Thursday, December 16, 2010

Back to the Drawing Board



These long winter evenings find me making another series of Maps for the new book on the Battle of South Mountain by my friend, Civil War historian, John Hoptak.




The maps are coming along swimmingly, and its always fun to render in two dimension that which John does so well in three dimension.




Though John, is tiny in stature, (only eight inches tall) he looms as an authority on the Battle of South Mountain and I always enjoy working with him.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Like a bad penny

I'm again being visited by a recent acquaintance, for the last time, I'm hoping.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Getting Organized...

is the theme of this winter.  Now, happily, I'm in a two-person household so I'm looking to reduce clutter and maximize sensible storage space.  This weekend (my weekends are Tuesdays and Wednesdays) I started to tackle my studio/study room.

A cast-off metal locker was crammed with lots of miscellaneous stuff.  The shelves really didn't lend themselves to efficient use as a storage asset.  I decided to make it my art supplies cabinet and set about making uniform and sturdy containers that would fit nicely into the locker.

Add to the mix was an old file cabinet that good friends gave me earlier in the year.  This pre-war beauty had seen too much time in barns and other non-climate controlled spaces over the years.  As a result it was filthy, dry-rotted in places, warped, and de-laminating.


I disassembled the entire thing and found some useable lumber including the sides of the drawers, which although very grimy, were still useable pieces of oak.



 There was also some interesting hardware.

Utilizing these salvaged materials I set to work with a plan to make an initial four storage boxes.



The first has stepped compartments to hold the tubes of liquid acrylic paint I frequently use.



The second got a lid for taller things.


The last two got sliding lids...




this one has an upper-storey tray that lifts out.



I think I'm off to a good start for this winter of getting organized.  Recycling sure is a lot more satisfying when you can immediately turn junk into useable materials...



    that also look so interesting.


Staying green(ish)
Mannie