Easels should help make the life of the pet portrait artist much easier, by offering a secure support for their canvas, at just the right height and angle. However, there are a number of varieties to choose from, each one designed to meet the particular needs of the artist whether they are in a studio or outdoors.
The most versatile is the sketching easel. This has been designed to close-up for ease of carrying, ideal for field work. Sketching easels are tripods, each leg being fully adjustable to enable the easel to be placed on uneven ground. It has moveable brackets that allow for quite a broad range of canvas sizes, all of which can be moved to any angle, including fully horizontal. It’s lightweight nature is a bonus when in transit, though can result in it being unstable in breezy conditions, especially with large canvases. This though can be partially helped by dangling a heavy object from the centre pivot.
For the recreational painter, a sketching easel makes a good studio easel, as it can be easily stored when finished with. There are a choice of materials; aluminium is the most lightweight, steal is the strongest, but also the heaviest. Traditional wooden easels need to be oiled prior to being taken outside and exposed to the elements.
For those artists fortunate enough to have a big studio in which to work, studio easels provide the capacity to handle much larger paintings. These easels are made of wood, the simplest form an ‘A’ shape, the larger ones ‘H’ shapes. There are quite a few variations, some with casters, paint trays & devices to raise and lower paintings as required. More expensive models have motors that lift and lower the canvas for you. However, the fundamental reason for using an easel, is to enable the artist to hold his or her canvas securely, so your final choice should depend on where you will work and the size of the canvases you wish to work on.
Whatever you go for, happy painting!
