Weeping Willows

Something New, Something Old

Chapter 34

                Elizabeth got up around four the next morning.  After Ryan's little stunt before bedtime she found it hard to sleep afterwards.  She tossed and turned all night before finally giving up and just deciding that what she needed was strong coffee and a distraction.  Dressed and as ready for the day as she was going to get, she drug herself to the kitchen to make coffee so strong it was close to resembling tar.  Trudging up to the second floor with her cup she decided to go through the art supplies from the attic.  They had been so busy getting the stuff out of the attic she hadn't had a chance to take the time and look at it.  Sitting her cup down at a table she pulled up a large plastic trash can before grabbing both crates and the easel from the corner where she had put them.

                For the most part the frame was in pretty good shape, it just needed some bolts tightened here and there.  It sent a little thrill through her knowing she could use it soon.  She had always either gotten aluminum or balsa constructed easels since they were easier to come by and made great field easels because of their light weight.  She had always wanted to find a nice solid hard wood one though to use in the studio she just had never found one that she really liked before now.  This one was absolutely gorgeous.  Elizabeth took her time cleaning and treating the wood bringing out a shine from the blonde wood.  She used some machine oil on the hinges of the compartment until it lifted and closed with no resistance.  There were some stains inside the compartment and on the legs of the stand from years of use.  Instead of finding them ugly she thought they gave it character and made her love the piece even more.  She would have to ask Elliot to look at it for her though to make sure none of the bolts were striped and needing to be re-drilled.  She would hate to have to do something like that to repair it, but she would if it meant she could use it.  She would have to see if she could find a brass chain for it as it was missing that too.

                Setting the easel aside to go over with Elliot later she moved everything from it to sit in front of her.  The jars were just too cool.  They were wide, squat, antique apothecary jars.  They were hand blown glass that were constructed to have thickened walls for more stability.  Elizabeth was glad that none of the jars were cracked or broken.  Why they had been left to clank around inside to the easel's compartment instead of being cautiously packed away was a mystery.  Cracking the large corks of each one she wafted the containers under her nose to see if she could tell what they had once held.  Some of them held the pungent odor of paint thinner.  There were too many of them that smelled like that leading her to believe that they were probably once used to keep oil paints from drying out.  She wasn't sure she would have used something like that for that purpose herself, but it would be a good way to mix large quantities of color without having to throw it away before it could all be used.  The other jars held little to no odor at all.  These might have been used to hold water for acrylic or watercolor paints.  The jars were too large to hold too much of either paint and have it be viable.  Both mediums tended to dry out too quickly.  While watercolors could always be brought back using water acrylics could not.  For that reason alone, she was leaning towards the jars with a faint smell, probably once held watercolor mediums and the ones with no smell were either for cleaning brushes or they were simply spares.

                Elizabeth wandered off into the adjoining room looking for something she could place them in until she decided whether or not she was going to keep them.  Coming back with a small wooden empty crate, she placed some rags inside to protect the glass once they were inside it.  After situating the jars, she set them to the back of the table so they abutted the wall and wouldn't fall easily.  Next, she moved onto the brushes and palette knives.  Unfortunately, most of the brushes had deteriorated past the point of being useful.  With a pang of regret she had to toss everyone of them.  The knives weren't in any better shape as they were tarnished and rusted beyond what a good cleaning could fix.  They too joined the brushes in the trash.  Bringing over the first of the two crates she set it down on the table.  Sighing out she didn't have high hopes after the stuff she just went through.  Sitting on her stool and taking another swig of coffee she set to work.