The Painter in oil

fingers are kept away from the painted surface. The shank should be round, and the
blade very fine and flexible. The knife should balance nicely in the hand, and turn freely
in the fingers, so that you can paint with either face of the blade with equal balance. It
takes some care to pick out a good trowel-knife, as a poor one is worse than none.
A scraper. - You frequently need to scrape rough paint form a canvas or picture, and
you need to scrape strongly to get a dirty palette clean. You can use in older razor for the
first purpose, or a piece of broken glass, if you use it carefully, and any old knife can be
used to clean your palette. But a regular tool is better than either. The scraper here
shown is the best.
The Oil-Cup. - Do not use oils and vehicles very much. But when you need them you
must have something to keep them in, convenient to the brush when working. It should
have a spring to hold it on to the palette, and of such form that the contents are not
easily spilled by the movement of the hand or the body when painting. The form here
illustrated is the best that has been brought out so far.
The Mahl-Stick. - Sometimes you want to rest his the hand when painting, for
steadiness. The “mahl-” or rest-stick has a ball on the end, which one usually covers with
a wad of rag, so that it can be placed against the canvas without injury, and the hand
rested on it. It is so light that it can be held with the branches in the palette hand, and
stiff enough to support the brush-hand.
Sketching Adjuncts. - Out-of-doors you must have a seat, and you should have an
umbrella. The best seat for a man, because it can be folded into so small of space, is the
three-legged stool. This is not usually satisfactory for a woman, whose skirts tip it over.
The better seat for her is show below. The back is not very firm, but it does give support,
and the whole is light and strong.
The umbrella should be larger and tight, and one such as the illustration, with a valve in
the top to let the wind and hot air through, will be found cooler in less easily blown over.
You should have some strong rings sewn on to it, so that you can fasten it from four sides
by strings, to keep it steady if the wind blows hard. The umbrella should be of light-
colored material, preferably white; but if it is lined with black, the shade will be better,
and give no false glow to the color.