Fuumuui Watercolour Easel Palette Review

I was gifted this new easel palette from Fuumuui recently, and as someone who’s always interested in finding practical ways to carry my kit when I’m sketching, I was very curious to see how this one would work for me. I’d actually seen it online before, but had always assumed its size was really geared towards people doing much smaller sketches that could be attached directly to the easel itself. As you’ll see, I’ve changed my mind about that.

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The palette box measures 16.7 × 12.6 × 4 cm (6.6 × 5.0 × 1.6 in), is neat, well made, and has a lovely solid feel to it. The box itself is wooden and closes securely with magnets, so there’s no risk of it opening in your sketch bag. The palette comes with 24 empty half pans, held in place with tiny magnetic strips, but I chose to replace these with my own 12 full-pan Kremer pigment colours that I like to use.

It also comes with a drawstring carry bag made from a waterproof synthetic material, a wrist strap, a longer shoulder strap, and a brass clip for attaching your paper to the easel if you want to.

Inside the box there is a size 10 round travel brush with synthetic bristles. The metal brush screws closed for travel, and the other end has a carbon tip for sketching. The size is marked on the brush case. I wasn’t quite sure at first how useful the carbon tip would be, as it’s much broader than a fine pencil or graphite point. In practice, though, I’ve found it incredibly useful. I like to block out the main shapes as the first stage of my sketches, and the broader tip gives me enough line to establish those shapes without tempting me to add too much detail too early.

The palette has two white mixing areas. I’m not actually sure what they’re made from, and I did wonder whether they might stain with use, but so far they’ve cleaned beautifully, so I still have a nice white surface for mixing. Because the areas are flat rather than deep wells, they’re great for mixing a good puddle of colour, although you wouldn’t use them for very large washes.

On either side of the palette are two slim sliding metal supports which pull out to hold the water cups. The two cups are slightly different depths, so I use the deeper one for rinsing my brush and the shallower one for clean water. They’re very lightweight and have a brass-coloured finish, which looks rather lovely against the wood.

I work in a larger A4 sketchbook, which is too big to attach to the easel, but I’ve found that doesn’t really matter, as I can work as I normally do with my sketchbook on my lap. When I’m out and about, there’s a standard ¼-inch tripod screw underneath the box, so the palette can be attached to a tripod and positioned beside me if I don’t have a table or other surface to work on.

Rather than attaching my sketch to the fold-out easel panel, I often clip a small piece of watercolour paper there instead and use it to test colour mixes and strength before applying them to my sketch.

I didn’t think I would use the shoulder strap much, but I’ve actually found it surprisingly useful. If I want to move on quickly, I can simply close the box, sling it over my shoulder, grab my bag and go, without having to pack everything away first.

One of my other initial concerns was the weight. At 683.5g (1.51 lb/24.1 oz) I wondered whether a wooden palette might be a little too much to add to my outdoor sketching kit. In practice, though, it replaces quite a few separate items. I have my paints, mixing areas, brush, water cups and somewhere to clip a piece of test paper, all in one place. By the time I take that into account, it really isn’t much heavier than carrying those things separately, and it has the added advantage of being incredibly quick to set up, close and move when I need to.

Sometimes the things you’re not quite sure will work for you turn out to be the ones that fit surprisingly well. I was very lucky to be sent this palette to try, and it’s ended up being far more useful for the way I sketch than I initially expected.