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Most oil painters tend to have more than one easel. I know I do. I have at least 4 and each has its own purpose. I started out with a traditional French easel but found it clunky once I ventured outside to paint. So, I added other, smaller easels. And I got one as a gift! Below I will talk about the pros and cons of some of these easels and how I got around some of the issues that I ended up having to deal with.

 

 

French Easel

https://products.richesonart.com/collections/plein-air-easels/products/weston-full-easel

Let’s start with my first easel, a Weston Full French Easel by Richeson. I’ve had this easel the longest and use it quite a lot. I use it for both drawing and painting in my studio.

 

Here are some of the pros for this easel:

• It has 3 legs that spread making this a very stable easel.
• The maximum easel height is about 69 inches.
• The largest vertical size the easel can hold is 33 inches, though I’ve jerry-rigged it to hold a taller canvas.
• The legs are adjustable in height.
• The place where the canvas or drawing board sits can be tilted from completely flat to leaning toward you. The ability to lean the board area forward is especially helpful when I work in charcoal and don’t want the dust falling down my work. In this configuration I also put a strip of aluminum foil underneath my drawing board to catch the dust which I can then re-use or toss.
• The place where the canvas or drawing board sits can be raised quite high. Though I’m not tall, it’s very helpful to be able to raise this grooved bar as many of my canvases are small.
• I can easily clip a light to the top.
• The drawer can hold either painting supplies and/or pencils/charcoal in the separate compartments. And there is another compartment below the drawer which can hold additional items.
• When the drawer is extended I use the drawer as a base to hold my French Mistress painting palette. https://www.dickblick.com/products/french-companion-mistress/
• It will hold a wet canvas allowing you to transport a wet painting when the box is closed, though not one under 10 inches.
• It comes with a wooden palette.
• It can be folded up, and when folded up it doesn’t take a lot of space.
• While you can paint a small canvas with this easel, the top bar doesn’t come down far enough to hold a panel in place. I have a larger separate adjustable panel holder that I had made for me which I use with my small panels.

 

 

Here are some of the cons for this easel:

• While it’s great for my studio, I found it rather awkward and heavy to carry around when I was painting outdoors (en plein air).
• It was also awkward to carry around if I needed to take it to a class.
• While this isn’t a con but something to note, sometimes the screws will come loose and things feel a bit wobbly. I’ve found it VERY easy to take a Phillips-Head screwdriver and tighten up any loose screws.
• While the French Easel comes with its own wooden palette, if you are painting plein air at the end of a painting session you will need to find another place to store your leftover paint.
• The wooden palette is not a very comfortable palette to hold, though you could rest it on the open drawer as I do with my French Mistress palette.
• When you open or close up the easel you will need some room and a bit of coordination to fold it all back up. You will find a way that works easily for you, hopefully.

 

All in all, this is a good all-purpose easel and the more I’ve used it the more I like it. I would not suggest it for plein air painting, though many people use it for that and like it. I like things that are smaller and easier to hike around with.

 

Pochade Boxes

A pochade box is a small, portable painting box that can be used in the studio, but more often used en plein air. The word ‘pochade’ means a quickly executed sketch or study. Because light in the field changes rather quickly, many landscape paintings are done as ‘studies’ even though they may be complete works unto themselves. I have 3 kinds of pochade boxes.

 

Before I bought my first pochade box I spoke with a lot of painters. When I was painting with a group of other painters, I would notice that some easels were more popular than other. So, I spoke with everyone I could about what they liked and didn’t like about their easels. How much did it weigh? How much did it cost? Did it live up to their expectations? It’s very helpful to see these easels in action and what’s good for one person may not fit with your needs.

 

My most used pochade box is from Artwork Essentials and called an EASyL Versa.

http://artworkessentials.com

 

PROS:

• Most of the EASyL palettes can hold 2 wet canvas panels in the back of the lid.
• This size has an added benefit of holding larger canvases and having a larger mixing area. Both were very important to me as this was an easel I would take when painting outdoors and also when I went to class. The Versa is the largest of their pochade boxes at 12 x 16. 
• Another added benefit of this easel is that I can close the lid and not worry about my paints getting ruined. In other words, I didn’t have to clean my palette if the weather quickly changed.
• The set comes with a tripod, 2 quick release plates, a couple of hooks to hold your OMS container, and a brush holder. I traded my brush holder for a side tray.
• I added a narrower panel support tray which gives me the option of using the wider tray when painting on a gallery wrapped canvas or the narrower tray when painting on a panel. Because I mostly paint on panels or canvas taped to a board, I use the narrower tray almost always.
• One of the best features of this box is the panel position isn’t fixed on this box. I can raise the painting panel to a height that’s comfortable for me while having the palette at a comfortable level as well.
• While the height of the canvas is limited, the width isn’t.
• The palette area is deep enough that I was able to insert a glass palette.
• There is a removable piece of wood that separates your paint from the palette area which allows you to store your brushes and some tubes in the box itself without fear of wet paint getting all over your equipment.
• The area that holds your canvas will go from flat to vertical to closed.
• The easel can be easily adjusted for watercolor and pastel work.

 

 

CONS:

• While it isn’t the lightest in this category, it isn’t so heavy to be a deal breaker.
• If you paint larger than 16” in height you will need to find a way to clamp the canvas to the supporting back. Like most painters, I jerry-rig when necessary.
• I added a glass palette which adds a bit of additional weight to the box.

 

 

My second Easy L pochade box is one they don’t sell any more. I wanted an easel that was lightweight and could easily fit in a backpack. At the time, what I bought was a good option. What Artwork Essentials sells now are much better options. The one that is most like mine is the Slimline Classic Mini.

 

PROS:

• It’s lightweight and thin.
• The smaller size should easily fit in a backpack
• It can hold a wide range of canvas sizes, including as small as 4” which is an improvement over mine.
• Depending on which of the 3 Slimline boxes you get, it can handle up to 20” in height, which is a huge improvement. On my older box I’m limited to 10 inches in height.

 

CONS:

• It doesn’t have a wet panel holder on the back.
• It may not be deep enough for a glass palette.
• You can’t store brushes in the palette area as there is no way to separate the wet paint from the mixing area.

 

My smallest travelling pochade box is what’s called a Thumb Box by Guerrila Painters

https://guerrillapainter.com/. It’s made for 5 x 7 panels and is super cute, but not the most practical – at least for me. It is small. Definitely a plus if you want to travel light and want to paint from your car or as unobtrusively as possible (hence the name, Guerilla Painter).

 

PROS:

• Super small
• Super lightweight
• Has a small amount of storage under the palette
• Can carry 2 wet/dry 5 x 7 canvases panels.
• Can buy add-on accessories if you want to paint up to 8 x 10.
• The area that holds your canvas will go from flat to vertical to closed.
• Has accessories specifically for the thumb box. I added a side tray that folds on top of the painting palette area without touching the paint.

 

CONS:

• The palette area is very small and takes getting used to. If you are using a 3 color palette plus white it is OK, but any more than 4 colors makes for an extremely crowded space.
• There is no height adjustment for the canvas. This means that if you are tall you will be restricted to the height your tripod will extend. It might not be comfortable for mixing paint as the whole box will be fairly tall. Conversely, if you are shorter, the mixing area may be at a comfortable level but the eye level of the painting may be too low.
• My thumb box has a hole in the storage area, presumably for your thumb, so it will need something slipped in place to cover the bottom or things can fall out.
• If you paint larger than 5 x 7 you will need a way to carry your wet canvas(es).

 

I have a couple of A-Framed easels. One I won and the other was given to me be a person who was moving. If I’m painting a very large canvas, which is rare for me, I will use them. In general, I use them to hold finished work to show clients or at art shows.

 

PROS:

• Very lightweight
• Folds Flat
• Small footprint
• Can handle large canvases

 

CONS:

• The canvas needs to be stabilized somewhat as the place where the canvas rests is not that wide and can be wobbly.

You will need some way to accommodate a palette. I use a very lightweight hand held palette when using these easels to paint. You can also set up a taboret/narrow table and have your palette rest on that