The Ultimate Watercolor Easel-Cheap Joe's Signature Field Easel
Cheap Joe's Signature Field Easel
Today I will be reviewing the Cheap Joe's Signature Field Easel. As soon as I saw this easel I knew it was exactly what I was looking for. Those who know me know that I love pochade boxes. I have my little Guerilla Thumbox and my Alla Prima Bitteroot boxes. Both are great for acrylics or oils but were lacking for me for watercolor. It says on the CJ's website that this easel was designed with the watercolorist in mind. This looks very much like the easel that master watercolorist Joseph Zbukvic uses.
I love this easel. It is super easy to set up and take down and it has plenty of workspace in all of the right places. The mast portion has a landscape orientation which I really like. You do need to tape your work to a board or use blocks. It can be set upright and flat as well. The legs are fully adjustable and super easy to fold up. The box also came with a free DVD that has set up instructions and a nice watercolor tutorial on painting trees. This is a great box for other medium as well but it may lack the storage space required for acrylic and oil. It is available in cherry or black and right now it is on sale for only $169. Cheap Joe's also often has great prices on shipping. I only paid $4.95 to have this UPSed to my home. Follow them on Twitter for some good coupon codes and art deals.
I originally bought this as an extra work station for my studio but I will definitely be taking this one outside to do plein air work. Overall- a super box for a super great price! I have a lot of photos below. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions!
Enjoy the day!
Deborah
Watercolor Plein Air Set Up
Ready to paint
I have had a few requests from readers to see my plein air set up for
watercolors. I only use this set up when I settle in for a few hours of painting or when I am doing a paint out. I much prefer my smaller portable set which is on me most of the time. So I actually have 2 set ups for wc. A small one in my purse
which I will detail in another post and my larger set up for bigger
paintings. I use the Alla Prima 10 x 12 Bitterroot Pochade Box for my watercolors. This is a really great box hand made here in the USA by Ben Haggett!
Here is the box ready to go. I have a lightweight, 11 x 16
masonite board, my chair, water and tripod strapped to the pochade with
elastic straps and I have added a shoulder strap that I took off an old
bag. The whole thing weighs about 8 pounds.
Here a couple of photos of the set up. Ready to paint.
I use an enameled metal box which folds up and fits in the drawer or my new Heritage palette from Cheap Joe's
(which I really like but does not fit in the drawer) for my paints. I
fill my own pans with M Grahams and a few Holbein colors. Board fits
very nicely into the magnetic clips of pochade. I can also fit blocks
of Arches paper in a variety of sizes very nicely. This is one
versatile pochade box. I love seeing other set up so post links with
what you use!
Yours in art,
Deborah
