Easels are the upright stands specially designed to hold or support the painter’s canvas or a large sketchbook. This helps the artists to work with ease. These stands are used to display large paintings during exhibitions. Easels are available in wood, steel or aluminum. Easels can be of full length designed to stand by itself or short easel that are designed to be used on a table.
Easels are designed to serve different purposes like:-
Tripod design:
Stands on three legs. Sometimes the cross bars are included to make easel more stable and sometimes for vertical adjustment of the working plane independent mechanism is included but the stability of the three legs remains intact.
H-Frame designs: Are based on right angles. The base of the easel is rectangular and so all the posts are parallel to each other. The design of this easel is of “H” shape.
The easels are used in studios, fieldwork and for display purposes.
Studio easels: are generally large one with simple or complex designs. These easels include winches, casters and multiple masts and are used in artist’s studio.
Field easels: are portable and can be easily moved from one place to another. They are used for outdoor or field paintings. They are usually mid-size or small with telescopic or collapsible leg. French box easels are well equipped with a compartment to keep art supplies in it.
Display easels: the designs of these easels are very simple with less concern for the stability. The artists use these easels to display their finished piece of art.