Last month I moved my painting table to be located
in front of my window. It is a great place to watch the birds in the tree and
to take full advantage of the natural light, or not. Most of my painting is
done at night or in the early morning hours. I will work on minis during the
day, but only on weekends.
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I can even go out on the balcony to paint. |
As you can see my desk is quite cluttered. After all
a clean desk is a sign of a sick mind. This morning at 6:30 AM I added texture paint to the miniatures in the foreground.
Monday afternoon I arrived home late in
the day and took off my backpack and noticed a whiff of smoke arising from my
work table. It looked like it was enjoying a cigarette.
In this photo I recreated the situation to
illustrate the danger. The magnifying glass was sitting on the desk.
Due to the position of the lens and the sun angle, the sunlight converged as a focal point directly onto the tabletop. In the following photo the focal point is to the right of the
green paint. The table began to smoke, and the heat raised a blister in the paint. I
was lucky to have caught it when I did.
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Can you spot the danger?? |
The lens is no longer on the table, nor is it in the path of any sunlight. I wrote this post to be a word of warning of possible
dangers lurking on your own work desks.
Worth remembering.
ReplyDelete..and if you tried to set fire to something deliberately with the magnifying glass, you'd find it next to impossible! Maybe next time you're innocently rubbing two sticks together for no apparent reason you'll start a blaze that you never intended! :-D
ReplyDeleteRubbing two sticks together never worked for me when I was in cub-scouts. I'm glad that I didn't have any kindling sitting on the table.
DeleteI once burnt a hole in a set of curtains with a desk lens left on a window sill .
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear that you didn't have a more serious outcome either.
DeleteLovely window on the world - with or without painting projects. Best, Dean
ReplyDeleteAppearances can be deceiving. I overlook a one-way four lane North- South artery in Montreal. But I love my tree, which provides a lovely shade in the summer and helps cut the city noise and cools the balcony.
DeleteIt is also a local condo development for a flock of Sparrows, but also an occasional hangout for Robins and Blue Jays. My room mate witnessed a bird of prey swoop in and grab some poor victim (c'est la vie) and was chased, carrying away its meal by the collective.
Hmm, my earlier comment seems to have gone adrift. Glad to hear you didn't burn the place down. I have a similar magnifying glass but alas the sun never penetrates that far into my room!
ReplyDeleteThanks Ross. I too am very happy that I didn't burn down the house.
DeleteRob
PS- I remember my life in Nova Scotia. There were months on end when one didn't have to worry about the sunlight penetrating anywhere. People don't believe me when I say one of the things I miss is fog.
Fog days are indeed happy days.
DeleteNo guilty feelings about being inside painting...
Delete