My Travelling Easel

I am often asked about my easel when travelling. Especially when you need to fit it in luggage on a plane! You think 20kg is a lot until you try to take your art stuff. 
After researching online for plein air easels my main concern was for pack up size so it could fit in my luggage but still sturdy enough to withstand a bit of weather and hold my pastels. There are a few overseas models worth investing in but I was not wanting to  pay a lot of money for an overseas model without seeing it. Karol  Oakley (an awesome artist friend of mine) showed me her converted camera tripod and I was hooked.
My husband created the backing board for me. It is aluminium for lightness and strength. The carmera fitting screws into the backboard then attaches to the tripod. 
The images below show the easel at work and in various stages of packing up. As you can see it all packs down to fit into my backpack. The backpack has trolley wheels too for luggage which is handy. The little tray setup is called an Easel Butler. I bought that from Canada and use it all the time. This little set up is now eligible for frequent flyer points with the amount of trips it has done.  I do love it.