Outdoor Acrylic Easel

We don't have very much outdoor space at our house.  In fact, all we have is a little roof deck.  But, for being in the middle of the city, that's something.  It does mean, however, that many of the cool outdoor projects mom wants to do in the summertime have to wait for a NJ visit (Nona and D-rock are good sports about letting us use the yard for all kinds of hijinks -- like our sidewalk chalk paint).  But mom thought these acrylic outdoor easels would be a perfect fit for us (and take some of the mess outside!).

Now, we'll let you in on a little secret.  For some reason, Kane and I insist on going buck naked on the roof deck.  Usually it's because we're playing with our sand and water table.  But even if all we're doing is having a picnic lunch, you'll still find us in our birthday suits.  Which was another good reason to take our painting outside -- less laundry!

The easel was super easy to make.  The acrylic panels were a little on the high side pricewise, but cheaper than if you purchased an acrylic easel outright -- like this or this).  And we thought ours turned out sleeker and storage-friendly.  Mom bought four, 24" X 30" (1/8" thick) acrylic panels from Delvie's Plastics, Inc.  We're sure you could get something like these from a home improvement store, but you know mom hearts online shopping.  The price of the panels increased significantly with thickness, so mom purchased pretty thin ones.  They bowed a little, but worked perfectly well.  Once she peeled off the coating (which was a PIA), she used her new gold duct tape to tape the two pieces together along the top (clear packing tape would work, too.  but who doesn't love gold duct tape?).  Then we just stood it up and painted.  When you're done, wash it off, fold it down and store.

Kane was sidetracked by the sand and water table, but I was a big fan of this naked painting.  I used brushes, sponges, fingers and toes (and painted my own fingers and toes while I was at it, too).  Mom bought enough acrylic to make us each our own easel, but we surprised her by each painting on one side of the same one.  So we'll have to cook something else up with the other two pieces.  Surely we can think of something!