A "studio" in the Garage or at the Kitchen Table

Paint where you can...

This is a photo of Carl's "Kitchen Studio"

Carl paints his acrylic and watercolor paintings on an easel at the kitchen table. Although he dreams of one day owning a home with a "for-real studio" in it, until then he believes it is more important to paint (or draw) wherever (and whenever) he can. With practice Carl has his materials and tools stored in such a way that he can go from setup to painting in about 5 or 10 minutes. Clean-up and tear-down is just as fast. This is important to make the most of his evenings when he generally finds only about 2 hours to enjoy his hobby. Carl says the key is to find a caddy and a brush box that will hold all of your materials (except, of course, the easel). Then develop a routine, or habit, putting things in the same place and in the same order each day. It won't be long before you can take advantage of even a little amount of time without spending it all setting up and cleaning up.

 Fumes and Flammables...

Carl's Camarillo House...

Some art productions involve flammables and potentially toxic fumes. Until Carl can prepare an indoor studio with proper ventilation and storage for flammables - when he paints with oil or uses the airbrush - his studio is in the garage. Carl cautions readers, though, if you use your garage for painting make sure you watch out for the pilot lights in water heaters and house furnaces that may be located in the garage - and before using the airbrush you should probably move the vehicles out of the garage to avoid inadvertently painting them (with the paint dust that will fill the air while using a paintbrush (don't forget to use a breathing filter!)).

During 2004 Carl was pleasantly surprised to find water mixable oil paints. They have no spirits or thinners in them to create fumes. You can use them indoors without extra ventilation. The best part is when you show them a water faucet the paints just jumps right off the brush. They still take a long time to dry (several weeks) just like regular oil paint. And they work without too much color shift as the paint dries.