Jakar Lightweight Adjustable Watercolour Easel

I have had lightweight easels before, but this beats all hands down. Love it! It is so easy to assemble and adjust and with it's little pouch, fits right over your shoulder for ease of transport. It's a dream. Two of my other artist friends also agree, they both went out and bought one when they saw mine. I have fashioned a wooden shelf for it for mixing paint on, so I'm all set up for Plein Air painting... bring it on!

This probably the best sketching easel on the UK market. I use it for watercolour painting both in the field and studio. But like most gear, it is not perfect. I want to be able to fix the tilt of my board but still be able to alter it easily while painting without having to loosen a screw or two. The solution was to add a stiff rubber washer in the swivel joint (knob A in their diagram). I want my water close at hand. The solution was to drill a hole at the end of the swivel arm and hang the water pot on a hook. And finally I want to be able to sometimes paint with my board in a "portrait" format which means I need about 80 cm between the supports. The Jakar however only opens to a maximum of 54cm. Please solve this one for me Jakar! The Winsor and Newton Bristol easel, which is in many ways similar, does have this possibility to open up for a support in "portrait" format, but is inferior in other ways.

Still in very early days of using , this easel is well made and versatile. Not easy initially to work out how to set up but I get the feeling that with use and familiarity it will become more friendly. I bought it to go on holiday with , it has a good carry case with a strap (good idea but strap fixed would have preferred it to be adjustable.)

Weighs exactly as stated but did not realise my old wooden collapseable easel was in fact a lot lighter - so old faithful came on hols in the end!

I think I will enjoy using this easel for more local outdoor work or in the garden.