Just as my hero Vincent Van Gogh used a custom made device to help him master drawing scenes from real life, my latest aid for outdoor drawing is my home-made perspective frame. It features a 4:3 aspect ratio with grid lines that can help the artist orient angles and objects in the scene with similarly gridded paper on the easel.
Looking through the viewing aperture guarantees the same point of view each time you check the scene, which saves lots of time versus trying to find the same view with a handheld frame. This makes it easy to transfer lines from the frame to the drawing via the grid lines overlaid on the scene in the viewfinder, and drawn lightly on the paper or painting support on the easel.
The angle of view can be widened or narrowed by moving the viewfinder aperture closer or farther from the grid mask. This is easy to do by twisting the large knob on the top, which racks the grid mask in or out.
The rubber bands can hold straight line objects such as wooden dowels or even plastic zip ties. This allows you to precisely measure and transfer angles of important edges in the scene to your drawing.
Can you guess what this device served as in its previous life? Answer: the focusing standard on an old photographic enlarger.