Converting a Camera Tripod to a Travel Easel

Of course I couldn't have done it without help from my brother in law who made the little 4 x 4 wood blocks and counter sunk the 1/2 inch 'T' nuts an eighth inch. Blocks are 3/4 inch deep.  This is how it will look on your tripod;

Last photo shows the bottom of the 'T' nut but when you glue on your painting board with Gorilla Glue  you will cover this up.  Follow directions on bottle and keep away from the screw threads that will mount to tri pod.  My tip here is to buy a ready made frame from a reputable dealer that comes with the 1/8 inch hard board backing and glue that to your adapter.  Those boards are too heavy for a 16 x 20 frame  and they are not archival.  You can put a piece of acid free FC in the frame later.  Now that you have glued on your painting support, clip on a piece of watercolor paper  and take it on for a test run!

I tried it out over the weekend and I am very pleased with  this light weight option over the heavy steel WC easel I usually carry; this one fits in the back pack and will be fine as long as there are no huge wind gusts.  Hope you can try this.
*Plein Air Painting is from below Sitka on the mouth of the Salmon River.