Often primitive decorations were executed in what is termed a triad harmony of any three of the colors located by the points of an equilateral triangle whose center is pivoted to the center of the wheel. Used singly, as "accent I Brushes Pointed red sable oil brushes No. 2 No. 4 No. io Flat bristle oil brushes 1 in. wide 2 in. wide Vehicles Varnish or linseed oil Pure turpentine FURNITURE FINISHING 343 pieces," gaily painted furniture is not overpowering and need not blend into its surroundings. It should not create a disharmony, however, which can be easily prevented where the color scheme of the room and its accessories are known in advance. Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum oj Art, Gift of Mrs. Robert W. de Forrest, 1033 Fig. 5.13. Painted and stenciled chair. Designs. The enthusiastic folk artists usually regarded the blank surfaces on the furniture which they set out to decorate as "canvases" which they attempted to entirely cover with some form of painted decoration. In so doing they were frequently forced to add a secondary element to eke out the focal point provided by the large primary elements of the design, in order to fill in the corners and other irregularly shaped blank spaces. Balance. A better plan is to select a motif that will comfortably fit into the available, square, rectangle, oblong, or oval space. This can be enlarged, extended, °r even distorted horizontally or vertically to make it fit, or it may be combined W;th other designs in order to fill completely the panel, cabinet ends, or drawer fronts. 344 FURNITURE MAKING AND CABINET WORK The Pennsylvania Dutch decorators, in common with most primitive designers, usually formalized their motifs so that a line drawn through the center divides the design into two equal parts of the same number of birds, flowers, hearts, or stars. Whether the parts face each other or are back to back, they are said to be in bisymmetrical balance. Lest the reader lose interest at this point because of an admitted inability to draw "the back side of a barn," let it be stated here that the freehand characteristic of peasant painting need be no insuperable stumbling block to the interested beginner. If he or she subscribes to the principle that satisfactory stencils can be traced, cut out, and painted by any artless amateur, the same procedure can be applied to the art of peasant painting. Designs are available in photographs of museum pieces, as well as in books and magazines; they can also be obtained at full size ready for tracing. A combination job of stenciling and tracing directly upon the surface to be decorated can be instituted for large operations, such as sets or gift pieces. Illustrations can be "blown up" and traced by means of squares or the other methods discussed in Chapter i. Having selected a happy color harmony mechanically by means of the color wheel, all that remains is to mix the color on the palette, dipping the brush sparingly into the small container of varnish (or linseed oil) thinned with turpentine, so that the resulting dab of mixed paint retains a heavy brushing consistency that will not run along the traced or stenciled pattern.