blog, in EDIT mode.

Left-click on the photo in your blog, then click on the icon to the right of the Text formating icon (some chain link and a green globe). When that comes up, PASTE the URL from the Google Documents (i.e. Ctl-V or Edit / Paste) into the dialog box. Select OK.

Publish your blog. Test it.

Done.

More on creative shopping for painting tools and toys

First, note that I have changed yesterday's post, and marked it up with bold, red italics.

Last night I was struggling with blogspot and losing. I lost a lot of text and recreated most of it last night. Today I've got a process going, so I was able to fix omissions and add pertinent information.

In Michael's today I found two interesting items:

1) a metal clip (canvas hanger) used to hang oil paintings. It wraps around the frame and creates a small edge for hanging on a nail or something. This could be used to attach items to the drawers and sides of an easel.

2) They are having a sale on Krylon Spray Paints in 3 oz containers. $2 each instead of the normal $4. I think it's a close-out. I am (barely) willing to pay $2 for 3 oz when $6 gets me 12 oz, because I want something I can carry with me, to protect my painting when I am not at home.

And then there is OfficeMax. I am addicted to the Iris 6 drawer mini-chests. At about $35 each, they are much cheaper than taborets.

So I found that they will sell them to you via the Internet, 3 for the price of 2. I called my local OfficeMax (you may need to speak to a manager) and asked it they would sell them to me for the same price. They agreed. They'd be stupid to refuse: OfficeMax would give me free shipping for an Internet order, since 2 chests exceed their $50 threshold.

One last funny item: a Helix swing arm protractor (protractor with a pivoting ruler) attached at the center for measuring angles more accurately. $1.50. Found it in the drafting supplies... It looks a lot like those tools they sell in art stores ($15) for setting angles in drawings!

Painterly uses for common items UPDATED Saturday 21 July

Changes are in bold, red italics
Organization

• Wrap a small piece of electrician's tape around key items that belong in YOUR painting box and that you or someone else might carry off to another part of the world, e.g.:
  ..........drawing pencils / pens / straight-edge / eraser
  ..........scissors / hole punch / stapler / cellophane tape
  ..........brushes
  
  NB: I have labeled many things in my house. (We pause now, to give Chuck time to recover from his laughter!)
  ..........Yellow: the instruments on my desk
  ..........Green (2 groups): home toolkit & master bathroom (different contents)
  ..........Blue (2 groups): sewing room & sketch box (pencils, charcoal, etc.)
  ..........Bright pink (2 groups): gear for clinicals & desk stuff in my study
  ..........Black: pencil for my chair in the living room
  ..........Gray (3 groups): contents of box on French easel, bedside table & household bill paying area
  ..........No label: kitchen
  ..........In process: distinguish painting box from sketch box and box on French Easel

• I also use Sharpies to write on electrician's tape, regular cellophane tape, and packing tape. If I want the label to resist all solvents, I cover it with cellophane or packing tape.
  
  NB In most situations, Sharpie ink comes off when rubbed with 91% isopropyl alcohol.
  
  
• Hugo's Amazing Tape. No glue or adhesives, nothing scratchy (not like velcro) but holds many things when stretched a bit and pressed against itself. I use it to wrap around spools of thread, to keep boxes closed, etc.
  
  
• Velcro one-wrap cable straps: you can join them at the slotted end (put the narrow end of each strap through the other strap's slot and pull carefully). These can be applied as designed, using the slot to hold the strap to the item, or they can be used either free or stapled or glued to things.

• Swim noodles: so, you didn't know that these were really designed to hold your paintbrushes at brush-safe angles while you paint? $1 at the Dollar Tree (right now), use a utility knife and a Dremel tool or a drill. Be careful to avoid routing the handles of your brushes into the wooden frame of the door or leg.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Canvas stretchers: I have used 2 @ 40" and 2 @ 20" to make the equivalent of a side table on each side of my French Box easel.
  
  Plus, I realized today that I could buy different lengths for the long stretchers and have tables of different widths. The only caveat is that the tables need to be of relatively balanced weights. I am still figuring out how to have a one-sided table.
  
  The 'easy' answer is to use my hiking stick as a monopod, insert a nut of the correct size for a camera tripod attachment, and use that to support the unsupported side... This would work, but not everyone has a monopod ready to hand!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  I put spring clamps (3/4", 4 for $4.00 at Sears) on the frame at each side of the box at the back. This keeps the table from slipping sideways. Now that I have 4 more clamps, I'm going to use them to fasten the masonite to the stretchers.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Right now, I am using tempered masonite to form the table tops, but hope to replace that with canvas one of these days.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  With this arrangement, I can reach everything inside both the drawer and the fixed box. I can get as close to the easel as I need, by closing the drawer almost all the way. It allows me to use the easel almost flat (for watercolor). Cost: about $20. Compare to $20 for one Shelf-Help...
  
  


• Heat'n'Bond Iron-on Vinyl, matte or glossy 17" x 72" $8.55 to $11.50 (use your 40% off coupons!):
  
  I used this to seal my tempered masonite boards because the masking tape destroyed them and they bled brown onto my watercolor paper. (see photo above)
  



• Shower baskets: I bought 2 at Dollar Tree, and hang them from the thumb screws on the front legs of my easel OR from the side supports if I am not using the table.
  
  I keep my notebook, my color cards, and my small spray bottle in them. They also pack nicely in my gear bag.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  




• Loose-leaf rings
  
  I use these in clinicals to keep my medication cards together, so it was natural to apply them to painting. They come in several sizes, from 3/4 " to 2" diameter. 2" diameter are 3 for $1.69 at Office Max.
  ..........They hold my color cards together.
  ..........They hold my home-made sketchbook together.
  ..........They hold things that I want to hang off my easel.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  





• Hair bands: My exchange student daughter left behind some thin, elastic head-bands. They are great for holding books open, including my sketch book, or closed.
  
  
  
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• Home-made sketch book: 1 tempered masonite board, 10" x 12" 1 piece of heavy weight quilter's template material, cut to 10" x 12" I used a 3 hole punch to locate the holes on the short end, and marked the left edge of the paper on the punch itself... I can put whatever kind of paper I want into the book and I can carry around quite a bit of reference material, including charcoal value studies, B&W photos and earlier versions of paintings.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  





• Small plastic storage containers: 10 for $1 at Dollar Tree. Good for clean water, good for mixing up washes, and the lids are great for mixing small batches of colors.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Paint dividers in the French Box Easel
  Originally I was carrying my tubes of paint around in a box made to hold 8 or 10 bars of soap. It worked great. So, when I got the French Box Easel, I took some cardboard and duplicated the insert in the box that held soap. Then I taped it all into the bottom storage area of the easel.
  
  To make the inserts:
  .....Measure the width of the space you have. Mine is 3 3/4" wide.
  .....Figure out how much space you want for each group of paints. I allowed 2 1/4" for each section.
  .....Measure the depth of your space. Mine is 1 3/8" deep. I used 1 1/4" in making the insert.
  
  Decide how many spaces you want. I chose 4 on each side because that makes it easy to reach all of my paints.
  
  Take a piece of light-weight cardboard that is long enough for your project.
  
  LONG ENOUGH = # of paint storage sections * (2* depth + space for paint)
  ..... for my project that is 4 (sections) * (1.25 + 2.25 + 1.25) = 19" long
  
  Cut it to the correct length and width. Carefully score the cardboard so that it folds easily. I scored between each 1.25" section on the back, and on each side of the 2.25" section on the front.
  
  Fold. Using double-sided tape and some masking tape, position the insert in your storage space as shown below.
  
  I store the paints by primary, secondary, unsaturated, and colorless (black, gray, white).
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Spring-type Clothes Pins: I use for attaching reference material to masonite, for holding books open, for positioning items upright by using the clip as a tripod base...
  


• Cotton balls: Not my own idea but very useful. I keep a few in my box so that I always have one for my clean water source. I use it to dispense water into paint mixes in a highly controlled way. I actually can get only 1 or 2 drops, if that's what I need.
  


• Clear Fingernail Polish: I put a dab of clear fingernail polish on the end of each screw or bolt whose fastener would be easy to lose if the fastener was too loose, especially when carrying the easel. It took two applications, but works well. Wait until the polish dries thoroughly before testing! Have a pair of pliers handy for the first loosening of the nuts. And, of course, you can always remove the nail polish with acetone / polish remover.
  
  
  
• Craft Box:
  I bought this in Target for about $6.00. It has adjustable dividers, and works great for carrying around the material that I most need when painting anywhere, with or without the easel.
  
  The red cardboard box contains sticks of charcoal.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Other

• I put scraps of dishtowelling into the water jar when I pack it up to carry the equipment around. That way I don't have to worry about water leaking out of the container.
  
• I have a boxy notebook (it actually snaps completely shut) that I got at OfficeMax. (It's called a project case and costs about $6.00. It looks like this but without the clipboard, and costs a lot less.) It fits nicely between the wood palette that came with the easel and the lid of the box. With the notebook in place when I close the easel and carry it around, nothing falls out of any of the storage areas. Paints, for instance, stay where I put them.
  
• After much experimentation, I found and bought some gator board (The Art Store, Henrietta, about $17.00) for stretching paper. I protected the edges with clear cellophane packing tape. So far, this is working great. Not a cheap solution, but very light weight!
  
• I have some instructions on assembling and disassembling a French Box Easel.
  
• Also here are some other photos of easel adaptations I have tried and which work well.
  
• Dealing with the heat when painting, especially en plein air
  
  You may have noticed a purple bandana in my painting box. I soak it in water and drape it over my neck and shoulders when painting in a hot place. I don't tolerate heat well.
  
  JG & I tried to figure out how to attach her artist's umbrella to her French Box Easel. So far, no luck. I'll post a solution if we develop one.
  
  I found a set of photos of one woman's solution to the problem of using her umbrella with a lawn chair about halfway down the page, post #41, 5 pictures...
  
  
  
• Another approach to creating working space at the French Box easel:
  I also found a photo of a tool that expands the surface area above the drawer of the french box easel: opens to 34" wide, 13.5" high and is 3.5" deep. I think less deep would suit me better, but still, it's an idea. another reference
  
  At 8 lb, it weighs too much, too.
  
  More good photos / good ideas
  
  Cheers!