Palette knife - palette knife painting

An artist's tool, it has a flexible blade, usually of tempered steel, and with a rounded end secured with a wood handle. The blade is about three to four inches in length. Palette Knives are used for handling and mixing paint on the palette, for scraping, and especially for modernist artists, spreading paint on canvas. A palette knife can become very sharp edged after much use, so is best discarded when that occurs. Palette-Knife Painting is the application of paint on a ground with a Palette Knife rather than a brush. The technique appeared in the mid-19th century after oil paints were standardized with consistency of texture and color and made available in tubes. Source: Ralph Mayer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques"