The Take It Easel is a commercial version of a hundred year old Gloucester Easel design based on a wooden tripod construction.
Company name: Take It Easel
Website: www.takeiteasel.com
Pochade box name: Plein Air Easel
Type: Gloucester Easel
Price range: $450
Weight: 8.5lb, 3.86kg
Palette size: 23.5″x 30″, 60cm x 78cm
Construction: Wood
Description
The system is basically an easel with three extending wooden legs, but with the addition of a protruding bar from the top part of the tripod that holds the panel vertical.
- Stable
Extremely stable in windy conditions. The fully-adjustable tripod legs span up to four feet. The legs are engineered so they can never slip. - Lightweight but with large painting capacity
Less than 10 lbs. Yet capable of supporting canvases as small as 4”x6”, as large as 50” tall, and even wider… - Easy to carry
Attached wide shoulder strap enables you to carry your other important supplies. - Umbrella-friendly
An umbrella can be clamped to the extra Artwork Support Peg to shade you and your artwork - The support system lets you place a very large palette on the easel (the easel does not include a palette). This means your palette, brushes, and medium are all at an accessible working height while you are standing or sitting.
Construction
- The Take It Easel wood is North American hard maple, sourced primarily from Vermont and upstate New York, and some from Canada. I currently have the Take It Easel wood milled locally in Vermont.
- The Take It Easel hooked rod dowels are birch, which is the most common wood used for doweling because of straightness.
- The Take It Easel internal springs are rustproof case hardened stainless steel, and the knobs are solid brass.
- Other Take It Easel parts materials include brass (nuts, bolts & pins), brass-plated steel (hinges), copper-plated steel (palette support bar brackets), and zinc plated steel (hinge eye-bolt).
How to set it up
The set-up and breakdown takes less than a minute.
Accessories
The Traditional Model of the Take It Easel comes the way it has for decades, with the exception of a couple of recent enhancements: the standard cotton shoulder strap was replaced with the rifle sling on every Traditional Model, and the easel now supports even larger canvases than before. Every Traditional Model comes with one Extender Leg (for extremely uneven terrain), one Hooked Rod (to secure the top of your artwork), and three Canvas Support Pegs (one is a spare). You can also get wooden blocks to support the easel on soft snow.
2023 Update from Take It Easel
The new Take It Easel comes the way it has for decades, with the exception of a few enhancements:
1. We replaced the old 1” cotton shoulder strap with a wider, padded rifle sling on every easel
2. Your easel now supports slightly larger canvases than before.
3. We replaced the old small cotton “wrap strap” with its metal buckle, with a stronger, fade- and fray-resistant nylon strap and a more durable plastic buckle.
Your Take It Easel comes with one Extender Leg (for extremely uneven terrain), one Hooked Rod (to secure the top of your artwork), and three Artwork Support Pegs (one is a spare). Please note: based on much feedback, these pegs are now made from square stock rather than round dowels, and no longer have brass loops on them to strap them to your easel. Most artists keep their pegs in their paint box or their supply bag, and find this saves time and energy as compared to strapping the pegs to the easel after each use! Also, the crossbar is now hinged off the left leg instead of the right due to customer feedback.
Comparison
To compare it with other plein air easels, see my Guide to Plein Air Easels.
To compare it with other pochade boxes, see my Guide to Pochade Boxes.
Reviews of Take It Easel
A great proven design for both large and small paintings
This easel is a superb design in that it handles both large and small paintings, and at the same time can support an extremely large palette. No other easel design has such flexibility. As a result the palette area to weight efficiency ratio is extremely high compared to all other easels (except for the Easel… Read more “A great proven design for both large and small paintings”
So happy with my Take It Easel!
I like to paint the coastal scenery of Northern California and wind is a real problem. My Take It Easel is steadfast and rock-steady in windy conditions while painting on large canvases. After several years, it still looks beautiful and the legs extend easily. I’ve used it for tiny 6×8 inch paintings up to 24×48″… Read more “So happy with my Take It Easel!”
Professional proven equipment for Plein Air
Have It for more than five years , there is nothing that bugs me , I had gotten other gifts after that, always disappoint me – I have organized my stuff for outdoor session based on Richard Schmidt painting instructions and I am happy and serious about the work – there is room and thought… Read more “Professional proven equipment for Plein Air”
Good in wind, not perfect
I purchased this easel to paint outside and where I am there are some pretty Gusty winds. I was able to blow it over without too much problem painting a 24×30 in gusty winds. I’ve since modified, not the easel but the setup, adding hanging barbell weights. We’ll see how that works. Overall an awesome… Read more “Good in wind, not perfect”
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