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It happened the first time I witnessed this magic art. This was at a (now extinct) tent Chautauqua. Up until that time I had thought that sand painting was something to be left to the Indians.

With a hard pine board for a seat I sat and watched a young married couple, a Mr. and Mrs. Staple, present a program of magically growing pictures using colored sand and a slanted easel. Their hands flew, the sand flew and there before my popping eyes a picture grew.

That was for me. I could visualize myself doing the same thing—especially after a very pretty snow scene when Mr. Staple announced that they always signed their pictures.

"Can you see the signature?" he asked the audience.

Cries of "no!" went up from every side. Mr. Staple pointed to a fence post in the scene.

"There is a staple in the post holding the wire on," he stated.

The audience caught on. A hearty laugh went round. To me that was the clincher. I was sold. This had everything; humor, beauty, romance. That was for me.

And so to home, and to bed, to dream about the rosy prospects of sand painting. Then came the dawn—then came the rude awakening, the knowledge that I couldn't even draw! Who was I to set myself up as an artist? When people talked of art—and drawing, I was the proverbial guy they always mentioned when they said, "He can't even draw flies."

That rosy dream was almost punctured in the borning—not quite—but almost. The years slipped by—but the dream was still there. And then one night at a banquet I witnessed a second presentation of sand painting. This time the flowing sand was handled by a very charming young woman. Then and there, for the first, last and only time in my life I became what is known as a "stage door Johnny." I had to meet that young lady because I had to find out about sand painting.

I met the young woman. She graciously devoted an hour of her time to showing me the "how" of sand painting and gave to me the realization that the yen to do sand painting need no longer be a dream.

SINCE THEN, sand painting has become a hobby that has made for me a profit, to date, of $3 for every hour devoted to it, and if pleasure was measured in dollars and cents I could retire tomorrow—but wouldn't.

The materials used are inexpensive, easily procured and the "art" itself can be mastered by anyone, with a little patience and practice.

The principal equipment needed for sand painting consists of a board and easel, bowls or pans for the various colors of sand, a stack of newspapers or a painter's drop cloth about eight feet square, dry artist's colors, two dozen or so cone paper cups and the sand itself.

The board, which should be of ³/8-inch plywood, is cut in an oblong shape 28 by 42 inches. You may prefer a smaller board—say about 24 by 36. This depends upon you; your size, and the ease with which you can handle the board. The size is optional—but by all means try the larger board first as it can then be cut down, while a little one can't be enlarged.

This board is covered on one side with a white canton flannel—fuzzy side out. This presents a surface to which the sand will cling until tilted very nearly vertical. If you are unable to obtain canton flannel, any flannel with a heavy napped side will do and the color can be a light cream or light grey color. It will soon change color anyway. This piece of flannel should be approximately four inches larger each way than the board. Stretch this over the board, turning the surplus under the other side of the board. Use thumbtacks about every four inches apart to tack the flannel to the board. The use of thumbtacks enables the flannel to be easily removed for an occasional shaking or cleaning.

THE EASEL, upon which the board rests during the sand painting, is constructed from what is known as 1-by-2 screen stock. This is put together to form two frames, similar to the frames of a jute covered folding screen—except that it is much shorter and has a high side and a low side. These two frames are alike in dimensions. The low side of the frame is fourteen inches and the high side is twenty-six inches. The top piece of the frame is thirty-eight inches long. These two frames are hinged together in two places (points A and B on the diagram) along the twenty-six-inch side of the frame. This will give you a similar action to a two-fold folding screen and when set on the floor looks like an "A" without the crossbar with the apex of the "A" being the twenty-six-inch legs and the two feet of the "A" the fourteen-inch legs.

The two bottom corners of the board are at the two feet of this "A", (points C and D on the diagram). These legs should extend about ½ inch above the top of the pieces which run to the higher legs or apex of the "A." The bottom of the board rests against these and will look like the pitch of a roof with the low side or bottom of the board fourteen inches from the floor and the upper or high side of the board twenty-six inches from the floor. This easel can be winged in, or out, depending whether the length of the board runs up and down or the width of the board runs up and down. Some pictures look better with more height than width. Others are better with more width than height. This depends on the picture you are making, but this setup adjusts readily to both. The dimensions given here are for the 28-by-42 board. If a smaller board is used, cut the dimensions of the easel accordingly but be sure to maintain the same slope. This slope is close to, but not quite a 45-degree angle. This is important as it is more difficult to handle the sand at a much greater slope.

The place where you are going to work should be covered with newspapers, a heavy wrapping paper or a painter's drop cloth. The easel and board are set squarely in the center of this covered area and the drop cloth or papers catch the sand that will spill over the edges of the board while you are making the picture. It will also catch the sand as it is dumped off the board. This sand can be saved for a purpose which will be explained later.

THE SAND—can actually be sand—or as I, and other sand painters prefer—a free-flowing salt. I prefer the salt because the white of the salt itself tends to give brilliance to the dry color of the mixture. A white builder's sand can be purchased at any builder's supply dealer where cement and plaster are sold. Salt—in hundred pound sacks—can be purchased from your local grocer. He may not carry salt in this quantity package but can procure it for you from his wholesale distributor. This is a free-flowing table salt used by farmers to salt down meat and for other purposes where a larger quantity of salt than a regular package is desired. The price of this salt, in Pueblo, Colorado, my home, is, at present, $1.60 per hundred pounds in one-hundred pound sacks. While this is almost twice the price of white builder's sand, the results obtained are worth the difference.

With this salt, or sand, dry colors are mixed. Just enough dry color is mixed with the sand to give the color or shade required. Hereafter we shall refer to the mixture as sand. Never refer to it as anything else in front of an audience.

Dry color—in various colors—may be obtained at any artist's materials shops or at most paint stores. It is used by show card writers and painters. It comes in one pound cans and varies in price, depending on the color, from 35 to 95 cents per pound. I use about fourteen different colors which gives a full range. Perhaps, to start with, seven or eight will be enough.

How to mix the sand may be a matter of the individual's ingenuity, but perhaps the easiest way is to dump the sand into a quart or half gallon fruit jar, then add the dry color a spoonful at a time, replacing the cover on the jar and shaking until mixed; adding more sand or more color until the proper color or shade is obtained. Incidentally, these same jars provide a splendid way to carry your prepared sand.

Here are some extra tips on mixing color: Add black for darker shades and white for lighter. Adding yellow to green will make a warmer green, yellow to red will make vermilion or Chinese reds. Adding red to purple will make a warmer shade and blue to purple a colder shade. This color is added in very small amounts as a little goes a long way.

The bowls, or pans, containing the colored sand are on a stand; either at your left or right hand side—depending on convenience to you. Round pans, of a size to hold the amount of sand needed for each performance, may be used. There should be one for each color to be used. Bowls, of the clear glass variety, make a much better appearance. The various colors of the sand can be seen by the audience, through this clear glass. Incidentally, you can pick colors better by being able to see color in each bowl from the side as well as from the top. These bowls may vary in size from large ones that will hold seven or eight pounds of sand for background and large area colors, to small ones that hold only a few ounces for the bright orange which is used only for lights in windows of houses in night scenes. You will soon learn, by experience, just where to spot these bowls on the stand. It will become second nature to reach, almost without looking, to a certain spot on the stand for a certain color; and you will line the bowls up this same way each time you set up, whether for practice or performance.

TO PRACTICE, take a position behind the board or at the high side. Take a bowl of white sand in either hand, using the other hand to broadcast the sand on the board in wide sweeping strokes. Start at the bottom—to you the edge farthest away; lean over to reach this; come up the board or towards yourself, strewing the sand on until you have the board solidly covered about ¹/16 inch thick, or more. Dump the sand off the board; cover the board again—speed up. Do it again—speed up; do it again—speed up. This is the reason why we are using the white sand at this stage. You can use it over and over again. It has been said, "He who hesitates is lost." This is certainly true of sand painting. Do your sand painting boldly, for mistakes cannot be erased anyway, although they may be corrected to some extent with other color.

Next you are ready to make some lines for detail. Use any color you desire for this, like the white, you can use over and over.

For practice in the putting in of lines and details there is a gimmick—paper cups—the kind made in the shape of a cone. Snip the tips from several to leave a ¹/8-inch opening at the cone tip; several to leave a ¼-inch opening and several to leave a ³/8-inch opening. Or, you may prefer to have a tinner make you a set of three cones with these dimensions. Have them made of light tin, and of a size that you can readily hold and conceal in the palm of the hand.

With these the sand may be put on in thin lines (from the small ends, using the little finger to stop and start the flow) or thrown on the board in a broad swish from the large end.

Fill these cups by dipping them in the sand. Hold the little finger under the opening until you get over the spot on the board where you want to start and then practice making lines, circles, squares, triangles, trees and bushes. Practice until you get the feel of the flow of the sand. Note the speed you will have to travel with the paper cups to make a line a quarter of an inch wide, a half inch, an inch. Make just a vague wavery line, simulating smoke coming from a chimney. Note how fast your arm must travel across the board to do this. Get the feel planted in your mind. Do this same thing just with the hand—without the use of the cones. Use the hand as a funnel, holding the sand in the palm with palm up, get over the board and tilt the hand so that the sand runs over the crease on the opposite side of the hand from the thumb. You will find that the more tilt you give your hand the faster the sand flows and the broader the line. Raising the hand level stops the flow. If you like this—and can do it—throw away the gimmicks. You will do so eventually anyway, but use the props as long as, you need them.

NOW YOU are ready to do a picture. You will find lots of good pictures in magazines. Cut these out and file away for your use. Choose simple scenes at first—those that do not have much detail but are in mass or large areas for the most part. You will find that the simpler ones are the most effective in sand painting. After you become more adept then you can use scenes that contain more detail. You can even make up your own compositions. This is effective and enjoyable.

Pin the picture to the top of your board—or place on a stand where you can look at it as need arises. You will have discovered by this time that you are working upside down, so place the picture you are working from in this upside down position.

A preliminary practice on each picture may be obtained without the use of sand—such practice being merely to set the sequence and placing of the various elements in the picture in mind, so that when the sand is actually in the hand there is no hesitation in strewing it on.

For this preliminary practice, you may use large sheets of wrapping paper, thumbtacking the paper to your board. With a thick crayon, practice the wide sweeping movement you will use in strewing the sand—actually making lines on the wrapping paper. By this means, too, you gain a facility in swinging your arm in the wide arc necessary for your performance with the actual sand.

After you have started practice with the sand itself, here is a hint that may be useful. As you complete each picture, you naturally destroy it, dumping the sand before the start of the next picture. Catch the sand on your drop cloth or papers. This is recovered and later used for practice in strewing or for the manufacture of some of the darker shades.

"YOU MAY wish to number the sequence in the picture that you have chosen and are working from. This can be done by penciling in small circles on the area or close by the object and placing consecutive numbers in the circles as, 1, 2, 3, 4, etc.

Thus, the winter scene shown in the accompanying photograph would be carried out in action something like this. Number 1, in the sky area. Application—start somewhere below where you know the sky line is going to be. A little overlapping here will not matter as the next color will cover the overlap. Color used—deep purple, night. Swish on from broad end of your cone using sweeping strokes. Use cone or hand for this. Starting below where this sky line is to be, work toward yourself. Do not let the sand that is going over the edge of the board worry you. This adds to the presentation and you will soon learn to cut this down to a minimum.

Number 2, in ground area, Color, white. Cut in sky line first. Do this with the cone with the ³/8-inch opening at bottom. Dip and fill from bowl of white sand. Hold little finger under hole. Start just a little off the edge of the board. Release little finger from hole, sand will start flowing; make a sweep across board until you go off the opposite edge of the board. Stop the flow of sand. Then proceed as in sky; start at bottom of board, swish the sand on rapidly, work back toward yourself and slow down as you approach the sky line so as to leave this clear cut.

Number 3, by pine trees in background. Color, black, silhouette. Make trunks first, proceed as in practice of lines. Start at bottom of tree trunk, going slowly so that sand will spread out; speed up gradually as you approach top of tree trunk—this will give the taper desired to trunks. Quickly add foliage to these pine trees. This is done by making wavy "V's" spread out. Almost all up and down lines and these "V" lines will be started farthest from you; draw the hand toward the body as you proceed with the line.

Number 4, by fence in lower corner. Color black. Proceed as in lines.

Number 5, by gnarled oak tree in foreground. Color black.

Number 6, by house back by pine trees. Color, black—silhouette.

Number 7, by foot bridge center foreground. Color, black.

Number 8, by wavery black line of smoke coming from chimney of house. This does everything that is going to be done with this color at the same time. Now you can put your bowl of black sand down and pick up the next color.

Number 9, by stream running through picture. Color, dark blue. Proceed as in making lines, using a line for each side of stream. Start at bottom of picture and come back towards yourself. Stop at foot bridge. On other side of foot bridge proceed to vanishing point. This will be more vague than a distinct line. Fill in between the two lines finishing the stream.

The remaining steps would be hard to number in the small drawing or picture that you are using for a model, but the next thirty seconds are what counts so the next few steps should be followed in sequence. Each step now seems to throw the picture right out at the audience (that is, if you have one) and it becomes a living breathing thing. So follow these steps.

Step 10: Take the white and quickly cover the roof of the house with snow. A little pinch here and there in the crotches of the trees and around the roots will give the clinging snow effect. A few vague shadowy dashes on the fence will bring them out.

Step 11: Take the black and make a few dark shadows in the stream to look like rocks. Then a few vague shadowy dashes around over the snow will give it that used appearance—as if there were people living in that house who liked to get out and tramp around in the snow. Then a few quick little dashes of yellow down through the center of the stream for moonlight reflection.

Step 12: The lights in the house are last—then you know there are people, like yourself, living there. This is done by making small squares on the side of the house, using bright orange as the color. I often do this, not with the colored sand, but with the actual dry color itself.

And now you have finished your first painting with sand. It may not look like much to you, but remember, you are right on top of the board. Step back from your board about ten feet—or where, normally the first row of your audience would be. Then you will see that it is a picture—a very lovely picture.

ALL THAT remains to be done now is to practice this same picture several times—until you have it fixed firmly in your mind—and you can get along without looking at your model picture while doing it. This picture is ready for presentation before an audience. Do this same thing with two or three other pictures, and when you have three or four pictures that you can do offhand you are ready for a full performance. But, you ask, "Where am I to give my performance?"

The world, today, is hungry for good entertainment. There is need for someone who can fill the bill in every hamlet, village, town and city. Wherever there are people, there you will find lodges, clubs, schools, churches and organizations of all kinds. I know this is true in the vicinity of Pueblo.

A few letters, written to the chairman of an entertainment committee, principal of a school, president of a lodge or other organization will get you started. After that, people will find you. You may wonder, at times, how they do it—but they do. Especially around the holidays.

I have even performed in store windows—to draw crowds. Political rallies are also good prospects. There are hundreds of places looking for just such entertainment. How you advertise will be largely a matter up to you. I prefer just a letter written on my own personal letterhead to any other method. Just simply state that you are available for banquets, school assembly programs, etc. Then give a brief outline of what you do. State the novelty feature of your act. Then give directions for reaching you by phone or mail.

A few personal calls will accomplish the same result. If you decide to go out as a full time professional, you may want to acquire a booking agent.

About twenty minutes is long enough for one performance. The price you ask for your performance will be determined by your locality. Between $10 and $15 is generally a fair price for a single, although some performers receive a great deal more. (By single I mean when you are working alone.) If more than one works in the act—vary the price accordingly. Never belittle yourself by charging too little. Add expense and mileage for out of town engagements.

NOW SUPPOSE you have just been introduced by the toastmaster, master of ceremonies or chairman—and there is your audience in front of you.

Give them everything you have. Never hesitate before an audience. They don't know what you are doing, but they assume that you do, so don't let them down. If you make a mistake, continue boldly—doing what you can to correct the error as you go on with your stroke, or leaving it to be corrected later with another color.

The audience doesn't know that you have made a mistake—unless you let them know. Sometimes the picture winds up differently and better than originally intended—then it is fun for the performer as well as the audience.

Arrange your program so that you have a good picture to open with—one that will wake the audience up to the fact that you are there. Choose a strong one for the finish—when you will want the most applause. Then, all you have to do in the middle is to hold their interest, and the art, itself, is interesting enough to do that.

You may wish to work silently. Some performers do—depending on speed, alone, to grip the audience. This will allow the person who can work, but would be scared stiff to talk before an audience, to do sand painting.

Others use a musical background or accompaniment to go along with their pictures. Some recite, poetry and others talk or "patter" while they are performing, timing the poetry or patter to the mood and sequence of the picture at hand. There is lots of good poetry, available in libraries and other sources, that fits in with a great many pictures.

One poem, in particular, fits a great many pictures where there is a house in the foreground—by a road. This poem is, "The House by the Side of the Road," by Sam Walter Foss. Time your picture to come out even with the end of the poem.

Two people may work at the same picture in sand painting, each person standing at the rear end and on each side of the middle of the board. I have witnessed two people working at separate boards. The boards were about four or five feet apart. To the audience they were, apparently, working on two different pictures. Then at the finish the two boards were moved together, forming one picture. This is a matter of timing and spacing, but the possibilities are almost unlimited. Almost a whole family can enter into the fun of sand painting in one capacity or another.

WHEN YOU finish your first picture, before an audience, throw on your picture a dash of glitter or "metallics." Use a wide sweeping throw so that these metallics will scatter over the whole board. This makes the picture jump out at the audience. (Metallics can be purchased at art or paint stores. Just ask for metallics. They are used by sign and show card painters and by store window decorators. The cost is about 80 cents per pound but you will only need about one sixth of an ounce for each picture.) Use silver metallics for winter or night scenes; gold metallics for daylight or warm scenes.

After this dash of metallics raise or tilt the board up as high as it will go, without the sand slipping. This will give the audience a better view. You will have learned, in practice, just what this angle is. Hold the board thus for a few seconds. This gives the audience the hint that here is the place for applause. Then, slowly, raise the board on up to a vertical position. The sand will run off the board like a waterfall. Exclamations will go up from every side and your board will be clear for the next picture.

SO MANY people came to me after my performances asking for a little of the sand, for a souvenir, that I hit upon a novel idea for selling more of my hobby and at the same time furnishing a permanent, small sand painting for a souvenir. These permanent sand pictures are made on light plywood—the largest being 12 by 18 inches.

Make up an outline pattern of the pictures you are going to make on heavy paper. These patterns you can use a great many times. Trace the picture on your light plywood. You can work on several pictures at the same time—mass production fashion. Using one color at a time, brush on as in painting a heavy coat of liquid glue. As soon as this glue becomes tacky, dump on the colored sand over this covered area. Let it pile up. After a few seconds, dump off the surplus sand. The glued area will be covered solidly one grain thick.

Go on to the next picture until you run out the string, going back to put on the sand as each picture becomes tacky. Then go through the string again with the next color. Start with the smaller areas and detail first—winding up with the larger areas, sky and ground last. Be careful that you do not touch the covered areas with fingers or hands until the glue has become thoroughly dry, as doing so will smudge the picture.

Do not use the salt mixture for this as the salt dissolves in the moisture of the glue. Use the white builders' sand mixture, or, better yet, I use what I call "beads." Actually this is a sign painters "Smaltz" and can be purchased at the same stores where the other materials are handled. It looks like and acts like sand—only the colors are permanently fixed in the material. In price it runs about 70 cents a pound but an ounce or so will cover a large area. Thus, you can work on the pictures with no waits for one area to become dry before proceeding with the next, and all danger of color runs is eliminated.

Do not frame these pictures as most people prefer to have pictures framed to match color schemes or existing pictures already on their walls. They can have this framing done at art stores or you can do it for them—at an additional price.

The price obtained for these pictures runs about $1 to $1.50 or more, depending on size and context of picture.

You can offer these pictures for sale at the close of your program. Always obtain permission from those you are working for to do this. In practically every case they will grant this permission and in most cases even announce, for you, that you have souvenirs for sale.

A good idea is to take along with you several small replicas of the three or four pictures you do in your program.

TO GET back to our performance. A little cartooning, between pictures, adds much to the performance. The kind I am going to tell you about is simple—and easy.

Make the announcement that your next picture will be that of a stack of black cats—in a dark alley—on a stormy night. Quickly, cover your board, solidly with black sand. The audience gets a laugh out of your "stack of black cats" and your board is ready for the cartooning. Proceed, with patter, as follows:

"A little girl in my audience once asked me to make a picture of a pig. So I did—like this." (On your prepared board, using white sand in the line method, draw a pig. Use an oblong for the body; a triangle, with apex cut off, for head and snout; small triangles for ears; two straight lines in front and two in back for legs. Every line is a straight one except the curlicue tail.)

"How's that?" I asked.

"Humph!" she said, "That doesn't look like a pig."

"How does a pig look?" I asked.

"A pig looks round," the little girl replied.

"I see," said I, "O. K. we will make the pig look round." (Cover the head of the pig with the black sand; then remake the head exactly as at first, only, turn the head back into the oblong of the body. This gives the appearance of the pig looking back—over its shoulder).

"As you can see, the pig looks round."

This kind of cartoon work is always good, especially in an audience where there are children.

THE LARGEST fee I ever received was $95. My total expense, for materials used up and getting to the date, a large high school assembly, was $2.50. Total profit—$92.50, a little more than $2 per minute.

You can close your performance with a little action bit that is good. After you have raised the board to give the audience a better view and have received your applause, instead of dumping the sand, let the board back down. This is your last picture so say something like this to the audience.

"There is a part of this picture which you cannot see. Right out here (point to what is to you the right hand corner of the board) is an aeroplane. It is coming into the picture. Look! it is skywriting—" With a handful or coneful of sand, write across the sky of your picture as an aeroplane skywriting, something like this—"That's All" or "Good Night."