The Labor Day weekend turned out to be a great opportunity to get the canvas and easels assembled. The challenge was finding a place to do that. Fortunately, my wife Deb works at Grand Rapids Civic Theatre and was able to make a room available. We loaded up the cut wood, tools and support panels and trekked downtown. Fortunately, our good friends Matt and Anita were available to help. They drove the hour-plus route from their home and spent Saturday and Sunday with us. I’ve done very little canvas stretching and even less easel building so I wasn’t entirely confident in the process, but after a few hours of work, we had everything together. Some adjustments to the easels made them stronger, which helps with the rather heavy canvas and frame. The large roll of canvas came pre-primed so there wasn’t a need to apply anything to it. After assembly, I feared the canvas might be too big to get out of the building, so we tested and it just fits the doorway and exit.
