Easels
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Beth E Peterson
Text and Artwork:
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The basic purpose of an easel is to hold your painting or drawing surface nearly
vertical so that you can see it better. Painting or drawing on the horizontal easily
leads to distortions of proportion and perspective, as many a draftsman and watercolorist
can tell you. Easels come in four basic styles, which we will explore in turn.
 Travel Easels:  The second member of the easel family are the travel easels. They are larger than table easels and are generally able to handle small to mid-sized canvases. Travel easels are built to be hauled up and down hills, ‘round and through the undergrowth. As such, they are built to be as light-weight as possible. Many of them, often called French travel easels, include a box which not only secures the folded legs but also holds supplies whilst tramping about and converts to a kind of small table when the easel is set up. Travel easels are not built for general studio use. Compared to other easels, travel easels can be somewhat flimsy due to the lightweight materials used in their construction. (After all, who wants to haul Godzilla up and down dirt footpaths?) Although I've known of artists who do use their travel easel as their studio easel as well, this is usually due to financial constraints. The main problem with travel easels is that, eventually, the system for locking their legs at the desired length will get worn. This can lead to disastrous slippage just when you least want your easel to collapse. Tripod Easels:   The next largest type of easel in the family are the tripod-style easels. These come in a number of sizes and can be found in aluminum or wood. Prices range tremendously; some are quite inexpensive but others will cost several hundred dollars. Although there may be a tripod model or two out there that would be a joy to have in my studio, I haven't found them. Tripod forms are inherently less stable than four-footed forms. This group demonstrates that, having a serious tendency towards instability. They both tip and skid.As many of these easels are quite lightweight considering their size, these problems are magnified. Weighing them down with concrete blocks and/or sandbags may help, but it often isn't enough. My personal experience with tripod-style easels has been nothing but one headache after another. However, this may not be true for everyone. You will need to judge your own needs according to your own preferences and work habits. H-Frame Easels:  These easels have a four-footed base from which sprout the support bars of the easel. In general, these easels are large, sturdy and usually made of wood. They are excellent for use with mid-sized to large canvases, although they can also easily hold small canvases. The four-foot stance and added weight of the base gives them stability, even in the face of vigorous brush- or knife-work. Generally, H-frame easels are the preferred easel for any painter working on canvas or panels. Unfortunately, they are also almost always astronomically priced. Choosing the Easel For You: What considerations should you think about before looking for that perfect easel for you?  What Size painting or drawing do you do or want to try? If you work in miniature sizes, then you can use a light, compact easel. If you are working on or wanting to explore larger sizes, you'll need a large and very stable floor easel, preferably an H-frame. **Remember, a larger easel can almost always handle even miniature sizes, but a small easel cannot handle even mid-sized work without difficulty. Always look to get an easel that will be versatile enough to fulfill your "biggest" desires, unless you plan on getting more than one. Where will you be wanting to paint? Studios are where we usually first think of painting, but if you want to take your easel on road trips, you'll want a travel easel (perhaps as a second easel). Also, if you work in a space shared with other tasks, you may need an easel (even a large floor one) that can be collapsed down for storage. If you have to do this every time you work, you really must get one that is easy to collapse. How Much money do you have to put into obtaining your easel? I don't know about you, but there have certainly been times in my life when money has been tight, to tight for it to be feasible to buy what I really wanted (and needed)...a large H-frame easel. Although you can find easels in a range of prices in general the better, sturdier easels are always going to be more expensive. This is true of travel and tripod easels as well as H-frames. If you don't want to (or can't!) spend the hundreds (or thousands) of dollars to buy that perfect easel, you can sometimes find a school or college that is selling old used easels as they replace them with newer, less beat up models. That can be an uncertain windfall, however. I recommend that you consider building one yourself, or convince a woodworker hobbyist to build it for you (maybe for Christmas, if it's a family member! *chuckle*). That's exactly what I did several years ago and I couldn't be more pleased. I spent less than $75 to create an easel that would have cost me $500 - $800! (That's a photo of my easel there to the upper left; still beautifully sturdy after more than seven years. And it collapses down for easy storage, too!) For more information, click here. |
