Buying the Right Easel

Choosing the right easel can make your painting experience more comfortable and productive. Selecting the right one is important, and this guide will get you started.

Do not get the kind of table to easel that has a wood box to store supplies. They get very heavy once loaded with oil painting gear.

Instead, get this lighter-weight table top easel. It is a great solution for painting in a small area. And more comfortable for some, than painting flat on a  table.
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This light-weight easel can hold a fairly large painting. This one is 16" x 20".

This easel folds down for easy storage and carrying.

Standing easels. Some are very large, heavy and expensive but they work well. Pictured here is an inexpensive, light-weight, aluminum standing easel that works really well to. A large expensive easel doesn't help you paint a picture better that a light-weight one.

Plein Air Easels are designed for painting outdoors, though some painters use them indoors as well. Light-weight aluminum is best. The one pictured also comes with a backpack, which make transporting your supplies much easier. My rant against the classic wooden ones is that they take long to set up, they are heavy when loaded with painting supplies, and on cheaper models, the brass fittings come loose.  But some painters love them.

A plein air pochade box is an easel that has a box for your supplies and pallet  attached to a tripod. They are lighter-weight, assemble easily, and come in aluminum and wood. They are great for small paintings.

Easels are often used by painters in my live oil painting classes.