For paint by numbers, you probably do not need an easel — and if you bought a framed kit, you already have one. Our framed sizes include a wooden tabletop easel in the box. That is worth saying before anything else, because a lot of easel advice is written for people painting freehand on a large canvas, which is a different activity with different requirements.
We do not sell easels separately, so nothing below is a pitch. It is what actually matters if you decide you want one.
When you do not need one
Most paint by numbers is done flat on a table, and that is the right way to do it. Flat is more stable, your hand has somewhere to rest, and — the practical one — thinned paint cannot run downhill. On a tilted surface, a section painted slightly too wet will creep toward the bottom of the canvas.
Flat also suits detail work, which is most of what a numbered canvas asks for. If you are painting a windowsill or a bird's eye, you want the canvas close and steady, not upright at arm's length.
When one genuinely helps
- Your neck or back. This is the real reason. Leaning over a table for two hours is what stops people painting, and an angled surface fixes it. If you find yourself stopping because you ache rather than because you are finished, an easel is the answer.
- Large canvases. On a 16x20 or 18x24 you cannot reach the far edge without leaning across wet paint. An easel lets you stand back, work at a comfortable distance and rotate the piece.
- Seeing it properly. A painting viewed flat from above is foreshortened. Upright, you see it as it will hang, which changes what you notice — flat spots and unbalanced areas become obvious.
- Leaving it set up. A canvas on an easel in the corner gets picked up for twenty minutes. A canvas packed into a cupboard does not. This matters more than any other factor in whether a project gets finished.
The types, briefly
Tabletop
A small frame that sits on a table and holds the canvas at an angle. The right answer for almost everyone doing paint by numbers. It costs little, stores flat, and pairs well with sitting at a table where your materials are within reach. This is the type included with our framed kits.
A-frame or lyre
The familiar three-legged floor easel. Folds flat, takes up little space, and is inexpensive. It is fine for a canvas of the sizes we make. It is less stable than the heavier types, so it is not what you want if you press hard or work on something large.
H-frame
A rectangular floor easel with a wide base and a vertical mast. Much more stable and usually adjustable for height and angle. It also takes up permanent floor space and does not fold away, so it suits a room where painting lives rather than a corner of the living room.
Field and French easels
Portable easels with folding legs, designed for painting outdoors. A French easel has an integral box for supplies and tripod legs that adjust for uneven ground. Both are genuinely useful outdoors and considerably more equipment than a numbered canvas needs.
What to check before buying
- Will it hold your canvas size? Check the minimum as well as the maximum. Some floor easels are designed for large work and will not grip a 12x16 securely.
- Does the angle adjust? This is what makes it comfortable. A fixed steep angle is worse than a table.
- Is the base wide enough? A narrow-footed easel that rocks when you touch it is worse than useless — you will end up steadying it with one hand.
- Wood or aluminum. Wood is heavier and more stable; aluminum is lighter and better if it moves around. Neither is better in the abstract.
- Where will it live? The most common regret is buying a floor easel with nowhere to put it. Measure first.
You do not need to spend much. For a 12x16 or 16x20 canvas painted indoors, an inexpensive tabletop or A-frame does everything a costly studio easel would.
Using it well
- Set the height so the middle of the canvas is at eye level when you are in your normal working position, sitting or standing. Most people set it too low and end up looking down anyway.
- Keep the angle shallow. A slight backward tilt is comfortable and keeps paint from running. Near-vertical is for freehand work.
- Light from the side, not behind you. Light over your shoulder puts your own shadow on the canvas. A lamp to one side, angled across the surface, also makes the printed numbers far easier to read.
- Keep the paint on a table, not on the easel ledge. Pots on a narrow shelf get knocked, and a spilled pot is a worse afternoon than a slightly longer reach.
- Do the fine detail flat. Take the canvas off the easel for the eyes, the lettering and the branches. There is no rule saying it has to stay there.
Looking after it
Very little is needed. Wipe dried acrylic off the ledge before it builds up, check the wing nuts and clamps occasionally since they work loose with use, and keep a wooden easel out of damp. If you paint in oils, clean spills with the appropriate solvent and keep it ventilated; for acrylic, soap and water is all it takes.
Where we stand
Framed 12x16 and 16x20 kits arrive pre-stretched on a wooden frame and include a wooden tabletop easel, so there is nothing else to buy. The unframed 16x20 does not include one, and since that canvas is trimmed close to the printed edge it suits mounting to a board — which then sits on a tabletop easel perfectly well.
If you want to know whether an easel suits how you paint, do you need an easel for paint by numbers goes into it further. For the canvas itself, choosing a frame covers what to do once it is finished, and you can browse the designs in the full catalog.
