Right now I am fortunate enough to have two fully stocked painting setups, one I use outdoors on location or as you will hear me say plein air painting and one that I use in my studio area setup. I have a half box French easel that I received as a birthday gift several years ago that I absolutely love. That one is so nice I use it inside as a studio easel. A few years ago, I got a pochade box from SAA in the U.K. online and that one is my favorite for outdoors for it’s size and features.
I have my first paint box that I bought new in 1981 that has gotten loose and wobbly over time and smells like grumbacher oil paint and turpentine. It served me well for a long time but now it has been retired and deservedly so. I also have another smaller pochade box that I made to replace the old one and it works fine. I have it as a spare kit or if someone needs to borrow one.
The half box French easel is a copy of the original French easels designed by French impressionists to paint outdoors with. It is the smaller size that makes it a little lighter easier to carry, but still holds everything. The pull out shelf has 3 compartments for paint tubes and one long one for brushes. It can hold a small 6 x 8 or up to 20 x 30, larger I suppose but that’s as big as I would ever paint right now. I guess I would take it outdoors to paint at a plein air paint out, maybe. It’s just such a nice piece I hate to get it dirty. Even though it’s got paint all over it now. 🙂
The SAA pochade box is my go to box. I have it customized the way I like it and it works great. I would take it anywhere. I have done at least 30 canvases on that box. It has a unique design that I like, it’s different than what everyone else has. It will hold all my tubes of paint under the slide out palette. The easel part is slotted to hold 6 x 8 panels and with my customizing I can also use 8 x 10 maybe even 9 x 12 panels. I got one for my Mother-in-Law too. She started painting and needed one.
I like all the products out there from Guerilla Painters, Alla Prima, Mabef etc. but they were just out of my budget and the two I have were right in budget for me. I can recommend either of the two I use, but if you are in the market for an easel shop around there are a lot of choices. Just get something sturdy and one that fits you. You will know if it’s the right one if you just can’t quit looking at it. 🙂
Paint.Relax.Repeat.
until next time
JeffreyJBowers