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| All packed in and ready for delivery! |
This morning I had to deliver a large number of paintings. And I was a little nervous. Not that I haven't transported my artwork in my car before...I've been doing that for years. But this morning I had to deliver 30 paintings to an art center located an hour and 20 minutes away, so I really didn't want to have to make more than one trip. I have an SUV (a Nissan Murano) in which the seats can fold down, so I knew it could hold quite a bit, but just wasn't sure exactly how much it could hold safely.
I normally use large, thick sheets of foam (the kind used in seat cushions) that I place between stacked paintings. It keeps them cushioned and protected from being scratched from other paintings stacked above or below, and it also keeps them from sliding around. With only a few sheets of this foam, I had to augment with other materials.
Luckily I'm a bit of a pack rat with cardboard. I'm always finding uses for it, and so I save those large, flat boxes in which you get pastel paper shipped. I cut those so they unfolded flat and I was able to use them to separate layers of paintings stacked on top of each other. I stuffed rags and small towels between paintings beside each other so they didn't bang together if they slid during a sudden stop or sharp turn. I also placed a thick blanket on top of everything in the back so the paintings on the top layer would have a little bit of weight to help keep them in place.
About 25 paintings comfortably fit in the back part of the vehicle, with about 5 small ones stacked on the floor in front of the front passenger seat. I placed a large sheet of cardboard over the seat and stack of paintings, so that nothing I had on the passenger seat (my purse, etc.) fell onto those paintings.
I received a great suggestion from a Facebook friend on one of my recent posts about using rubber, waffle yoga mats to place between paintings. I'm not familiar with these mats (I really should start doing yoga...keep saying I'm going to!!) but they sound like a great idea for this situation. I'm told they're pretty cheap, too.
Please feel free to post comments with any other ideas for safely transporting artwork in your vehicle.
Looks like their packed in there pretty good. I wish you luck on your show. Great idea about the yoga mats. I'll have to try that one.
ReplyDeleteThis transport is successful. There are also floor mats at a low price, which is used to turn on hiking sleeping bags and isolate the ground...but they are not comfortable for yoga... lol!!
ReplyDeleteGotta try the yoga mats. I've been using the boxes from the frame manufacturer but always worry that there is no cushion. Thanks again for yet another tip for artists.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments! I suppose a resourceful artist could probably find lots of other good options for cushioning between paintings. The mats that go under sleeping bags sound good, too! Whatever is used just needs to be either thick enough or rigid enough to prevent the framing hardware on the backs of the paintings from poking through into the frame, glass or artwork surface of another painting. I think that thick AND cushioned is best, but thick cardboard can work if that's all you have, as long as you have something else in place to prevent sliding.
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