Well seriously, it is a nice looking easel and I hope it gives you years of great service. :)

Thank you, Michael. I am really happy to have seen this project through. There is nothing like the challenge of executing an ambitious plan. The big challenge lies ahead, however. The tools at our disposal are only as meaningful as the work we do while using them.

Dear Deladier,

This is a very impressive, Da Vinci-esque easel. Wouldn't it be nice to tie a vituperative backbiting critic onto it, spread-eagled, and give it a good spin!

Under what circumstances will you rotate the canvas? I'm assuming that you like to turn your photos upside down. Or do you paint the edges of your canvas?

My fear is that critical shards would be heaved radially and some of them would remain lodged in hidden crevices throughout my garage, and they would never stop whispering inane little complaints and criticisms, rendering the room useless for the purpose of painting.

I only rotate the canvas when doing so will facilitate stroking the outer edge of a curved passage. The need to do that in figurative painting is somewhat limited but every once in a while it comes in sooo handy. I rotate my canvas a lot more when I do these: http://www.thefineportrait.com/fred.html