Studio in a Box

I am so glad that we had plenty of warning before this big snow fall. I had ample time to order linen panels and purchase the things I needed for my special box, pochade.
I have a wonderful easel that my sister, Lety surprised me with on my birthday. I absolutely love it. The only problem is that working with miniatures sometimes calls for a lot smaller easel. I purchased some, but they just didn’t have everything I needed like my big easel does. So, I thought I would make my own (sort of). I purchased a large unfinished wood cigar box and some hardware (some of that was on an old box). I already had paints and gold leaf (Ezri and I have been on a metal leaf kick).

A small piece of metal sits on the top so the clip, which has a magnet can be adjusted to hold on to several sizes of canvases. The bottom has a piece of ply-wood that I cut to fit for the pallet.

If the pallet is lifted, there is plenty of space for brushes and a few panels.

The painting is a combination of a painting of an Etruscan girl and a photo of me. I was limited with paint colors since I was just using some left-over crafter's paints the girls used on a previous project. But I don't think the Etruscans had a huge color pallet at hand, either.

I am so pleased with the end product. I call the pochade my “Studio in a Box”. Ezri doesn’t like that, so she calls it the “Magic Box.” Robert wants to keep it for his office. I might have to make another one for him during our next snow day.

Now, it’s time to continue the paintings I have been working on for the last two weeks.