ox which is
portable and suited to the purpose. When you sketch you must have a
proper box, and why not have one which is equally serviceable in the
house? Those most commonly sold to amateurs are of tin, and they are
various in size and construction, and not too expensive. The only
thing against them is the difficulty of adapting them to service
different from that they were designed for; that is, if you want to
put in a different sort of panel, or if you want to fix it in the
cover for convenience, or anything like that, you cannot readily do
it, because you cannot use tacks in them. This counts for more than
would seem on a sketching trip. But the tin box is light, and is not
easily broken, and while it is in shape is practical.

[Illustration: =The Color Box.=]

The box to be most recommended is the wooden one. It costs more than
the tin one,--about twice as much; but you can always arrange it for
an emergency very readily, and if it gets broken you can fix it
yourself, or get any carpenter to do it for you, while you may be a
good many miles from a tinner, who would be necessary to mend your tin
box.

You had better not get too large a box. Get one long enough for the
brushes; but if you are going to use it out-of-doors much, get a
narrow one with a folding palette, so as to save weight. In this way
you will get a larger palette than you could get in a smaller and
wider box, which is an important consideration.

[Illustration: =Palette Knife.=]

=The Palette-Knife.=--Of more immediate necessity to your painting is
the palette-knife. You cannot keep the palette clean without it. Now
and again you may want to mix colors, or even paint with it. But you
constantly get rid of the too much mixed color on your palette with
it, and this is essential to good painting. Take some care to select a
good knife; have the blade long enough to be springy and flexible, but
not too long. About five inches from the wood of the handle to the end
of the blade is a good length. And see that it bends in a true curve
from one end to the other, and is not stiff at the end and weak in the
middle. It should have the same even elasticity that a brush should
have.

For painting you need a "trowel palette-knife," which has a bent
shank, making the blade and the handle on different levels, so that as
you press the blade to the canvas, the fingers are kept away from the
painted surface. The shank should be round, and the blade very fine
a