My Utrecht easel has served me well. True, it’s held together with glue and clamps, but it still handles the large-size paintings that I make.
One thing the easel lacks is a place to rest a palette, even a small one. I keep my normal palette on a mobile cabinet that I wheel around as I work. Here’s a quick shot of my normal palette.
This untitled painting is a tad big for the easel. Even with my mobile palette, it’s tedious to stretch several feet to reach some of the colors.
So, I’m using a large clamp to anchor a small palette to the easel for this painting. Keeping the palette close to canvas enables me to work without interruption.
Of course, the arrangement doesn’t work when I move the canvas high or low. But for its limited scope, the setup works for me.