Patent ID: 7431257

Claim:
A painting stand for supporting articles to be painted, the painting stand comprising: a pair of bow members being for selectively supporting the articles to be painted, one of said bow members being operationally coupled to the other one of said bow members such that said bow members are actuatable between a deployed position and a storage position, said deployed position being defined by one of said bow members being positioned at angle to the other one of said bow members to selectively support the articles, said storage position being defined by one of said bow members being positioned substantially adjacent to the other one of said bow members to facilitate storage of said bow members; and a pair of extension members configured to selectively maintain said bow members at a desired angle when said bow members are in said deployed position, each said extension member of said pair of extension members being coupled to each of said bow members such that each of said extension members extends from one of said bow members to the other one of said bow members; wherein each said extension member is slidably mounted to at least one of said bow members; wherein each said extension member is slidable through an aperture in one of said bow members; and wherein each of said extension members comprises a flexible cord, said flexible cord of each of said extension members flexing out from between said bow members to allow for said bow members to minimize the amount of space required for storage when said bow members are actuated between said deployed position and said storage position; wherein each of said bow members comprises a top portion and a pair of side portions, said top portion extending between said side portions of the associated one of said bow members to connect said side portions for supporting the articles when said bow members are in said deployed position, said side portions supporting said top portion in a raised condition above a support surface when rested on the support surface; and wherein each of said side portions of said bow members is pivotally coupled to an adjacently positioned one of said side portions of the other one of said bow members to allow said bow members to pivot between said deployed position and said storage position, said side portions of said bow members being positioned in an X configuration when said bow members are in said deployed position.