Several people have asked about my
Soltek easel and how it works. I love my
Soltek easel! I've had a half dozen easels - from a Julian French easel to a lightweight metal
Winsor & Newton. But the
Soltek is the Cadillac of easels.
(Click on the photo to see more details)The
Soltek sets up in about a minute. It holds stretched canvas or panels from about 5"x7" to larger than a 16"x20". It's totally adjustable as far as height, and even adjusts for uneven ground. There's a sliding mechanism in the legs that lets you adjust by the fraction of an inch.
The body consists of built in boxes that hold lots of brushes and all the paint you'd want to carry. It comes with a neutral gray palette that cleans like a dream. Nothing seems to damage it...not even high strength paint remover.
There are little "wings" that fold out on either side to hold used brushes,
turp, etc. I use small rectangles of non-skid shelf liner to hold used brushes so they won't roll into each other. The non-skid liner also helps keep my palette in place.
Closing up in a breeze. The palette fits perfectly into the box, the "wings" close over it, and the "mast" folds down to lock it into place. With the touch of a finger, the legs telescope back into themselves and I'm walking to the next painting site. There is a wide padded shoulder strap that can be positioned in several ways, as well as holes where I use a bungee cord to hold a roll of paper towels. It also comes with a clip that lets you attach a wet painting or panel to the closed easel for transport back to the car.
It can even be used as a table easel. The box shelf can be positioned
horizontally or at any angle that's comfortable.
8"x10" oil on RayMar panel, painted en plein air, alla prima, on September 8th (completed at 10:30am)...$85 including shipping....This was a rather interesting painting being somewhat of an experiment. I had pre-toned the panel using random areas of ultramarine blue, yellow ochre with alizarine crimson designating the focal point which was the stand of trees in the upper left. In the actual painting, my palette consisted of yellow ochre, indian red, prussian blue and white. I may have used a touch of ivory black in the greens. Using a limited palette in the toning process, then using another limited palette in the final painting is something I'll explore further. 
