The mahl stick and step back view in Easel by Zaweba

Two habits separate a careful painter from a hurried one. The first is steadying the hand for fine work. The second is walking away from the easel to look at the picture from across the room. Easel by Zaweba builds both in, with a mahl stick and a step back view.

What a mahl stick is

A mahl stick is a long stick with a soft pad at one end. In a real studio the painter rests the padded end against the edge of the canvas or the easel and lays the painting hand on the stick. The hand is held steady and kept off the wet paint.

In Easel the mahl stick steadies your hand. It is the tool to reach for when you are painting small details: eyes in a portrait, lettering on a sign, the rigging of a ship, the highlight on a glass.

When to use the mahl stick

Use it for detail, not for everything. Big shapes and broad washes look better with free, confident movements from the shoulder. The stick is for the last stages, when control matters more than energy.

Good moments to pick it up include the fine lines of a rigger brush, careful dip pen work, small precise highlights, and lettering with a brush. If you are working with a mouse or a tablet and find your small strokes wobble, the mahl stick is the fix.

What step back does

Step back shows the picture from a distance. Painters do this constantly in a real studio, because things look different from far away. Small details disappear and the big shapes, values and composition become clear.

That is when you notice that the main subject is too dark, the horizon is too central, or two shapes are fighting each other. Up close, you tend to see brushstrokes. From a distance, you see the picture.

Building the habit

Step back often. A good rhythm is to step back every few minutes, and always before you start a new area. It takes a moment and saves a lot of fiddling.

Combine it with Easel's other view checks. Mirror flips the picture so you see it fresh. Values shows it in greyscale so you can judge light and dark. Squint blurs it so only the big masses are left. Like step back, these exist only on screen and never affect the painting.

Step back is also useful at the very start. Before any detail goes in, the big shapes and values should already read well from a distance. If they do, the details become a pleasure to add. If they don't, no amount of fine work will rescue the picture, and it is much better to find that out early, while changes are still quick and the paint is still loose.

A detail workflow

Here is one way to finish a portrait. Step back to check the overall likeness and values. Pick the areas that need work. Use the mahl stick and a small round or rigger to paint the details: lashes, the catchlight in the eye, the edge of the lips. Step back again. If the details look fussy from a distance, soften them.

The best finishing touches look right from both close up and far away. With the mahl stick and step back side by side, Easel by Zaweba makes it easy to check both.