This is said desk as it normally appears. It actually looks more of a mess than it is. Nearly everything on there is in use (the can of primer on the left doesn't really need to be there, though, and neither does some of the stuff on top of the storage containers--the Visible Horse model probably belongs on the sculpting desk, for instance). From the left:
Paints--they're in craft paint containers, but they are excellent artist quality acrylics. The little bottles are cheaper to buy with paint in them, so I empty the cheap paint out and clean the containers before putting my good paint mixes in them.
Paintbrushes--in an old mug, stored points up and kept clean. They last much better this way! And I can always find the one I need.
White drawers (in the back)--each drawer is a tray containing pure pigments. I work over the trays when I use pigments, so the dust that falls off the horse ends up back in the tray instead of on me, the floor, the walls...
Lights--three of them. Daylight fluorescent, the more, the better!
On the base of the light--a horse (color master for an edition I recently painted) and a pencil sharpener
Various papers--I save some paper from going in the recycling. I use it to check colors and the airbrush flow--much better to find out that a mix is too thick and is going to spatter on a bit of scrap paper than on the horse!
Paper towels--always useful. I tend to spray water through my airbrush onto paper towels as I clean it.
The horse--this one is a drastic CM. He has three colors on him now--a golden tone underneath, brown, and black on his points only (oh, and some grey on his face). Next step will be adding additional colors into his brown tones. Other horses that I am working on are on shelves above the desk, safely out of reach of any overspray from the airbrush.
Underneath the horse--paintbrushes, Q-tips (useful for cleaning the airbrush), and a lid that I mixed some black paint in. And some colored pencils--they normally live in the white tray just to the left of the computer monitor.
Behind the horse--jar of clean-ish water for rinsing brushed in. More paints.
Between horse and lamp on right--small containers for mixing paint in. Bottle of ink.
Behind lamp on right--jar of dirty water. I rinse my airbrush into this one.
Edge of desk--my airbrush, on two hooks that keep it upright. Blue painter's tape for delicate surfaces--useful for masking, and I tend to reuse it a few times.
Above the airbrush--paints, bottle of airbrush cleaner, small squirt bottle of water. I love that squirt bottle--I use to to clean out the airbrush, to add a drop of water to a paint mix--any time I need a controllable amount of clean water that bottle is right there.
Computer monitor--it's hooked up to my laptop on the other desk. I use it for reference photos. This one is a photo I took a number of years ago, but sometimes I will have three or four different images up there at once.
Back of the desk--storage for paints and pigments.
Cotton balls--occasionally useful.
Below desk--drawers which contain all my regularly used paints and mediums, all at my fingertips. Also, a power strip with the lights on this desk, the monitor, and my air compressor plugged into it. I can turn everything on or off with the flip of a switch.
My air compressor lives in the closet, which helps to muffle the sound a bit. It's not specifically an airbrush compressor, so it is a bit loud.
I know it looks like a mess, and honestly it could probably be a touch neater, but I kind of like it this way--everything is right where I need it, and when I want to clean off the desk everything tucks away very easily.
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