Seat Easel

Hi Victor. Jacksons have one in stock for £117 . If you google Artists Donkey easel you will find several. I have had mine for years and do like it. Hope you find one.

I thought you might have meant a donkey, too - useless for me, and they look uncomfortable even for the able-bodied. Is the kind of thing you're after a seat with an integrated easel (or vice versa)? If Jackson's don't have one - they have most things - try Gerstaecker/Great Art, or Cass Arts; or one of the older artists colourmen companies - Green and Stone, Cornellisen, T N Lawrence. Can't guarantee you'll find anything, but you'll doubtless discover a lot of interesting materials on the way..... and be distracted, and spend too much money.... But maybe you have more self-discipline than I have. My only other suggestion, and there are obvious problems with it, is that you try US sites - they often have all sorts of things we can never seem to find here, but then there's the cost of importation.

And obviously you've tried Ebay?

http://www.greenandstone.com/v2/p/PAC.php?c=32 Take a look at this one - anything like what you have in mind? It's described (down the page) as a seat easel. Also look at Frank Herring's website - they actually make the things, although as it happens I couldn't find this model on their site.... but maybe I just didn't look hard enough.

Unfortunately, anything made of real timber these days tends to cost a fortune - and anything made with cheap wood and the various composites is usually cheap and nasty: a good clue to quality is the standard of brass fittings, screws, leather straps etc: tinny, plated, plastic, should be avoided. A good quality item, though, will last you decades: I'm still using the wooden sketching easel my parents bought for me when I was around 14, just over 50 years ago (creak...). It's made of beech-wood, and it's still in excellent condition except the leather strap which held the legs together (its, not mine..) when not in use has perished and snapped: probably because the easel is in permanent use. Whatever you get, make it the best you can afford: that doesn't always mean the most expensive, but let's be honest - it often does. The ideal here would probably be a metal construction, if it's available - still cheaper than wood, the only thing to be wary of is rust in joints: otherwise you'll find yourself distributing your weight carefully on the seat, only to discover a sudden plummet to the ground: then you've got to hope there's no protruding bit of metal - or a very nasty accident could ensue. But then, Sylvia, I expect we both know much more than we want to know about rusty joints.... (and I know you're older than I am ducks, I'm just being gallant..... ).