If you are an artist or intend to be one, you may find an easel necessary for your trade. Easels hold two-dimensional media – a canvas or paper – while you work. Easels can also be used to display finished work, in an art show or simply as a decorative piece in your home.

Easels are traditionally constructed of three legs, which form a tripod. The legs are attached at the top. The two front legs oppose the center leg, which swings backward to form the tripod and brace the easel. A shelf running horizontally across the two front legs supports the artwork.

Easels have been used since ancient times. Although early easels were probably very crude, the design of modern easels has been improved and can now offer artists many useful features. Large easels are often made with telescopic legs, legs that collapse to a shorter length for easy transportation. Not all easels are made in the traditional tripod style; some easels have four legs, a sturdy base, wheels on the bottom for increased mobility, or multiple sides on which art can be worked on or displayed.

Easels come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Child-sized easels are available for your little ones. The smallest easels are used on top of tables, while the largest easels stand on the floor. Easels may simply hold canvas, paper, or a two-dimensional piece of art. More elaborate easels, often called paint stations, may also have storage space for paint, paintbrushes, paper, and other art supplies.

Easels may also be made of a variety of materials. Traditionally, easels were made of long pieces of wood. Today they may be constructed of metal, too – particularly those that have special features, such as telescopic legs.

When using an easel, a palette is often used as a surface on which to mix paints. A palette is a flat, thin piece of wood or plastic, either in the shape of a rectangle or a swirled oval. A palette has a hole in which to put one or two fingers of the hand that holds it. While artists’ tools such as easels and palettes may bring to mind picturesque images of a painter selling portraits in the park, many types of artists find them useful, even necessary, tools of their trade.