My new chair...a good idea or not?

I was talking to another face painter who has been painting for around 20 years and only ever used a tall directors chair. She advised against it as after years of standing at long gigs she now has serious problems with her legs. She's around 5'.

I always sit on a normal director's chair and get the child to stand. That way I don't have to bend forward. If they're a bit taller, I stand and if it's an adult I get them to sit. Basically, I get to move around a bit instead of sitting in one position for hours.

The only problem I've had is at night club gigs. If I'm only painting seated adults for a prolonged period of time, my back hurts. As I don't do many night club gigs I haven't done anything about it.

On Longer events I switch, I have a set of folding stools, with a cool comfy padding. I position the kids to put their legs right next mine,so I don't have to lean forward. My chair got broken a couple of weeks a go , so now I'm using a folding stool with backrest from ikea...HORRIBLE, Its heavy and I have problems with kids trying to get on it, It's not so tall. I'm 5'2..
I can't wait to get my new directors chair..
I'm also planning to buy a booster seat and those interlocking mats...the booster can give a rest to my back and the mats a rest to my feet..Looking forward!

I think that height is a huge factor to consider. I'm up there with Changingface so sitting is a no no for me and my back. I wear pretty comfy shoes and when I do sit down, it's to take a breather, not to paint. My back problems have virtually disappeared. I spent 10 years in the military and quite a bit of time standing in different stances for sometimes hours...so for me, it's not bad at all and unlike the military, I get the added comfort of being able to actually walk around and keep my knees and legs limbered up..

And you don't need to salute!!

I discovered that sitting on my Fatmax puts me at the perfect height to paint kids in my director's chair! (I wasn't working out of the max that day) I stood for the adults. I painted a full day and my feet and back felt okay.

Shannon Fennell wrote:And you don't need to salute!!

Ahh another plus...though I do catch myself saluting any old idiot in the hallway at work...

I have a tall director's chair - am 5'2" and find that i vacillate from seated painting to standing depending on the height of the subject in the chair. This is awkward but better on my poor back than painting sitting down for 8 hours. I always used to dread straightening up and standing after a long event. This way I feel more limber and comfortable.

ChangingFaces, do you have a link to the chair you described? I'm 5'11" so I think a regular directors chair would be too short for me.