Body Easels - Board Accessories and Sketchbooks

In the recent class I published on Skillshare, Painting Hedgerows in Watercolor, I used my DIY body easel in the en plein air painting demonstration.  The above video was included as one of the lessons in the class to show how all my tools are securely attached to my easel making it far easier to move about when necessary.  I never worry about a pen or brush rolling off my support board or leaving a little spray bottle in the grass.

I received several requests to share a bit more information about the sketchbook body easel which is the 2nd Generation Aerial Art Studio.  You saw photos of the sketchbook body easel in the last blog post. 

In response to the requests, here are a few photos showing both the small version and the larger sketchbook attached to my body using the cotton twill body harness. I've also included photos of the harness. It's lightweight, takes up hardly any room in your pocket and clips and unclips easily from the rings attached to the sketchbooks with stretch bands.

8.5" x 12" Moleskin sketchbook

5.25" x 8.25" Moleskin sketchbook

The harness is made from two lengths of cotton twill tied together, not quite in the middle.  Slip knots are tied at all four ends.  little clips fasten to the slip knot loops and the rings on the sketchbooks.

small sketchbook

 back of larger sketchbook

front of larger sketchbook

small sketchbook

larger sketchbook

I gave my son, Mike, a drawing of the palette I wanted to insert into the inside of the sketchbook.  He created about a dozen for me using his 3d printer.

The tin pans are held into the palette by the business card magnet strip glued to the bottom of the plastic palette. the two deeper wells are for mixing larger quantities of paint or as water wells.

A sponge fits on top of the pans of paint so that the paints don't drip onto the page of sketchbook when I'm finished with the sketch and I've closed up the sketchbook.  Sometimes, there are mishaps.

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Thinking about taking an online art courses?  I offer bite-sized classes on Skillshare as well as more comprehensive classes here on ExploreWithChrisCarter.com.

If you aren't already a premium member on Skillshare, please check it out.  You receive a two month trial period totally free when you click on my link:  Skillshare.com/chriscarterart

Most popular Skillshare classes are the Pulling the Puddle watercolor technique (Series of four classes) the four-part Color Wheel Mandala class and the new Fun Flexagon class.

Most popular classes here on ExploreWithChrisCarter are The Color Scheme Game, Creating Dala Art and the Drawing Alternative One courses.

Thanks for reading my blog!