What's the Best
Artists Easels for Your Needs?
Artists easels are an important piece of equipment if you take your painting seriously.
Many people happily get away with a spare piece of board resting on the kitchen table.
However, this has its limitations. You've constantly got to move everything (including the board) if you want to use the table for other things - like preparing food - and this is frustrating if you're in the middle of a painting that's going well. It can affect your painting technique as well.
As you progress, you'll find that you need to stand back constantly to look at your picture and see how it's developing.
This is difficult if it's lying almost flat on a board on the table...
You need to
look at it from its normal viewing distance to identify
problems and assess solutions.
Sure, you can prop it up each time you want to look at it, but this gets fiddly.
It may be that you have a back problem that prevents you leaning over your painting for long periods - or you may develop one if you do!
If you have a mobility problem - certainly if you use a wheelchair - this simply isn't an option.
If
you move into bigger work and especially on art
canvas panels, standing or sitting at a canvas that
you can adjust in a moment from almost flat to vertical and
back and all angles in between, is an absolute necessity and a
pleasure as well.
And hopefully when, rather than if, you work outdoors, you really need to consider buying a portable artists easel.
Which leads nicely into how I've split up the easels articles into manageable chunks of advice...
The initial decision you need to make is whether you want an indoor or outdoor easel. Maybe you want both!
Portable
and Outdoor Artists Easels
We'll
look at the main things you need to consider when selecting an
outdoor artists easel and the options available.
Choosing
Studio Easels
This looks at the
most popular, the Mast, the A-Frame, the H-Frame and some
other designs and describes the pros and cons of each.
Table
& Desk-Top Easels
This looks at
the wide number of options for this very popular type of easel
with tips on features that you should look out for.
Easels
and Art Tables for Wheelchair Access
The position of supporting legs on many free-standing artists
easels can make it difficult to get close access with a
wheelchair. Here, we'll look at some possible solutions.
However, do look at the other Easels articles as well to see
if something might work for you that I may have overlooked.
Childrens
Easels
Kids are tomorrow's artists
today. They love to paint in an uninhibited waythat shows up
many of us older folks. If they're keen on painting, you'll
want to give them every encouragement. Have a look at these
easels built specially for them!
Return
from this artists easels page
to the main art supplies
section
