title: What's the value of "Graphics g" in "paint()" for a Java applet?
body: <p>I am a beginner when it comes to making Java applets, and for my first applet, I drew a smiley face using paint(). Now, I want to make the smiley face blink. I have managed to get my timers and everything set up, but I need to use the start() method to get the timers going, and it seems that by including other methods, the paint method does not invoke itself. Because of this, I am assuming that I need to invoke paint() from start(), but the problem is I do not know what I am supposed to initialize the Graphics variable to in order to get paint() to actually work.</p>
  
  <p><strong>SSCCE</strong></p>
  
  <pre><code>import java.awt.*;
  import javax.swing.*;
  import java.applet.Applet;
  import java.awt.event.*; 
  
  public class Project2_15 extends Applet
  {   
      public void paint(Graphics g)
      {
  setBackground(Color.lightGray);
      }
  
      // This handles the starting of timer execution.
      public void start()
      {
              Graphics g; // What do I initialize this to?
      paint(g);
      }
  
      // Timer Stuff
      ActionListener blinkShut;
      public Project2_15(final Graphics g) {
          this.blinkShut = new ActionListener() {
              @Override
              public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)       {
                  g.setColor(Color.black);
              }
          };
      }
  }
  </code></pre>