Tim McIntire's Art Blog

A Giant Custom Art Folder Part 2

Fri, 20 May 2011 10:14:25 -0500

This post details how I finished a specialized eight-pocket version of the type of folder I use in my rolling filebox. Read more...

A Giant Custom Art-Folder Part 1

Sat, 09 Apr 2011 16:49:52 -0500

The construction of most of the giant art-storage folders I made for my art-cart was quite simple. Each is basically two pieces of posterboard glued together at the base, with a couple of lengths of wire along the top to support the ends in the filebox. These work fine for storing large pictures and stock, but don't work so well for the smaller sizes like 8" x 10"s and 9" x 12"s...I decided to make a special eight-pocket folder for these smaller sizes, that would make use of almost all of the available area in a regular (18 x 26) folder.

Erasers and Erasing

Sat, 09 Apr 2011 14:40:45 -0500

...the method I discovered awhile ago for erasing lines cleanly from paper, but first... a rundown of several eraser types that I find useful. read more...

Finishing My "Art-Cart"

Tue, 29 Mar 2011 14:52:56 -0500

In my last post, I described the first stages of the assembly of my "art-cart". I am picking up the story a little ahead of where we left off, having already attached the left-side panel and prepared the doors for mounting. Read more...

Constructing An Art Storage "Filebox"

Sat, 26 Mar 2011 20:52:58 -0500

For storage of large artworks on paper and sheet stock, nothing, in my opinion beats vertical storage; specifically, giant hanging folders. I have never been able, however, to find a system available commercially that suited my needs.Read the details of how I built one.

Co-opting a Drafting Tool

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 12:31:31 -0600

I happen to have studied a bit of drafting, and discovered a wonderful little tool used by draftsmen, sea captains, and metalworkers alike. It's a pair of dividers, sometimes called compass-dividers, the same thing as a compass with a second hard point instead of a pencil or pen. Read about some artistic applications I have discovered.

A New Use for Old Markers

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 09:58:12 -0600

The idea was to remove all traces of ink from a marker, and then use it selectively remove to pigment from a support; sort of like a paintbrush in reverse. Read more...

A Vertical Paintbrush Rack

Thu, 17 Feb 2011 13:05:06 -0600

For awhile I had felt that in order to properly protect my acrylic brushes, (many of which are of rather high quality), I needed a better way to air dry them following cleaning. ...The ideal solution seemed to be to clench them in some sort of apparatus that would suspend them, head down, without the bristles being pressed against anything, and so that plenty of air could circulate around them. Read how I built my own custom drying-rack.

Of Charcoal and Newsprint

Mon, 31 Jan 2011 17:50:38 -0600

Doubtless there are at least a few artists out there who can look at a reference photo, and, with a few deft strokes of a pencil, produce the guideline basis for a picture that is both pleasingly aligned, and well composed... Most of these problems can be resolved in the "guideline" stage, but this usually calls for repeated erasing, which can be both time consuming, and, in some cases, hard on the support. I would like to briefly touch on a couple of traditional techniques used by many artists to streamline this process, and then explain how I incorporated them into my own method.

Transferring The Pattern

Mon, 31 Jan 2011 17:46:19 -0600

In my last post, I described how I make patterns for some of my pictures using willow charcoal on newsprint. There are a number of good ways to transfer the pattern to a support; my personal favorite is as follows...