top of page

Still Life Set Up


While I moved to the studio space in the Marshall Building in September of 2014, it took several months to get things set up the way I wanted.

Getting a shadow box set up for still life and cast drawing/painting was a lot more difficult than I thought it would be. I scoured the internet for ideas, looked a hundreds of photos of artist studio spaces. Finally I came up with an elegant solution that actually worked really well, very functional and looks good.

I used the Origami folding shelf from Amazon and taped black foam core board to the top shelf to create the "shadow box" The metal grill that the shelf is made of allowed me to hang drapes and also attach a clamp light with a surprising range of options.

The height is not adjustable but it sits a bit above 4 feet 6 inches so is easy for an artist sitting or standing at the easel to be able to easily see the still life arrangement.

I also tried the Connie Nobbe Still life stage, which worked fairly well when set up on a bunch of milk crates or a table, however, the whole set up was a bit "wobbly" and I did not care for how cavernous the box was, it became a bit difficult to control the light.

The set up on the right is the Still Life stage set up on milk crates, on the left with the cast is the Origami shelf.

So far the Origami shelf is clearly easier to manage and a bit cheaper to set up as well :)

Peace!

Minnie Bhupathi


bottom of page