Table easels

A table easel sits on your desk, worktop or windowsill and lets you paint sitting down, with no studio and no room needed for a large floor easel. It works for oils, acrylics and watercolour, for drawing and sketching, and for displaying a finished picture. All the easels in this category are made of wood, most of them oiled beech. Here you'll find adjustable Mabef easels, small Leonarto Elara display easels, easels with storage for your paints and tilting drawing boards.

How big a canvas can a table easel hold?

What matters is the maximum canvas height, which the manufacturer states for each easel. The Leonarto Elara Mini (12 cm) and Elara Midi (27 cm) hold a business card or a picture 7 or 22 cm tall respectively. The classic Elara stands 39 cm tall and holds canvases up to 33 cm, while the Elara Maxi takes up to 50 cm. For larger formats, go for an adjustable easel: the Mabef Tripod Table Easel holds a canvas up to 68 cm tall, and the Mabef Oil/Watercolour Table Easel up to 100 cm. If you paint even bigger canvases, take a look at all our painting easels.

A-frame, tripod, box easel or board?

• A-frame display easels (Leonarto Elara, Daler Rowney Simply Table Easel Mini) have a fixed angle. Use them to display a picture, a photo or a small canvas, or to paint a small piece.
• Adjustable easels and tripods (Mabef Basic Table Easel, Mabef Tripod Table Easel, Leonarto Elba) adjust in height, and the Mabef Basic Table Easel in angle too. The Mabef tripod and the Elba fold away when you're done.
• Easels with storage (Mabef Table Sketch Box, Daler Rowney Edinburgh) have compartments for paints and brushes. The Edinburgh holds canvases and sketchbooks up to A3.
• Tilting boards (Meeden Board Table Easel, Mabef Display Table Easel) hold paper or a canvas on the board. The A3 Meeden 6079 adjusts to 6 positions, from horizontal up to 70°.

Can you paint with watercolour on a table easel?

Yes, as long as the holder or board tilts almost flat; otherwise the paint runs down the upright paper. The Mabef Oil/Watercolour Table Easel and the Mabef Table Sketch Box both adjust from vertical to horizontal, and the Oil/Watercolour can even go below table level. For oils and acrylics a steeper angle is enough, so a fixed display easel will do the job as well. You'll find paper under watercolour paper and canvases among our painting canvases.