'Naptime' 5x7 oil on panel ©Karen Margulis sold Wet Paint! It's a new problem for me. With pastels I didn't have to worry about letting paint dry. I could easily store my finished paintings in boxes separated by a piece of glassine paper. (I have other pastel storage ideas and you can read about them in these posts) But doing an oil painting a day results in a lot of wet paintings to store. I can't just leave them propped up on shelves in the studio because of my menagerie of 6 cats and a dog. I do allow them into the studio so I have to make sure it is animal friendly. Fortunately I came up with an easy and inexpensive solution. A mini table easel makes a good drying rack for a single wet painting I started out using my small table display easels to store my wet paintings while they dried. I put them up on shelves. I quickly ran out of table easels so this wasn't a good solution for a daily painter. I knew of other artists who have narrow shelves built on their studio walls. (too skinny for cats) and I am planning on putting some shelves in. I have just the place for them. But until then I needed another solution. Thrift store to the rescue! Re purposed CD racks for wet panels I came across several CD racks at my local thrift store. These racks are perfect for storing small wet panels. They are great for small panels up to about 8x10. I even brought the smallest rack along on my latest plein air paint-out. It fit into my bag and was perfect for storing the day's wet paintings back at the hotel. It frees up the wet panel carrier for the next day's painting. I never realized that CD racks came in such a variety of designs and sizes. Through trial and error I have found that some work better than others. Here are some things to look for. Bring a panel along on your hunt. You can test out your potential finds. (I didn't have a panel with me but found a 5x7 children's book as a stand in) Some racks hold the CD's flat and some show them at an angle. I prefer the flat ones which keeps the painting level. Some racks have wider slots which are good for thicker panels. I see the tall stand-up rack all the time but I haven't tried one. I'm afraid my big dog will fun into it and knock it over or her tail wagging will create unwanted brushstrokes! The best thing about this storage system is the price. I got one for $2 and one for 77 cents! How do you deal with wet paintings? Anyone have some great ideas to share? Comment below! Today's painting is my first oil painting of my cat Tobi. I have painted Tobi many times in pastel. It was fun to lay on the paint and get textured fur!