My Review of the Cup Easel
Ahhhh... Venice!!
A few years ago, I bought the Cup Easel, but I’ve not ever really used it extensively. Just once or twice. This year, on my trip to Italy, I took it along with me as the only watercolor setup available to me. Over the course of 7 or 8 painting sessions and live streams, I really got to put it through the paces. Lets get into the nitty gritty with an old fashioned product review! :D
The Good-
I have the watercolor version of this— the Superlite they currently sell for watercolors specifically. It runs 275$. So, not cheap. But what do you get for it? Pretty much a complete package, and in a tiny footprint. So you’re paying for it being a complete set and for it being tiny and portable.
Lets open up the lid and find out what’s inside….
It comes with
the mixing palette, which has three spaces for mixing, plus the very fancy wells for your paints (more on that later)
a retractable “arm” for your water cup, with a hole drilled in it for a brush (more on that later too)
the collapsible water cup itself (more on that)
the backing for your paper or pad, with a baby shelf on it— velcro not included (more on that below too)
an already created tripod mount on the bottom
All of which collapses into a nice, tight package, with a strong magnet to hold the lid down. However, it’s the paint wells that really are what I love best.
This is the real genius of the product, IMO. This lid is lined with a flexible but firm plastic that creates a tight seal. There’s a magnet at both ends, and it very firmly snaps into place when not in use. As you can see, the paint is still goopy and wet, even though this is days and days after I packed things. I took it on my flight in a gallon sized ziplock bag that I put in my backpack— no leaking at all. 0%. Not even from one well to another. Really happy about this. Totally passed with flying colors for me.
Plus, if you want to take out the whole set of wells, you can do so— its formed plastic that snugly fits into place. They actually offer a different version now with only 6 wells that are double sized. Nice!
Also, you can actually take out the mixing area too— it’s a single hard formed plastic shape that fits snugly into place— so you can clean the mixing spaces in a sink. Well thought out.
Where do I put the lid for the wells when I’m painting? On the back of the lid, like this, attached to the big magnet!
Did it get my lid a tiny bit messy? Yes, but it’s great to be able to put it somewhere when painting. You can see the hex wrench they provide in a few photos too. You use it to tighten the hinge for the big lid.
My hinge actually broke the other year- cracked. This surprised me, because the hinge is actually very sturdy. I contacted them, and they sent me a new hinge for free. I matched the screw head and installed it. Like new. Really appreciated the customer service.
My Customizations-
There were a few things I didn’t like about the Cup Easel, so I changed things up some. This photo demonstrates them all.
First, I added velcro to the inside of my lid— this is why you don’t see any bull clips holding my backing in place. It’s a simple workman-like answer to the problem, but I never liked using bulldog clips. I prefer taping my paper down. I normally use 1/2” thick gatorboard, but for the trip I just used 1/4” corrugated plastic board. Worked great for little 7.5” x 11” pieces, and is extra thin.
My collapsible water cup was next. I had a slightly larger one already than what they offered, so I used mine instead. But one is actually included, which is nice.
You’ll notice I have space for 4 brushes. I drilled holes for them each (of varying widths! you can see it in earlier photos), to allow for more variety. This is a clear misstep on the part of Cup Easel, IMO. It’s easily solvable, and everyone uses atleast a few brushes. Just checked, and they’ve changed the design— it now has 4 holes for brushes, of varying sizes!! LOL. I’m glad they fixed this obvious design flaw.
I needed a sponge, so I cut a small one in half length-wise and nestled it up at the top of my mixing well, inbetween the kickouts for the hinges. It cut my green mixing well in half, but a sponge is an absolute necessity to me, so something had to give. I wish there was a more dedicated space, but it worked well enough.
The Compromises-
So, it wasn’t all roses for me, but in the end I decided it was through no fault of the Cup Easel not doing its job. It’s just the nature of working so small all the time, and working vertically (more on that below). The product offers what it offers, and does a stellar job doing it.
Here you can get a sense of me in action on it. (The phone in front of me is attached to my tripod with an arm— this was how I livestreamed in Italy!). Note the sponge location too!
Because the mixing space is attached to the tripod right in front of you, the paper is a tiny bit away from you. I don’t really care for this, but it’s the basic compromise of the setup, and not uncommon for many plein air setups.
I kept my paper vertical a lot— partly because I was filming, but also just to easily reach things with the brush. If you paint flat, or close to flat, it can be done… you can tilt it forward to a very low angle… but you can’t really be “right up on top” of the paper. This is not the way I normally paint, and definitely was a compromise. When you work vertically, the paint can move more, and it definitely dries faster. Some folks prefer this though…
The other thing to recognize is that the whole product is very small— on purpose— and that fact ripples out to affect many other painting decisions. I painted 1/8th sheet on the trip— 7.5” x 11”. Pretty small, all in all. In the past, I have normally painted 1/4 sheet when doing plein air, so this definitely felt like a compromise to me. However, it worked a-ok with this set up.
Cup Easel says you can go up to 9” x 12”. IMO, that would be pretty big for this backing and these mixing wells. If or when I use it again, I would stay with the 8th sheets or smaller— maybe more of the yummy squares I love doing!
In conjunction with paper size was a learning experience I went through regarding composition and subject choice. I came to recognize that painting so small made doing certain subjects at certain distances harder. A view with people in it that I might do on a 1/4 sheet became absolutely tiny on an 1/8th sheet. This was very frustrating at first!! Although, once again it’s through no fault of the Cup Easel, IMO— its just the nature of painting smaller, and the cup easel definitely pushes you to paint smaller.
Once I recognized the limits of a smaller canvas, I ended up zooming in to my subjects more, and growing my shapes. Basically, doing a “section” of what would have been a whole 1/4 sheet painting. This worked much better for me.
Unexpected Benefits-
I will say, painting so small was often very liberating. It surprised me some. This size just can’t escape being “a sketch” to me, but that really freed me to just paint and roll with the punches and go for it. 1/4 sheet is just big enough to be a “real” painting to me— so I get attached to success more often with it. With this small size, nope! :D
I’ve traveled with my kit many times, but I rarely paint when on a big family trip. When I bring, I don’t use it, and end up lugging it around everywhere! But if I don’t bring it, I always wish I had it. LOL. Anyone else been there??? :P
However, between this kit being so small and also my pre-scheduled times when I said I would live stream, I got out to paint plein air more than ever before. 7 or 8 times, I think, over the course of a month. Waaaaaaayyyyyy more than normal.
Also, this kit really is tiny, quite light, and very well made. So toting it around was easier than normal. My normal plein air kit also fits in the same backpack, but it’s always “very full”. However, with the Cup Easel, the whole thing couldn’t have weighed more than 10 lbs or so— 2 lbs for the Cup Easel, 2 lbs for my tripod, 2-3 lbs for the backpack itself, then water (often heavier than anticipated), brushes, paper and backing, etc. Definitely the Cup Easel helped keep everything a few pounds lighter, and also a few inches thinner. If you don’t plan on using a tripod (maybe you’re sketching in an urban environment, with tables?), you could probably fit everything into a supersized purse or a very thin-profile backpack.
All in all, I give the whole experience a thumbs up. If you’ve got the money to try it out or are looking for an easy way to get into plein air painting, you could do far far worse than using this kit. As an added bonus it can help you keep things extra light and thin.