ghItlhpu' De'vID, jatlh:
Actually, wouldn't the object of {DIj} be a pigment stick, i.e., the command
ought to have been something like {DI'raq DachenmoHmeH rItlh naQ yIDIj}?
Given that KGT's definition of {DIj} is "use a {rItlh naQ}, paint with a {rItlh naQ}" (in the text) and "use a pigment stick, paint with pigment stick", no parentheses in either case, I'd have thought {rItlh naQ} is the one thing that would never be used as its object. The {rItlh naQ} is expressly included in the definition of the verb. While we have no overt sign of how {DIj} might work with an object, absent other evidence I don't have any problem at all with the use of {DIj} with the depiction as the object. In the past I've also used it in contexts where the object is the pigment itself, rather than the depiction: DopvamDaq DIng, DopvetlhDaq DIng 'ej mI' ram Hegh Sech mIS. rItlh DIjbogh veqlargh rur bIQ'a', wov 'oH, 'ej SuD, 'ej chIS. "About, about, in reel and rout The death-fires danced at night; The water, like a witch's oils, Burnt green, and blue, and white." (The Rime of the Ancient Mariner II.11) QeS 'utlh