My husband and I were visiting Hood River several years ago and we stopped off in The Dalles, a town nearby. As we wandered the downtown area we saw a shop that was an unusual hybrid of an art store and a resale shop.
As we poked around I stumbled across a Gurrilla Pochade box for $20 and everything was 25% off, making it $15. I had long admired the clever design and quality of the Gurrilla boxes, but was unwilling to pay the hefty $300 asking price. I couldn’t pass it up and was quickly the proud owner of this beauty.
Fast forward a few years, and while I’d used the box on a table on numerous ocassions I felt I really needed the tripod to give me more flexibility with my location. I tried a thrift store tripod that was very unstable with the heavy box, and when the tripod finally broke completely I was relived to throw it in the garbage. My husband wanted to buy me a genuine Gurrilla tripod, but the the cost of $260 was again more than I wanted to spend. I told him that I would reach out to the members of PAPI my local Plein Air painters group to see if anyone had one. Again, fate was on my side when a member, Salt, reached out and said she had two and would be willing to sell me one for less than half price. Her husband delivered the tripod, explained its features, and made sure it fit my box. They even included a nice padded case.
The last hurdle I faced was how was I going to carry this contraption on my bike, which I often ride to go paint. We tried the box on the rear rack, but it didn’t feel safe. I tried several of my husband's old climbing packs, but none of them held it properly. We were out in Meridian and decided to stop by Sierra Trading Post, an outdoor discount store where we found a pack that fit it perfectly for $15 on clearance. I strapped the rack and a stool to the rear rack with ski straps, put my new pack on my back, and rode comfortably to Hyde Park today for an afternoon of painting.
I guess the moral of the story is patience. I could have ordered the whole lot years ago and been done with it, but I enjoy the hunt, and have a theme of reusing materials in my art, which includes my art supplies. With a bit of patience, I was able to cobble together the whole setup for a fraction of what it would have cost new, and I had the satisfaction of knowing that I was sticking to my goal of reuse and recycle, even when it takes a few years.
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