Sienna Studio Counterweight Easel

Pros

Super easy to lift or lower. Only a simple touch of the handle effort required.
Beautiful
Can handle a wide range of canvas sizes.
Very solid construction.

Cons
Price, but the quality is worth it.

dickblick.com

Description

This is my dream easel. The Sienna Studio Counterweight Easel uses a very unique and effective counterweight mechanism to adjust the height of the paintings that you are working on. It uses a counterweight system that balances the weights of the supports to hold the painting that you are working on steady. This means that if you want to adjust the height of your painting it is simple and effortless to move.


Sienna Counterweight Easel – $1,863.74

from: Blick Art Materials

This counterweight system means that you don’t need to mess with winches and cranks, or finicky adjustment knobs. This is a huge benefit as I have totally stripped the screws on my current easel’s clamping knobs. This makes adjusting the height quite difficult (I actually need to use plyers). I would love to have the Sienna Studio easel in my studio so that I could quickly and easily adjust the height. This would be great if you are working on a large painting and you want to adjust the height. This means that you can work on different areas of the painting at the proper height. No more bending over or kneeling down into awkward positions to work on the bottom of the canvas. It is also great if you are someone that likes to switch between sitting and standing while you work. Maybe you start of your painting standing by adding big bold brush strokes. Then you sit down to do the finishing details. With the Sienna Studio Counterweight Easel you can easily adjust the height in seconds if you are sitting or standing.

Features of the Sienna Studio Counterweight Easel

This easel feature two different bottom platforms for you do place your work on. The middle platform is great for the smaller pieces that you are working on. bottom bracket goes almost all the way to the floor and is amazing for the largest pieces that you are working on. This easel can actually accommodate canvases that are up to 72″ tall. That is six feet! Even better is that by using the middle platform you can work on your smallest paintings (down to 8″ x 10″). This makes the easel incredible versatile and probably the only easel that you will need in your studio. This is especially true if you work on a wide range of paintings.

Despite the size of canvases that the easel can handle, it actually takes up quite a small amount of floor space. It’s footprint is only 30″ x 30″ and it is only 67″ tall. That is great if your “studio” is just the corner of a spare bedroom. An added benefit is that the bottom of the easel has locking wheels. So if you are in a shared space (like a bedroom, office, or garage) you can simply push the easel into the corner when you aren’t needing it and the room can be used like normal. When you are ready to use it, wheel it out and lock the wheels. This will give you a secure solid base to work on. In fact once the easel is loaded with weights it is very solid and sturdy. It is built solidly with beautiful wood, and is meant for serious duty.

This easel actually looks like an expensive piece of furniture when it isn’t is use! And know that it is designed for serious duties. Great if you are a professional artist or an amateur that wants the very best.

It also has small black pads that are on each of the platforms. This helps separate you painting from the actual wood of the platform. This helps you avoid your painting actually sticking to easel. This is especially useful if you paint heavily like I do!

Note: The easel does not ship with the counterweight plates. These are usually quite heavy and would probably make shipping quite expensive. The good news is that you can pick these up pretty easily at any most stores that sell sporting goods.

What I don’t like about this easel

There is very, very little that I don’t like about the Sienna Studio Counterweight Easel. And in my mind, it is one of the very best easels that you can buy. But like most things in life, if you want the very best, it is going to cost you. And this is no different, the “Ferrari” of easels is definitely on the more expensive side. But I think that it is absolutely worth it. Especially for its ease of use and quality construction.

The other thing that you should note, is that once it is loaded with counterweights it is quite heavy. This is great if want a very sturdy platform to work on, but not so much if you plan on moving around. While the wheels allow it to be quickly and easily moved around a room, taking it up stairs or outside would be awkward. If you are a plein-air painter, then you should leave this one in the studio and look at a dedicated plein-air easel for when you are on location.

This is definitely an easel that I would like in my studio. As I mentioned earlier, it has many of the characteristics that would make this my dream easel.

 

 


Sienna Counterweight Easel – $1,863.74

from: Blick Art Materials

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