ortant thing in an easel is that it should be steady and firm;
that it should hold the canvas without trembling, and so that it will
not fall as you paint out towards the edges. You often paint with a
heavy hand, and you must not have to hold on to your picture with one
hand and paint with the other. Nothing is more annoying than a poor
easel, and nothing will give you more solid satisfaction, than the
result of a little generosity in paying for a good one. The ideal
thing for the studio is, of course, the great "screw easel," which is
heavy, safe, convenient, and expensive. We would like to have one, but
we can't afford it, so we won't speak of it. The next best thing is an
ordinary easel which doesn't cost a great deal, but which is firm and
solid and practical. Don't get one of the various three-legged folding
easels which cost about seventy-five cents or a dollar. They tumble
down too often and too easily. The wear and tear on the temper they
cause is more than they are worth. It is true that they fold up out of
the way. But they fold up when you don't expect them to; and you
ought to be able to afford room enough for an easel anyway, if you
paint at all.

[Illustration]

The illustration shows one of the firmest of the inexpensive easels,
and one which will fold up into as small a compass as any practical
easel will. It will hold perfectly well a good-sized canvas, even with
its frame, and will not tumble over on slight provocation.

Another good easel is shown on p. 17. It is more lightly made, not so
well braced, but is more convenient for raising and lowering the
picture, as the catch allows the whole thing to be raised and lowered
at once.

If you are to save money on your easel, don't save on the construction
and strength of it, but on the finish. Let the polish and varnish go,
but get a well-made easel with solid wood. The heavier it is, the less
easily it packs away, to be sure, but the more steadily it will hold
your picture.

[Illustration]

=Sketching Easels.=--The same things are of importance in an easel for
out-of-door work that are needed in a studio easel, except that it
must also be portable. So if you must have a folding easel, get a
_good_ sketching easel; or if you can't have one for in-doors and one
for out-doors, then pay a good price for a sketching easel, and use it
in doors and out also. There are two things which are absolutely
essential in a sketching easel. It _must_ have legs whi