Watercolor Artist - USA (2020-06)

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Wanttobuildyourowneasel?Getadviceandseeotherhomemadeeaselsat“SketchEaselBuilders,”

aFacebookpublicgroup.Makersfromaroundtheworldsharetheirownconstructedvariationsonmy

sketcheaselandoffertips,aswellassourcesforpartsandtools.

ALLSYSTEMSGO

WhilethissystemiswhatI’vefound
worksbestforme,it tooka lotof
excursionsinwhichI packedtoo
much,notenoughorevenjustthe
wrongitems.
Ifyou’reassemblingyourown
on-the-gokit,bepatientandrealize
thatit takestime.Whenyou’re
on-siteandfindthatyou’remissing
a must-havetoolormaterial,write
yourselfa notesothatyou’resureto
remembertoaddtheitemtoyourkit

for your next trip. After you’ve

returned from several outings in

a row, go through your kit and

remove extraneous items. Channel

“Goldilocks and the Th ree Bears”:

You’re striving for not too much or

too little, but just right. WA

James Gurney (jamesgurney.com

and @jamesgurneyart on Instagram)

was hired out of art school to work as

a background painter for the animated

fi lm Fire and Ice. He freelanced as

a science fi ction paperback cover artist

and painted historical reconstructions

for National Geographic. Gurney

co-authored Th e Artist’s Guide to

Sketching and is the author and

illustrator of Dinotopia: A Land Apart

From Time, Color and Light: A Guide

for the Realist Painter and Imaginative

Realism: How to Paint What Doesn’t

Exist. His YouTube channel features

more than 200 videos.

When I paint in my

watercolor sketch-

books, I use a versatile

easel that I built myself

from two pieces of oak

plywood. It’s extremely

lightweight and easy

to assemble. The top

panel fi rmly attaches

to a camera tripod.

Clamped to the top

panel is a sketchbook

and a set of short-

handled brushes.

The bottom panel is

attached to the top

panel with two adjust-

able torque hinges,

which can be set to any

angle relative to the top

panel. Hidden magnets

in the bottom panel grip

the palette or mixing

surface that’s made

from a steel cover of

a pencil box enameled

white. I glued magnets

to the bottom of the

water container so

that it attaches as well.

If you search “sketch

easel” on YouTube,

you’ll fi nd some videos

showing the easel and

accessories in action.

An Adaptable Homemade Easel

SPRING CLAMP

GRIPPER

WATERCOLOR

SKETCHBOOK

PALETTEMADE FROM

BOXLIDPAINTED WHITE

CAMERA

TRIPOD

RAG

WATER CUP

ATTACHED WITH

MAGNETS

TRAVEL BRUSH SET