Having pets is also another big topic to think about when painting and modeling. I mean I’ve even known of a dog eating a whole cell phone and when the owner called it, it still rang! I have a super active cat and she wreaks havoc in our household when we aren’t looking. Pens go missing under the couch and she bites through papers and models of all shapes and sizes. We call that battle damage in our house. Whenever I try to paint, she gets all up in my face, wondering what I’m doing, and will even go far as to lapping up the watered down paint and biting my brushes as I try and work. Sometimes I really wonder if curiosity will ever kill her.

This also means that I can’t leave paint bottles, brushes, models, etc laying around the house. And since we have a tiny apartment, I’m not lucky enough like some of you out there to have a separate painting room or garage to lock all my painting and modeling things away. Therefore, I have figured out different ways to keep things away from my cat. Here is how I keep my things organized.

First off I have a two-tiered lazy susan to hold most of my paints. I also just recently acquired a new set of Vallejo paints and they are in the carrying case they came in, safely away from the reach of my cat. When I paint, this usually keeps them away from her, well after pushing her away a couple of times. With brushes, I keep them in a plastic baggie until I need them. I probably could do better with a tin pencil case on this one.

Models-wise, I have whole armies stored in shoe boxes and up on a high shelf also stored with other things so she doesn’t get up on it. They are relatively safe barring an earthquake.

Lastly, when I’m done painting, I keep all my painting and modeling things in a big plastic bin. It takes up the least amount of space in my apartment and I can store it on top of other plastic bins that hold off season clothes. And it keeps the pesky cat out of it. She likes to sit on it though and that is totally allowed as long as she doesn’t eat the models!