Build the Walls - an addendum

Something I haven't quite yet prepared for the new studio is working on very large paintings! I realised this last week when I decided to start a new 120x150cm canvas. Even though I wanted to work on it vertically rather than horizontally, the joists on the wall are just far enough apart that the sides of the canvas will fall over them. If I worked gently this wouldn't be a problem, but my fast and very hard brushing means the whole canvas usually rocks on the wall if it isn't totally flat.

Plans are to put plywood up across the joists - but my handyman friend isn't around quite yet. (hi Jim!) So I had to come up with an easy solution for now.

The best solution is diagonal joists to hold the sides of the canvases. (Horizontals would work too but since I'm swapping different canvases onto the wall throughout a day a diagonal allows for more variety of size. Plus triangles are much stronger, gotta love triangles.) But since I don't have a mitre saw and don't want to try and drill one board diagonally into another I had to think creatively.

The first pic is the canvas on the wall - you can see how the left hand edge falls into the gap between joists. (Monkey is there for a sense of scale.)

In the 2nd photo is my idea for a temporary diagonal brace. 3rd photo - at the bottom of the diagon I drilled a small piece of wood into the side of the main upright (the white is plasterboard, so I can't secure to that). This simply is a rest for the diagonal board. 4th photo - the top of the diagon - it isn't even attached to anything. Simple physics will keep it sitting on the bottom rest and wedged to the next upright joist on it's right hand side. I've put screws in both the top of the diagonal and the upright joist for holding the painting. 5th photo - some foam wrap draped across the area and pinned up with the staple gun. This simply acts as noise reduction, so that any banging when the canvas wobbles or vibrates while I paint is hopefully reduced and my studio neighbours don't want to come kill me. That plasterboard is the only thing between us on both sides, no soundproofing. Hang the canvas and ta da! You've got the 1st photo, sans monkey.