Plein air systems, other than pochade boxes, are generally of four types: French Box Easels, Mast Easels, Gloucester easels and lightweight field easels.
Mast Easels
Mast Easels are easily the most popular type of plein air system after pochade boxes.
In Mast Easels the palette is usually hung on the front two tripod legs, below the tripod head, and the easel itself is usually a long bar, with crossbar holders for the panels, attached to the tripod mount and often elevated well above the palette, acting as the “mast”.
This arrangement allows for the panel or canvas to be elevated to eye level, while the palette stays within easy reach.
The palette is often a trifold design, with extension palettes or shelves that fold out to the sides of the main palette, offering a table-like mixing and materials area.
Many painters prefer these systems over pochade boxes, in which the palette and easel are a single attached unit.
The arrangement also often provides a larger mixing area than most pochade boxes can offer (though there are exceptions in some of the larger pochades with extension palettes).
In larger versions of these systems, it also allows for larger panels or canvasses than many pochade boxes.
Another advantage is the palette hangs on the legs of the tripod, so only the panel or canvas is weight on the head of the tripod, allowing for more weight to be distributed on a lighter tripod than might be needed for an all in one pochade box. of a similar weight.
Art Box and Panel -The Coulter Easel
The Coulter Easel is a prime example of the mast easel design. The sturdy wooden palette box sits on the tripod legs a few inches below the top of a typical tripod, and opens into three sections, providing a very generous mixing area.
The Coulter easel is made of wooden components, and comes in three sizes of palette and three lengths of panel holder.
The largest, the Standard Palette, is 12×16″ when closed and opens to 16×18″. The Standard Panel Holder can hold panels or canvasses up to 20: high, with unrestricted width.
A friend of mine uses one of these and loves it, taking advantage of both the mixing area and the flsxibility of palette and panel position.
As far as I know, the Coulter Easel is only available from the Art Box and Panel website.
Unfortunately, the website is rather awful, with huge paragraphs of low-contrast centered text, that actively discourages reading! (What were they thinking?). Still, with a little perseverance, you can find the information you need.
The Daybreak Easel
The Daybreak easel is at the very lightweight end of the mast easel range, made of lightweight wood with a slim design that mounts on a standard tripod.
The minimalist website doesn’t list weights, but a friend of mine uses one of these and loves the light weight, versatility and compact nature of the system.
The Daybreak easel comes in three sizes, the palette section ranging from 10×7″ to 14×9″.. The panel holders range from 12 to 20″.
As far as I know, the Daybreak Easel is only available from the maker’s website.
The website is functional, but does little to show you the easel in use. You may want to look for YouTube videos that give a better picture of the size and functionality.
The Soltek Easel
The Soltek Easel is well known among painters who prefer the mast easel design.
While most of the mast easel style systems are made of wood and mounted to a standard photographic tripod, the Soltek is metal, and the tripod legs and mast are built in, creating a free standing unit.
There are two models, the Ultra and the Compact. These can have different configurations of palette box and add-on shelves, including a palette designed for watercolor.
The mast panel holder for the larger version can handle panels or canvasses up to 30″ high and unrestricted in width.
The website makes a point of the current Soltek Easels being “Soltek 2.0”,, a revised version of the original design.
They also offer a “Trio”, the tripod frame plus both the Ultra and Compact boxes, which can be interchanged.
As far as I know, the Soltekk Easel is only available from the maker’s website.
The Strada Easel
The Strada Easel is another well known metal mast easel system made of aluminum. In this case, meant to be mounted to a traditional photographic tripod, of which they offer their own branded version.
The Strada mast easel is available in a single model, the Strada Mark II. The mast and palette can be purchased separately, or as part of a package with the tripod.
As with most mast systems, the palette covers fold out to be wing extenders when open, providing a large, table-like mixing and materials area.
The mast can handle panels or canvasses up to 30″ high and unrestricted in width.
Strada also makes metal boxes in the pochade box style, which I’ve mentioned ny special article on pochade boxes.
As far as I know, the Strada Easel is only available from the maker’s website
Prolific Painter Daytripper
The Daytripper Easel is a wooden mast style system, meant to be mounted to a standard photographic tripod, that comes in two size variations, the Daytripper and the smaller Fly On The Wall Easel.
These are both available with a choice of glass, plexiglass or wood for the mixing area, and wooden wings that provide shelf or extra mixing area.
As with most mast systems, the palette covers fold out to be wing extenders when open, providing a large, table-like mixing and materials area.
The masts and crossbars are offered in varying sizes, and can apparently be turned sideways to accommodate even larger panels or canvasses.
The specs for the Daytripper 18″ mast say it can accommodate panels up to 18×36, vertical or horizontal.
They also list 24 and 30″ “Off Center” masts. I’m not clear on what that means.
The photographs on the website are inexplicably dark and backlit, making it difficult to actually see the easels. I’ve tried to lighten them somewhat here.
As far as I know, the Dayripper Easel is only available from the Prolific Painter website.
En Plein Air Pro
En Plein Air Pro offers a variety of aluminum mast easel styles, sizes and configurations, designed for both oil/acrylic and watercolor painting, and includes a design for pastel.
The panel holders, shelves and palettes can be ordered separately or in package sets.
The largest is the Professional Series oil/acrylic package, which can handle canvasses up to 22″ tall and unrestricted in width.
The palette mixing area can be either glass or an “abrasion resistant surface”. The side wings appear to be drilled for brush holders.
They also offer custom backpacks for their systems.
As far as I know, the En Plein Air products are only available from the company’s website.
The Leder Easel
The Leder Easel is a wood and metal mast style system, meant to me mounted on a standard photographic tripod, that consists of the mast/panel holder and a palette holder, on which you would place your own palette.
The Leder Easel elements can be ordered separately or as a kit with a carry bag.
They also offer a proprietary Easel Caddy, consisting of a clamp-on bar with a brush holder and solvent jar holder, available in three variations.
The mast panel or canvas holder can handle surfaces up to 24″ high.
The palette holder wood structure is 15″ wide and the supports extend 10.75 inches.
You would use your own choice of palette,. A suggestion is something like the Masterson Sta-wet palette, which is a favorite of many painters.
As far as I know, the leder Easel is only available from the company’s website.
Guerrilla Painter Campaign Box and Flex Easel
This is an undeservedly obscure mast easel system from Guerrliia Painter, a company better known for their pochade boxes.
This is the closest I’ve seen to a combination of the two kinds of systems, in that the palette’s fold out wings offer materials storage under their shelves, like many pochade boxes and unlike any other mast easel system I’ve seen.
The Campaign Box is sold separately from the Flex Easel mast type panel holder system. Why they’re not offered as a combination is beyond me.
The Flex Easel holds panels up to 20″ tall.
The Campaign Box is 16 x 10 x 4″ closed, and 31.5 x 10 x 2″ open.
The Campaign Box and Flex Easel are available from Gurrilla Painter, Judson’s Art Outfitters and Dick Blick.
Campaign Box – Guerrilla Painter
Flex Easel – Guerrilla Painter
Campaign Box – Judson’s Outfitters
Flex Easel – Judson’s Outfitters
French or Box Easels
Originally called box easels, and now known as French easels from their origin in France, these are the outdoor painting systems that, along with the advent of the tin paint tube, sparked the plein air painting revolution of the mid 19th century, first among the French Barbizon School and the Italian Macchiaioli, then the French Impressionists, the Hudson River School and their inheritors.
Their use was likely preceded by the adaptation of simple studio tripod easels accompanied by handheld palettes — the equivalent of a modern wooden field easel.
Box easels, however, carried paints brushes and other materials and provided a built in platform for a pallette, which was also carried in the box, basically providing a portable painting studio.
By today’s standards of pochade boxes and mast easels, French Easels are sometimes considered heavy, clunky, awkward, and difficult to set up, but they still have many adherents.
One advantage over pochade boxes they share with mast easels is the ability to handle larger panels or canvasses.
French Easels generally come in two sizes, full and half box. I think the latter has most of the advantages of the former, with less weight and a smaller unit to carry.
There are some modern variations with metal rather than wooden adjustable legs, eliminating some of the problems with the wooden leg extensions which are generally secured with bolts and wingnuts.
While there are some variations in design among manufacturers, many of them seem identical, likely from the same factory with different branding.
I would recommend searching out YouTube videos of users to get a real feeling for using one of these.
Jillian French Easels
The original box easels were developed in the mid 1800’s by a person or persons unknown.
In 1948, Roger Jullian, at the time a prisoner of war, designed a refined variation of the originals that became popular when put into production.
The Jillian of Paris company likes to refer to their design as the “original” French Easel, but that’s a bit of a stretch. It is, however, the oldest still operating producer of these designs.
My understanding is the easels originally manufactured in France were of a higher quality than any competitors, and are still prized by devotees.
However, since the manufacturer moved production to China, there have been complaints of a reduction in the quality of materials and build, following what I assume is the manufacturing process of most of their competitors and leveling the field.
These consist of the fold-up easel and a base with a single drawer for materials that serves to hold the included palette when extended forward.
The drawer is lined with a metal tray divided into sections.
The panel/canvas holder can be extended to handle surfaces up to 34′ high in the full box, and 32″ high in the half box.
The company offers full and half boxes in various woods and finishes, along with carry bags and other accessories, They also offer a watercolor variation that lays flat, which the regular models will not.
Jillian Paris (English language version)
Dick Blick full (Blick branded, by Jullian)
Dick Blick half box
Jerry’s Artarama both styles
Jullian Hybrid
Though similar to the traditional French easel in the configuration of the box and easel, this is different in using four metal legs instead of the normal three wooden ones.
This seems like a good idea to me, in that I think many of the issues with French easels are with the legs, and their wingnut adjustments.
These legs adjust using standard thumb levers, like those on most modern tripods.
Meeden HX-3
This is very similar to the Jullian full box in most respects, but different in that the drawer is divided by wood dividers rather than metal trays, and it comes with a metal clip on side panel with brush notches.
It comes in three finishes.
Monet French Easel with Wheels
This is basically similar to most other French easels, except that it has wheels and an extendable handle like a suitcase.
Interesting idea. Perhaps meant for taking your french easel through airports, I don’t know.
I’m not sure how the little wheels might fare on rough ground, but they’re probably practical on paved paths.
I’ve only seen these offered through Jerry’s Artarama and Amazon. There may be other brands out there for the same thing.
Falling In Art
Like the Jullian Hybrid, this French easel uses metal legs, in this case three, more like traditional designs.
This also features a second level of storage, two compartment beneath the primary drawer, with a space in between where the middle leg folds up for carrying.
Tha easel and panel/canvass holder are also a bit different.
I’ve only seen these on Amazon. There may well be similar designs under other brand names.
Gloucester Easels
Back in the early 20th century, an artist colony sprang up in Gloucester, Massachusetts, at times attracting artists like Winslow Homer and Edward Hopper.
Among them was an artist named Oscar Anderson who crafted and sold a new kind of easel, at the time known as the Anderson Easel.
These were in use by well known artists like Aldro Hibbard and Emil Gruppe.
Eventually, others manufactured versions of this design, improving on it in the process, and they became known as Gloucester Easels.
These consist of a large wooden tripod, held securely in place by cross bracing, that also serves as a plafrom for setting out palettes, even large ones.
These easels are lightweight, and in use are extremely sturdy, wind resistant and capable of larger canvasses or panels than any other common outdoor easel design.
At first glance in a photograph, you might think a Gloucester Easel is a larger version of a regular field easel, but photos can be deceiving. These easels (from the major companies, not Chinese knock-offs) are way better built, with much better materials and assembly craftsmanship than any wooden field easels.
These are more involved to set up than most modern plein air systems, but perhaps comparable to a French easel.
I only know of two current manufacturer’s of this style easell, Nadeau and Beauport.
The Naudeau Easel
Formerly called the Take-it-Easel, this is probably the best known contemporary version of the Gloucester Easel.
If you look through the images and videos on their site, you can get an idea of just how sturdy, versatile and well built these easels are.
The middle braces, that hold the tripod in a geometrically strong form. also serve as a platform for palettes and/or a shelf. Other materials can be hung off the cross bars.
They collapse down into a fairly compact form for transport.
This is the more expensive of the two Gloucester style easels, and is likely more popular for reasons of materials and build quality.
As far as I know, these are only available from the company’s website.
The Beauport Easel
This is another contemporary version of the Gloucester Easel.
Basically similar in design, it appeals to those who want a cheaper alternative to the Nadeau, and are willing to accept a sacrifice in the level of materials and build quality.
You will find articles and videos on “tweaking” the Beauport to improve it.
The middle braces, that hold the tripod in its assembled form. also serve as a platform for palettes and/or a shelf. Other materials can be hung off the cross bars.
These collapse down into a somewhat long bundle form with a bag for transport. .
These are available from Jerry’s Artarama and Amazon. I haven’t found a website for the manufacturer. (Perhaps that tells you something, I don’t know.)
Field Easels
Field Easels AKA, travel easels, are the least expensive easel option for painting outdoors.
They are also the least sturdy, least versatile and most limited option.
I don’t have the time or mental cycles to go through brands on these. Most of them are somewhat similar in design and price.
Often also used as indoor display easels, these consist of a lightweight tripod with a bracket of some kind for holding a panel or canvas.
They are either made of aluminum or wood, and right off I will disrecommend the wooden ones as less durable and more problematic than the metal ones.
There is no provision for holding a palette or materials on these.. Presumably, you could use a hand-held palette with a camping table to hold materials.
Some offer a panel/canvas holder that is adjustable in angle; these would be more flexible than those that only allow changing the angle of the surface by adjusting the easel legs.
If you just want to stick your toe in the water for plein air painting, perhaps this is a way you might want to go.
But if you think you’ll be doing plein air painting to any significant degree, a pochade box or one of the other plein air systems I mention here would be preferable in the long run.
If you’re on a tight budget, you might look for used equipment or a DIY option.
US art Supply – Amazon
Blick Studio – DIck Blick
Napoli – Jerry’s Artarama
Soho – Jerry’s Artarama
Valerri – Jerry’s Artarama
A note about tripods
Though some of the mast easel systems have built in legs, many are meant to be attached to a standard photographic tripod.
Two things are important to consider when looking for a tripod. One is weight, both in terms of the weight ot the tripod as part of what you’re carrying into the field, and in terms of being able to support your easel steadily enough while in use.
The other factor is a quick release plate. Most, but not all tripods come with them. They make it convenient to snap your panel holder in position.
The quick release plate can also be a weak point in some models; make sure it will hold your panel holder securely without undue motion when painting.
Foutunately, because the design of these systems put the weight of the palette directly on the legs, the tripod head only has to take the weight of the panel holder and panel, allowing for the use af a lighter weight tripod tham might be required for an all in one pochade box.
If cost is the factor, consider looking for used tripods. Look on eBay or Craig’s list or similar, or in your cousin’s attic. You may be surprised.