Russell Black
Tin Pan Painter

This page will show how I have converted a camera tripod into an easel, and how I have reworked a traditional French easel into a more usable watercolor easel.

Converting an old camera tripod into an easel is pretty straightforward. You simply attach a 2" wide, 24" long aluminum ruler to the quick release of the tripod.

When attaching the quick release to the ruler, please be sure to use a "countersink" bolt and cut the bolt to the proper length to fit inside the quick release. This allows the watercolor board to sit flat on the ruler. The watercolor board is simply clipped to the ruler using a pair of 1" spring clamps.

The good points about this easel are: 1) quick and simple to set up, 2) the center mast adjusts which helps out on uneven ground, 3) weights only 2 lbs., and 4) since most of us have a tripod gathering dust in the closet, it costs almost nothing to convert a tripod into a usable easel. This idea isn't new as I've seen it mentioned in books going back to the 1950's.

The downside is that its not very sturdy. Because of the light weight, this easel can get a little shaky, especially in windy conditions. I usually attached my backpack to the center support using a climber's clip ring. With the additional weight of the backpack, the easel becomes more stable.

Like most artists, I have a French easel. The main problem with this easel, aside from the weight, is the fact that it wasn't developed for watercolor painters. This easel was meant for oil painters who hold their palettes on their arm. Subsequently, there is no real provision for holding a watercolor palette or water containers. Many additional items have been created over the years to hopefully deal with this situation, but in my opinion they don't address the real problem.

The problem is that the only way to hold the watercolor palette is to open the drawer and set the palette on top of it. This creates two additional issues: 1) to reach the stuff in the drawer you have to lift off the palette, not the best idea when you need a tool quickly during the painting process, and 2) with the drawer extended, you can't get close to the painting. Since our watercolor brushes are significantly shorter than oil brushes, we have to lean over to reach the painting, especially if we are working at a very low angle.

This easel just wasn't designed for watercolor painters plain and simple. However, I think we can do better. It just takes a few hours to redesign this easel into something more practical.

Here is my redesigned French easel (sorry about the room clutter). As you can see, I've made two very important changes: 1) I've taken off the original lid to the box and replaced it with a new top, hinged on the long side of the box!, and 2) I've replaced the pull out drawer with a pull out shelf. This allows you to stand in front of the painting and have your palette correctly off to one side (in this case, since I'm right handed, I set the palette off to the right).

You'll also see that I've attached a cup (from my old Army canteen), to the new "front" of the easel. This makes it easy to clean the brush or get water when needed.

The new top is a single panel of oak, hinged to the long side of the box with a 12" piano hinge. To hold the top in place at various angles, I've replaced the original adjustable supports with this single box lid adjusting bar. I have two possible locations: A) to adjust for low angles (above left), and B) for high angles to a nearly vertical (above right). This adjusting bar was a bit difficult to find as it has to be attached to the outside of the box.

Note the strip of wood acting as a rest for the watercolor board. The watercolor board can be quickly set on the top lid and can be secured simply with a clip allowing for a fast removal if you need to rotate the painting while working your washes. I discarded the original canvas supporting clamps in favor of a simpler method.  

I replaced the original pull out drawer with a pull out shelf (above). You can see how the palette (in this case a Frank Webb palette), fits exactly into the space. Smaller palettes like the John Pike or the Skip Lawrence palettes give you more room, but I wanted to make sure this large palette would fit in the box. Remove the palette and you can see the pull out shelf (above right).

By extending the shelf (above left), you can then set the palette on it (above right). I use a couple of clips to hold the palette securely in place in case it gets windy.

The two original storage compartments inside the easel are sufficient to hold your brushes and miscellaneous items. I don't miss the pull out drawer one bit. Provided that you fill up the wells of your palette with paint before you leave home, there is no real reason to lug around the heaviest part of the supplies, which are the tubes of paint.

You can see how thin the profile of the redesigned box is with all of the original stuff removed (above left). The canteen cup is attached to the new "front" of the easel using a simple thumb screw (above right). There is a special cabinet nut that you can embed in the wood to accommodate the thumb screw. I used this same cabinet nut for the lid support bracket as well. The canteen cup has a hole drilled in it for the thumb screw. The cup is securely attached to the easel while you paint, but can be removed easily when you need a change of water. When you are through painting, the cup goes with the one quart canteen which carries my water supply.

Understand this, French easels aren't cheap. The Jullian French easel can cost a pretty penny. You might question why I would take apart such an expensive piece of equipment, discard so much, and then rebuild it. Well, for one thing, this wasn't an expensive French easel. This was a cheapo model that I purchased 20 years ago for less than $40. Also, the easel was just gathering dust in the studio anyway and I rarely, if ever used it as it didn't function (for me), like I felt it should.

I don't know why manufacturers can't seem to address the issues that we, as watercolor painters have. Yes, there are many "gimmicky" easels out there, but why can't something like this be made simple, and most importantly, functional.

This is my solution.