What sort of easel should I buy?
3yr
Jo Sheridan
I would like to buy an easel, but I'm struggling to understand what differentiates them...So far I either sit with a pad of paper on my knee, or I have a table top easel (which I bought for my kids years ago) which holds UK A4 (21 x 30cm) and A3 (30x42cm) paper/boards which I have used for graphite sketches and Oil painting.
I should like to be able to buy paper in rolls and stretch it onto a board bigger than this to get into some larger scale drawing/pastels/sanguine/graphite and also watercolours and Oils - therefore I think I need an easel that I can stand up at to make this work...
I will be indoors.
I get confused when easels are labelled for Oils or for Watercolour - what about them makes them medium specific. I like the look of a studio easel, but then the reviews of it talked about it hitting the ceiling? really?? what is going on there?
If anyone has any suggestions for a type of easel that is not too expensive and can be used for a wide range of mediums and which won't put a hole in my ceiling - I would love to hear from them. Thanks.
Honestly I think everyone is going to have a different answer here. I use this easel: https://www.dickblick.com/products/richeson-italian-steel-tripod-easel/. This works well for me when I'm drawing on newsprint and standing as well as painting on canvas and sitting. The easel can't take a lot of weight so I use a 3/4 inch piece of foam core board and about 20 sheets of newsprint. The foam core board keeps things really light. But if you put too much weight on the easel it shakes a bunch more.
I like it the best because it can go really tall and fold up fairly small for transport. I like it because I can use it anywhere.
Now that I'm talking about this I should make a video about it. There are a lot of details that go into it.
Let me know if you have any questions about specific easels I"ve painted and drawn on multiple different types.
Thanks for this Christopher - just reading the way you have written about it helps me understand what I need to take into consideration, so that is really helpful. I'm considering making one as I'm pretty handy down in the woodshed and it strikes me that my folding table top easel would make a good design for a taller one - being in there today has highlighted how low my ceiling is - so I need to be really careful with the height I think...
